Everbear Strawberries

[ddsack]

Sounds like you've got it down to a science for your spot. When I had berries before, I know I kept the mother plants for too long, it's hard for me to destroy a bed, even though I know it's for the best. We have a lot of wild strawberries, and it's remarkable how invasive and persistent they are when they grow where you don't want them to.

[JRinPA]

Okay so here it is nearly December of 2023 and I'm re-reading this thread. It seemed like Rockman found the best method for the Ohio deck pot seascapes was to bury the formerly potted plants in a southern exposure bed next to the garage and covered with pine needles. And in the other bed. Then dig up the holding bed and re-pot in spring.



Last spring I ordered bare root Seascapes to make a bed at the comm garden. Bare roots were set at 9" spacing in April, single row down the middle of a 30' raised bed. They put up some few berries before the heat of summer, put out a lot of runners during the heat, then some berries afterward. Honestly it is not a great spot, rather dry, and not too many people helped with weeding. We put down wood chips in May or June to keep the weeds down. Mistake or not, I'm not sure.



I don't know what will happen with the bed next year, maybe turned back to grass if no one wants to continue it, but right now it is filled with runners and it is finally getting cold.



Next year I want to do my own strawberries in towers/pots. I had intended to harvest plenty of crowns/runners to do pots/towers next Spring but nothing came of it.


At this point I don't know if I should go over and straw mulch the whole bed and wait until Spring 24 to harvest crowns for transplant to cups for towers? Or go get them now and put them in cups that I have to babysit somehow until spring? Or dig some now and put them in a holding bed? Rockman did the holding bed next to the garage in fall 2022 but it sounds like that was late Sept not late Nov.


What do you all think? Best plan (at this point) to have plenty of starts for next year and keep the bed going as well?

[rockman]

Hi JR, when I transplanted the plants in my runner pots they had 5" roots. The plants need to root in the native soil if you have raised beds, so you don't have to water often. I use 2x4s. The rest of the garden I mow between the rows, and the 2x4s keep out the grass. I bring the dirt level to the top of the 2x4 on each side to keep the grass from creeping in. I taper the dirt down from each side to the middle which ends up 5" deep in the middle. The rain runs to the middle also. I put the berries in a protected area, but found out the ones out in the open were did good. I would harvest the runners with good roots in early spring. If you get a frost, either cover or the bloom center will turn black which will not effect the plant. I rooted the runners from the pots to have a quicker crop from the runners, they also did OK letting them dangle. I know you may have more questions. I'm also learning about everberries. Rockman

[JRinPA]

Hey thanks Rockman, sorry about Ohio, I see Indiana now.



I covered the existing bed with straw mulch. Should be plenty of runner crowns for spring. I have 6" diameter PVC discards, just need to make something with them. Ideally I'd like to do it that way, at home, but have a way to keep them going each year and not have to buy more bare roots.