Strawberry Leaves Turning Brown

[EmmaAndBobby93]

Novice gardener here! I planted a few strawberry starts about two weeks ago, and all of their leaves end up turning brown and crunchy from the outside in. When the current leaves have browned, a new green one sprouts up, but then once it gets larger that one will start to brown too. This has happened on each plant at least three times. My soil is pretty heavy clay, but I tried to amend it with some steer manure before I planted the strawberries. Also I live in the Central Valley in CA (Zone 8 ) so it gets really hot. I'm just trying to figure out whether this is due to transplant shock, poor drainage, not enough water, soil chemical imbalance, or some disease. Again, I'm a beginner and trying to learn as I go but this is giving me trouble as its my third attempt at planting strawberries. I have tomatoes and peppers in the garden too that are thriving if that helps rule out any of the possibilities.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

[JONA]

I would guess that it is transplant shock as the roots battle to establish the plant in very hot weather. If it persists through the summer try re-planting in the fall when the heat is much lower and the plant has a chance to fully establish itself before the winter sets in. Then it should have a good root system ready for the following spring.

[applestar]

Make sure you didn't bury them too deep. In your climate, the central crown (the corky part where the leaves and roots radiate out of) should be very high and dry (clay+manure would be very dense too) so where the roots come out of it should be barely below the soil surface. You could surround the crown with sand to help keep it dry.

Raised bed might have been better. You could simulate it by digging a moat and then channeling away so the moat doesn't hold water. A heavy mulch to keep the soil cool would probably help, too.

Is the soil staying moist? Dig and probe/feel with your fingers. Strawberry is shallow rooted. Make sure you are watering not just the plants but the soil in the entire bed so the roots are not encountering dry soil after a certain point. Newly planted plants need more moisture than established plants.

[imafan26]

During the summer, I cover my strawberries with a light mulch, it helps keep in the moisture and protects them from the sun. In the cooler months they do fine in full sun.

[EmmaAndBobby93]

Thank you everyone for the help! All of your replies were super helpful I'll try and do the moat idea and put some mulch or sand down too and see how that goes!
Thanks again!!

[GardeningCook]

Just another thought. Was that "steer manure" you used well-composted? If not, your strawberries may be experiencing root burn. Animal manures (apart from non-urine-tainted rabbit manure) NEED to be composted for a minimum of 6 months before safe garden use.

[EmmaAndBobby93]

Hmm I'm not sure if the manure was composted. I threw away the bag, but when I googled the product (Redi-Gro's steer manure) it doesn't say anywhere on the front of the package that it is composted. If that is the case, what would you recommend to fix the situation?

[GardeningCook]

Okay - if it was a purchased bagged product, then it was "composted" vs. just raw steer manure you brought in from a local steer source.