Strawberries growing up instead of bushing out?

Hi

Last year I grew some strawberries in raised beds and they were fab, they are still there this year and looking lush BUT they appear to be growing very tall this year instead of bushing out like they did last year..what has happened?

The only thing different is that I put some fertiliser in the soil a while back, has this caused lush foliage at the expense of normal groth and then fruiting?

Can I rectify it or should I chuck them out and start again?

Thank you for your help!

 

Maybe you need to pinch out the tops to encourage more side shoots? Just a thought.Someone far more knowlegable than me will be along soon to advise you I'm sure.

 

Mine are also taller than previous years but very healthy, they are also covered in flowers so I'm not worrying; maybe it's something to do with the abnormally hot weather we've just had????

 

Thanks, I was worried it was because I had put fertiliser down in the bed a few weeks ago when maybe I shouldn't have? I had a good look at them this afternoon and they do seem to have plenty flowers too, so perhaps it is the unseasonal weather after all.

They were the best, most successful thing we grew last yuear, so I was bit upset to think I had ruined them!

 

Strawberry plants that are 2 years old, will fruit well for a short time (3-4 years at most) then gradually peter out so it's always advisable to peg down runners each year in order to have a succession of decently fruiting plants.

That said they like to be fed, so a high potassium feed such as liquid tomato food every 10 days or so from the time they start flowering to harvesting the fruit will help the plants enormously.

I would imagine Hetty, that your plants are just about at their peak and are thus just showing how good and healthy they really are.

 

Thanks Fidgetsmum, that gives me some reassuring hope! I have a lot of plants (in containers) that I saved from the runners last year as I remember reading that the inital plants only fruit well for a few years, and I will take more this year too..isn't it fab that you can buy one set of plants and really if you are careful have a never ending supply from them?!

 

My pleasure mon amie.

I know what you mean and I suspect that apart from F1 hybrids, we should be able to do this with all the plants we buy (a state to which I can only aspire), but - working on the 'this old broom has only had 4 new heads and 2 new handles' principle - I've still got the 6 'original' strawberry plants I bought when we first moved here in 1985 - although of course, none of those 6 are among the 40 or so plants I've actually got!

 

Well, I'm just a beginner..a very rank amateur..so I could only dream about endless propogation etc too..though I hope I'll learn a bit more every year! (I've currently got loads of stuff that needs pruning, esp climbing roses and I'm too scared to incase I kill them..going to have to bite the bullet at some point!)

This is my first year with a greenhouse and already I've made loads of mistakes which I won't repeat.

What makes the strawberry thing even fabber for me is that the initial 6 only cost £2.99 in Lidls and gave us so much pleasure (our amateur strawbs were far better in taste than anything I have ever bought)!

 

I was happy to see this post.

My strawberry plants are alot taller also. VERY VERY healthy looking. Very green leaves, healthy strong stems. No flowers as of yet, although did notice yesterday that there looks like a few flowers starting to come.

Also noticed at our local garden centre yesterday that they strawberry plants were extremly tall. I didn't know that they could grow that big :D

 

Looks like we are all having the same thing happening then. Maybe I shall just leave them to their own devices and see what happens.

 

Mine are doing the same this year.



These are alpines, they only normally grow about 6 inches high, in excess of a foot now. Good bit of sunshine has been helping.

 

If they are growing.
If they look healthy.
If they are producing flowers.
If they are sending out runners.

Why worry?? LOL!
Sounds like you have REALLY healthy plants.

 

Thanks for sharing all, that really is fab news to me!

Ziggy, mine (not alpines) look very similar indeed - the weather it must be!

 

Just out of curiosity, what do you do with those leaves/stems that flop over and look tired? Do you pinch them off or do you leave them on?

 

It depends. The first thing I'd do is give the plants a damned good drink, just in case they've flopped for lack of water. If they're obviously dying, I guess I might cut them off (quite close to the main part of the plant) especially if they're showing signs of disease, otherwise I think I'd just leave them.

Of course, if you wanted to, you could put a few 'twiggy' bits around just to prop them up - especially if the plants are particularly tall and you want to support them generally - this could also help protect the fruit from birds .... on the other hand it could also provide them with a handy perch from which to feed on your strawberries!