48 Strawberries in 8 SIPs

[ID jit]

Round 2 of the Albions are now prodcuing berries.... sort of makes me laugh.

Albions put out very few runners and they were hard to get to take roots in little pots. Did manage to get some though and transplanted them into 2 liters SIPs. Now they are growing berries and still pushing a few blossoms.

Foliage on the plants looks a bit big for 2 litter SIPs, and I am sure they will eventually get root bound, but it is clear that you could start with bare root plants and get at least one round of berries from healthy in 2 liter SIPs. This might be a way of speeding things up in the spring with new bare root plants.

[ID jit]

I tried to keep some kind of running update on this because it was the kind of thing I would have like to have found BEFORE I started the project...

End Result : Deer-vastaion.

Pretty much no significant harvest after the first early summer flush.

Things I am sure of:

• Deer fence will be manditory for next year.
• Japanese Beetle defense with be needed next year.
• 6 plants isn't too crouded for containers I built.
• The fertilizer strip, mix etc for the SIP's worked out well, to the point that it allow the plants to regrow after losing all their leaves several times. They Rebounded well enough to push both some blossoms and runner during each regrowth period.

Things I am not so sure of:

• Screening the containers from direct sunlight may help out with the mid season halting I saw. Am assuming the soil temps became too high for the plants to be comfortable productive. This may also help out with decreasing the amount of zombie strawberries I ended up with on the albions mid season
• Not sure if albions were the right choice for my location. The berries were good though, firm, solid and not sickly sweet. (I don't really like strawberries)

[applestar]

Hmm... deer is one I don't have to worry about, so I didn't know that. Useful to know!
I hope you keep up with the progress. It will be interesting to find out what happens when you keep out the deer. I'm almost wondering if they would grow too much....?

I just saw a craigslist ad for used hoophouse hoops 14'wide x 7.5'high in ground, with 2 ground stakes per hoop, set for $15, free delivery for 50 hoop sets. Most of the time, this sort of ad wants you to take $1000 worth. Unusual to see the hoops sold individually within my budget.

I would only need/have room for 4 hoops if I were to get them... I really wanted to think about getting them, but I don't think any of the family vehicles can carry them. I always think I could carry things like that if I had a horse trailer... haha.

I could see using them as hoophouse/mostly passive greenhouse/coldframe/and netted bird excluder for the berries in the summer.

[ID jit]

Home depot flat bed trucks.... $20 an hour + fuel and no mileage charge. Buy a 8' 2x4 and tell them it won't fit in your prius. Return the 2x4 after you drop off the truck.

[applestar]

Ooh gonna keep that in mind

[imafan26]

You don't have to buy anything to rent a truck. However, if you want it on a weekend, you may have to reserve it.