How to Grow Strawberry Plants: The Complete Guide (2024)

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Soil pH should be between 5.5 and 7. If necessary, amend your soil before planting.If soils in your area are naturally alkaline, it is best to grow strawberries in half-barrels or other large containers filled with compost-enriched potting soil. Raised beds are a particularly good option for strawberryplants.

Practice crop rotation for the most success. Unless you plan to amend your soil each year, do not plant in a site that recently had tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

Also, note that strawberries and garlic are good planting companions if you wish to interplant. Garlic helps deter pests like spidermites.

When to PlantStrawberries

• Plan to plant when the ground can be worked in the spring. See your local frost dates.
• Establish new plants each year to keep berry quality high each season. Strawberry plants will produce runners (daughter plants) that will root and grow into new strawberryplants.
• Buy disease-resistant plants from a reputable nursery, of a variety that is recommended in your area. You can consult with the nursery you buy them from or with your state Cooperative Extension servicefor locally recommendedvarieties.
• You can buy strawberries in pots, but also you can sometimes find bare-root strawberries or runners, which offer really excellent value for money. They look fairly shocking, without any leaves and rather scraggly, but don’t let that put you off. Once they hit the soil, they’ll be wellaway!

How to PlantStrawberries

• Provide adequate space for sprawling. Allow for spacing of around 18inches (1-1/2 feet) to leave room for runners and leave 4 feet between rows.Strawberries are sprawling plants. Seedlings will send out runners, which in turn will send out their own runners. (Container strawberries can be planted closertogether.)
• Make planting holes deep and wide enough to accommodate the entire root system without bending it. However, don’t plant too deep! The roots should be covered, but the crown should be right at the soil surface. It is very important that youdo NOT bury the crown (central growing bud) of the plant, or it could rot.The leaves, flowers, and fruit must be exposed to light and freshair.
• To settle their roots into the soil, water plants well at the time ofplanting.
• Use a mulch of the strawberry’s namesake –straw!
• It is also possible to grow strawberries from last year’s runners. See this video to find out how.

Planting Strawberries inContainers

Potted strawberries are easy to get right. They go in at the same depth as the potting mix in the container, but for bare-rooted plants, make sure you don’t go too deep or too shallow. If too deep, the plant may struggle and could potentially rot away. If too shallow, it will rock about and dry out really easily, creating a weak and brittle plant. You want the crown of the plant where the stems of the leaves emerge to be ever so slightly proud of the soil surface. Learn more about growing strawberries in pots.

Watch this video to see how to plant strawberries in garden beds orcontainers.

How toGrowStrawberries

• The big tip with strawberries is to keep them well watered while they are establishing their roots and during dry weather. Moisture is incredibly important due to its shallow roots. Water adequately, about one inch per square foot per week. Strawberry plantsneed a lot of water when the runners and flowers are developing and again in the late summer when the plants are fully mature and gearing up for winterdormancy.
• Keep strawberry beds mulched to reduce water needs and weed invasion. Any type of mulch—from black plastic to pine straw to shredded leaves—will keep the soil moist and the plants clean. Read more about mulching.
• Be diligent about weeding—weed by hand, especially in the first months afterplanting.
• Once strawberries start to flower, fertilize with a high-potassium, liquid tomato feed to encourage good fruit production. Plants also benefit from the addition of an organic, general-purpose fertilizer early in spring, as they set into growth, to help power things up for the newseason.
• In the first year, pick off blossoms to discourage strawberry plants from fruiting. If not allowed to bear fruit, they will spend their food reserves on developing healthy roots instead, which is a good thing. The yields will be much greater in the secondyear.
• Eliminate runner plants as needed. First and second generations produce higher yields. Try to keep daughter plants spaced about 10 inchesapart.
• Row covers are a good option for protecting blossoms and fruit frombirds.

Winter Care ofStrawberries

Strawberry plants are perennial. They are naturally cold-hardy and will survive mildly freezing temperatures. So, if your area has mild winters, little care isneeded.

In regions where the temperature regularly drops into the low twenties (Fahrenheit), strawberries will be in their dormant stage. It’s best to provide some winterprotection:

• When the growing season is over, mow or cut foliage down to one inch. This can be done after the first couple of frosts or when air temps reach 20°F(-6°C).
• Mulch plants about 4 inches deep with straw, pine needles, or other organicmaterial.
• In evencolder regions, more insulating mulch should beadded.
• Natural precipitation should appropriately maintain sufficient soilmoisture.
• Remove mulch in early spring after the danger of frost haspassed.

PropagatingStrawberries

Strawberries produce long, wiry stems called runners with little plantlets along them. You can use these to grow more strawberries by just pinning the plantlets down to root and then severing them from the mother plant once they have. See our article for details on how to grow more strawberries!

Try planting more than one variety. Each will respond differently to conditions, and you will have various fruits toenjoy.

• ‘Northeaster’ is best suited for the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Fruit has strong flavor andaroma.
• ‘Sable’ is hardy to zone 3, early season, greatflavor.
• ‘Primetime’ is a mild-flavored, disease-resistant variety, best adapted to theMid-Atlantic.
• ‘Cardinal’ is a good variety to try in theSouth.
• ‘Camarosa’ is a good variety to try on the WestCoast.
• ‘Tristar’ is a day-neutral variety that’s very well-suited forhangingbaskets.

Learn more about choosing and growing differentstrawberry varieties.

How to HarvestStrawberries

• When you grow you own, you can peak at the peak of ripeness. No more white strawberries! Harvest only fully red (ripe) berries, and pick every threedays.
• Fruit is typically ready for harvesting 4 to 6 weeks afterblossoming.
• Ideally, pick fruits in the warmth of the afternoon for maximumflavor.
• Cut by the stem; do not pull the berry, or you could damage theplant.
• For June-bearerstrawberries, the harvest will last up to 3 weeks. You should have an abundance of berries, depending on thevariety.

How to StoreStrawberries

• Store unwashed berries in the refrigerator for 3 to 5days.
• Strawberries can be frozen whole for about 2months.
• Dehydrate them or turn them into delicious jams. Watch our video on How to Make Strawberry Preserves!

Catherine Boeckmann