User avatar
cass2828
Senior Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:48 am
Location: Chennai, India

Strawberry not fruiting

Hi Guys. I have a strawberry plant which was ignored for a while.... It has grown many runners but it doesnt want to fruit or even flower... Wat should I do?

JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

cass2828 wrote:Hi Guys. I have a strawberry plant which was ignored for a while.... It has grown many runners but it doesnt want to fruit or even flower... Wat should I do?
Hi class.
All any plant wants to do is reproduce.
Your plant is doing this very well by runner production..so why bother to flower.
Stop letting it produce runners by cutting them off as soon as they appear. Then your plant will grow a much bigger crown and start producing flowers.

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)

Also, if you have been fertilizing, stop or change to tomato-type or bloom-promoting fertilizer with less nitrogen (first number) which promotes foliage growth. What kind of strawberries is this?

Another thought is that there's a temperature issue with strawberries and they don't do well in southern-most states in the U.S. except for specific varieties. Maybe similar issue in your part of India? Do you know what the USDA Zone equivalent is there?

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)

Here's a long informative post imafan made about growing strawberries in her Hawaii conditions -- maybe this will help? 8)

Subject: Strawberry plants /square foot or /gallons on mix ???
imafan26 wrote:I live in Hawaii where it is warm and humid most of the year except in summer when it is hotter and drier (usually). In a humid climate fungal disease is rampant and most things that live here have to have fungal resistance to live long. Strawberries are not native so they have to be treated like roses (which they are related to.) In a drier climate or one that does not normally have 80% or better humidity most of the time will do better. Local Wahiawa strawberries are more resistant to disease but they are hard to find since most of the local nurseries have closed down. The mainland varieties of most plants don't have that.

They like even moisture and don't like to go completely dry but they do not like to be constantly sopping wet. Mulching helps control weeds and in summer it keeps the leaves from burning. It will hold in soil moisture to keep things more evenly moist. Unless you live where the soil is especially dry and sandy, strawberries don't need a whole lot of water. They do not like to be flooded and if you mulch them well they only need light watering. The soil should be moist enough to be as damp as a wrung out sponge and when you get a fist full of soil it should be able to stick together when you squeeze it in your palm but not be dripping wet and still break apart easily ( it is called being friable). Self watering containers always will have a layer of sopping wet anaerobic soil at the bottom of the pot if the reservoir never goes dry. Strawberries multiply by runners and people either choose to let them run or take off the runners when it is fruiting season. If strawberries are runners they make less fruit. The runners will root whereever they can get good contact with the soil or at least have moisture on the air roots so they will fill in between plants in the bed. In hanging baskets, the runners hang down from the baskets and can be picked off when they are large enough and planted in another place. Strawberries that don't produce a lot of runners or if you are cutting runners off can be planted 6 inches apart. If you are going to let the runners run, you can space the plants up to 18 inches apart and the runners will fill in. I only grow day neutral strawberries so they don't produce a lot of runners.

Seascape is a day neutral strawberry that hardly produces runners at all and that is what is mainly available at the nurseries now. Albion does produce some runners and I prefer this variety because the berries are bigger and sweeter, but it is harder to find. Strawberry plants cannot be shipped to Hawaii so I don't have a lot of choices. I have a few strawberry pots and they like to grow in them because the pots are terra cotta and the berries hang from the side pockets so I can get more plants in a smaller space and the pots breathe so they can dry out better. Strawberry pots can dry out very quickly and they are hard to get the soil out of at the end of the year. Strawberries would have to be replanted every year since the soil in these types of towers and containers will sour if you try to keep it longer. They also grow well in towers and on A frames. Growing strawberries vertically saves ground space and provides better air circulation to keep the fungal diseases down. I built my own vertical planter. I drilled a 1 inch hole in three pots, 4 inch 8 inch and 12 inch plastic pots. I put a 1 inch closet rod in the ground about a foot deep to anchor the pots. This keeps them from falling over in the wind. I put the biggest pot over the rod and filled it to 2 inches from the the top of the pot with potting soil. I put the next pot over the rod on top of the soil and filled it and finally the last pot filled with soil on top. The rod stuck out about another foot. I ended up with about 3 inches of planting space in the bottom pots and room for one plant on top. I planted it with a mix of herbs: strawberry, thyme, cilantro (seasonal), sage, marjoram, oregano and I had a basil at the very top. The driest plants have to be on top because it is hard to keep the top pot from drying out. The soil gets moister the further down you go. I prefer to grow strawberries in hanging baskets since I can move them to the shade in summer and away from hungry snails and birds when I need to. I do not like coir baskets, they dry out too fast and the birds steal the coir for their nests. Most hanging baskets now are self watering and I don't like those so I drill extra holes in them so they are no longer self watering or I get a 10 inch azalea pot and drill holes for the hangers and hang it up. I also prefer to use metal and not the plastic hangers they come with. Strawberries are like roses, heavy feeders and the soil needs to be changed every 6-12 months (to control soil fungal pathogens)

Strawberries in your zone will go dormant for winter and I have heavy clay soil which strawberries really don't like, so your growing conditions will be different.

https://extension.illinois.edu/strawberries/growing.cfm
https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-strawberries/
https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/diy-strawberry-tower/
https://www.backyard-gardening-fun.com/s ... tower.html

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)

Here's a blurb for Florida gardeners in case this is relevant :wink:
HS1154/HS403: Growing Strawberries in the Florida Home Garden
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs403

Temperatures between 50 and 80°F (10 and 27°C) and day lengths 14 hours or less are required for the development of flowers and fruit on most strawberry varieties. In areas of the U.S. north of Florida (except for the coastal areas of southern and central California), these conditions occur only for a short period in the late summer or early fall, and again briefly in the spring. In peninsular Florida, however, these conditions exist for much of the fall, winter, and spring. Single-crown (stem) strawberry plants are planted in Florida during the fall, from late September to early November. Flowering and fruit production generally begins in November and continues into April or May. Fruit production over this period is not constant, but occurs in two or three cycles, and can be interrupted by freezing weather. Because the highest quality fruit are produced on relatively young plants with not more than four or five branch crowns, plants are usually removed at the end of the fruiting season, and new plants are planted the following fall.

Varieties
Currently, three varieties are suggested for the Florida home garden: ‘Camarosa’, ‘Sweet Charlie’, and 'Festival'. All three varieties produce attractive, flavorful berries suitable for eating fresh or for freezing. ‘Camarosa’ has been the most productive variety in North Florida, while ‘Festival’ and ‘Sweet Charlie’ produce more fruit during the early part of the season and have been the most productive varieties in Central Florida. ‘Radiance’ is a newer variety that produces more fruits earlier and throughout the season in Central Florida. However, the plant is not as strong as the other varieties listed and may require careful handling and attention during establishment. These varieties are capable of producing 1 to 2 pints of fruit per plant over the season.

User avatar
cass2828
Senior Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:48 am
Location: Chennai, India

Thnx guys.. Helped a lot...will try these..

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

You should be getting strawberries based on your day length. June bearing strawberries are for climates with long days 16 hours or more and they have one heavy fruiting season. Everbearing strawberries are day neutral and bloom usually twice a year. Once in the Spring and again in the fall. Most strawberries are making runners in the midst of summer under cover and in the cooler months where it does not freeze. It is December now, so the strawberries are doing what they are supposed to do and that is make runners and more plants. This is not the season for them to make strawberries. The plants should just be given the space and food to grow now. The flowers come around April or May.



Return to “All Other Fruit”