Help with my strawberries

I'm not exactly sure why, but the stalks on my plants keep rotting near the crown, and im not sure why .
All the crowns are covered correctly, and all the stalks come up really nice, lovely green leaves, no marks on the leaves, then all of a sudden, the stalk drops and they get this sort of rot. i've just been taking the leaves that this happens to off, as most of the plants leaves andf stalks are lovely, could someone let me know what im doing wrong.
thanks.
pete

 

Maybe try feeding them. If i may ask are you growing them in drain pipe?

 

The soil looks very moist, are you over-watering? Soil which is too moist can provide ideal conditions for botrytis.

 

i could be over watering them, i have reduced how much water i give them,so we'll see. And i'm growing them in the pipe because my garden space is limited, and anything that the dogs can reach they tend to try and eat. I saw that strawberries can be grown in pipes, so im going to put them high up on a wall, if it does not work this year, then i may try growing them in a vertical stack next time. Its one of them trial and error things i'm afraid .

 

I don't see why growing them in pipes and high up would be a problem, I do think it's best to reduce your watering though and to make sure there's plenty of space for air to circulate around the plants.

 

i've reduced the watering, and given them some tomato feed, they've now gone a little mad, new leaves growing up from the stem, but theyre looking so much healthier, thanks peeps.

 

Whats your drainage like? Id issues with poorly drained pots so I had to add more holes, I find my strawberries drank a lot but when it sat they soon rotted too. Also changed to a coarser (cheaper compost) bu this required more watering

 

my drainage seems to be fine, the pipe is set at a downward angle, so too much water runs of, the other thing i did, which may not show in the picture, was to make each place bigger than it needed to be, then when i planted the strawberries, i put the crown at one end and the roots take up all the middle, i buried the roots right to the pipe, then put a small dimple in the soil just above the roots, this means that i can water the roots well away from the crown, and also lets me keep an eye on how wet the soil is, this means no crown rot, and easy checks on my watering.
im going to do the same with tomatoes, i brought some seeds for those tiny toms you put in salads whole, it says you can grow then in hanging baskets, so im going to try in pipes, this time though i may add a soaker hose in the bottom before the plants go in, then rig it up to a coke bottle, be easier to water them and feed them straight to the roots..
sorry for the long post.