Winterizing Strawberry Plants

michaud1 · Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:52 pm

Hi there. I live in Ottawa and have a nice sized vegetable garden. I have a bed of strawberry plants which produced a lot of berries earlier this summer. Should I do anything to the plants before winter (I.e. cut them back; cover them with straw)?
Mike

lillgardnr · Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:32 pm

I'm looking for the same info. from what ive read you cut the runners and cover the plants with straw.

Roger · Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:39 am

Hi there! The one thing you want to do without a doubt is give them a covering of some sort before the temperature gets down to 20F.
Not too early - you want to wait and let the plants harden a little to winter conditions, to trigger them to go dormant, and then cover them with a mulch when the temperatures get close to 20F. The plants won't be damaged by cold until the temperature reaches 15F.

I've read that leaves and grass clippings are both useless as strawberry mulches - both get too clumpy when wet . Straw, corn stalks, hay or wood chips are all ideal. You'd want the mulch to be at least 2 to 3 inches thick after it settles. And you'll want to pull away the mulch as soon as spring growth starts - which will be earlier than most of the rest of the garden.

lillgardnr · Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:22 pm

thats so helpful!!!

thanks... should I cut and remove the runners , or should I let them be?

Jess · Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:22 pm

No. Leave the runners to root. Then next year you can use them to replace any plants that have died or are not growing so well.

lillgardnr · Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:06 pm

I'm glad you said that bfore I started chopping...(I had planned to save the babies, though, and try to keep the alive in the green house). couldnt bring myself to kill them