Kenna718
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:29 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Yellow/Orange leaves on strawberry plant?

Hi there, I am new to gardening. I'm in an urban setting so using containers on my small patio. I have a 18w x13d planter with 3 strawberry plants. They seemed to be doing well for the last three weeks. About a week ago I added a bit of 8-5-5 fertilizer and a little bit of worm castings. We had a hard freeze a couple of nights ago, so I brought the container inside for a day.

There was one leaf on one of the plants that has always looked a little weaker than the other leaves (since transplanting), with a brown spot. That leaf slowly turned completely yellow. Then an older leaf on the next plant over turned orange, totally overnight. The third plant has some red along the stems, I can't tell if it's related or not.

I've googled and found that yellow leaves could mean overwatering (definitely a possibility, we had a huge rain for two days, plus I was watering daily) or that there is a nitrogen deficiency. I looked up orange leaves and couldn't find anything, so odd.

Any ideas of what is wrong or how I could fix it? Thank you!
Attachments
This leaf had the brown spot for weeks, slowly turning to yellow, with a quicker color change over the last few days.
This leaf had the brown spot for weeks, slowly turning to yellow, with a quicker color change over the last few days.
This leaf turned orange overnight!
This leaf turned orange overnight!
A little red in the stem and around new growth at base
A little red in the stem and around new growth at base

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Mine does that usually when it is too wet or there are fungal issues. My best fix is to take it out inspect the roots and see how far gone they are. If it isn't too bad, I will pull off the dead roots and soak the plant in sulfer solution, or dust if I can find sulfur dust. Then I replant in a new pot and new soil and I make sure I don't over water. Strawberries tend to die a fungal death for me, so I keep making babies and potting up the runners and I repot whenever the water starts to puddle at the top. I will lose some eventually, they will be too far gone to save, but I usually have enough replacement babies to keep it going.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I feel like these are planted just a smidgen too deep. The strawberries need their central "crown" to be mostly above the soil level.

The crown is the corky/woody thick stem usually about 1" between where the roots begin and leaf shoots come out. That woody part should be only half buried on the average -- a little deeper in the north to protect from heaving out with the frost/freeze cycle, and a little shallower in the south where this is not an issue.

In the DC area, I think you would only want them to be 1/3 to 1/2 buried. Try gently scraping some of the soil away and exposing the crown a bit.

Kenna718
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:29 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Thanks, I will try scraping away some dirt first and then see if I need to dig up.

NatureHillsNursery
Cool Member
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:33 pm

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you just adopt a “wait and see” attitude. In my experience (with a large strawberry patch), it’s not uncommon for leaves to turn yellow and drop off. Sometimes it’s not enough Nitrogen (which they need a lot of), too much water…any number of things. The other leaves seem to look healthy, so perhaps the plant is ok. Good luck!

JONA878
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1014
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:14 am
Location: SUSSEX

As strawberry plants get established the young leaves that came out as the plant broke dormancy tend to die off as their usefulness is surpassed by the larger leaves that are forming.
Don't worry about a few small leaves dying...it's normal.



Return to “All Other Fruit”