Everbear Strawberries

[rockman]

Tried these berries for the first time. Put 4- 10" pots on deck, 3 plants per pot. Still getting berries. Put empty pots beside the the berrie pots. Rooted many runners and planted them in a patch. It's so nice picking from the deck. Water about every 3 days. The nursery kept their runners cut off to improve their crop. I wanted to start an everbear patch so let them grow. Now I would like to winter over the pots. Should I bring the pots in the garage where it never freezes, or put the plants outside in the ground then re-pot in the spring? I just want to be sure I have plants for the deck next spring, the plants in the patch will be a bonus. thanks rockman

[MrsJustice]

Many years ago, I invested in a Greenhouse a Greenhouse Window off my Kitchen. That was the Smartest Investment I have ever made in my Life. But it is too small for all my Plants. If your Garage have a windows, I would put it the if you can heat that area in the cold.

[rockman]

Thanks MrsJustice, garage has door windows only. I wasn't thinking of berries yr. around although that would be great. Now i'm just trying to keep the potted plants healthy till spring.

[JRinPA]

Hey rockman, I don't have an answer for you, but I have been thinking more and more about growing strawberries next year. Is Everbear a specific variety of everbearing strawberries? If not, what variety do you have that has worked so well?

[rockman]

Hi JRinPA, I traded black raspberries for strawberries in July. The runners I rooted from the original plants are producing nice berries. The last two mornings we have had frosts. I covered with sheets, so far so good. I will get the name of the everberries for you. Iv'e grown Sure Crop June berries for over 40yrs. just had good luck with them.

[JRinPA]

Okay thanks. I've never grown strawberries...I remember my mom had a bed of juneberries for a few years that got outta hand when she went back to work (us kids in elem. school). But she says it wasn't just that, it was also the voles getting in them.


But I ought to try them and if I do it should be everbearing type.


And I hope you get a good answer about keeping the pots going. I have no place to overwinter anything here. The town was built off the terrain, not planning for the sun and the wind. The south-east facing window here is blocked by our carport AND the neighbors garage and gets almost zero winter sun.

[ddsack]

rockman, there is a fair amount of information on overwintering containerized strawberries here: https://strawberryplants.org/overwin...ugh-the-winter


It sounds like it is not recommended to try to keep them growing as it will shorten their overall lifespan. If it were me, I would leave them outside until the weather is cold enough to stop growth and put them in dormancy, then move the container into a dark corner of the unheated garage and let them rest until spring. I'm thinking that it would be hard to get enough good lighting in the garage to get production of more than a few small inferior berries in the cold, so not sure it would be worth the effort.

[rockman]

Seascape is the everberrie we are growing.From the info. I checked this is the go to berrie. Hoping to give you good results in the spring(: Oh yes, the voles enjoyed my sweet potatoes this fall,so I fed them peanut butter on the trap. Thanks ddsack for the wintering info. I'm trying in our patch, a well protected area behind the pole barn, and a pot in the garage. That should get us enough plants for our deck in the spring. Hope to post some pictures then(: Thanks rockman

[rockman]

This is a picture of my last picking for the year, as we've had temps in the twenties. It has been fun!

[JRinPA]

How is the spring looking for your plants, rockman? Been 3-1/2 months since last picking. What did you end up doing with them? Did you follow through with the varied approach to overwintering?

[rockman]

Hi JR , mild winter so far. Plants in garage 2 new leaves, rest are brown. Set outside last week, see what happens. The garden plants looks great, their growing through the white pine needle cover. I usually cover with straw. Pine needles was suggested, so far OK. We had 2" rain on top of already high creek in our bottom land. So far still in bank. We have picked under water before. The sandy soil drains quick, doesn't seem to hurt plants much. We planted 12 plants out of flood plain by house just to make sure we had surviving plants somewhere. Last, I gave 8 plants to a friend who has a sunny heated garage. When we get plants on our deck, I'll take pictures. 70 degrees last week, hard not to start planting, winter comes back next week. rockman

[rockman]

March 25 I put 4-10" pots on the deck with 3 plants in each. As of today most plants have at least 7 blooms and 2 berries on them. Iv'e covered them 2 times as we have had some 30 to 35 degree frosts. The plants would be ok but I know the blooms centers would probably turn black. So how did I get this far? My garage plants died. My friends garage plants did the same. The plants I buried on south side of garage did great. Mid March they started growing threw the pine needles. When I dug them some had blooms, those made 6 plants, got my other 6 from the row I planted in the garden which also look great. I had planted 15 plants in a 15' row last fall. Each plant had at least 2 runners rooted by winter. No plants up-rooted during the winter, but we had a mild winter. Even the runners have such a root system. When plants get picture worthy, I will share. Rockman

[rockman]

The plants in the garden have runners already, as do the deck pots. The extra pots are to catch more runners, I hate to cut them off even though it makes for bigger berries. rockman

[ddsack]

Wow! That's a lot of nice strawberry plants, rockman! I like your decorative arrangement of pots on the deck. Are all the berry plants your Seascape variety? Our two closest self-pick strawberry farms have gone out of business, may have to consider starting a bed here at home.

[rockman]

The garden berries on the right are Sure Crop june berries. Got some starts from my Dad in 1980. They do well in are area. When they get crowded and slow down producing, in late June when they quit bearing I till down the middle and let the runners fill in. Then the next year or two till the outside rows. This way you will always have young plants. If you want to have all new plants for the next year, dig the new runner plants, till the area, put plants back. When doing the second way I wait till early fall when not so hot, and leave as many leaves on the plant as possible for shade. Once the plant starts growing good from the center, you may want to trim some of the old leaves off. This works well for us. Our garden is in a flood plain along side a 30' wide crick. From the years of flooding we have very sandy soil. In the spring I cover the beds with 2" compost around the plants to hold in moisture. And yes we have picked berries under water We also have a patch on high ground with normal top dirt. Plants get 5-6 hours sun and are easier to take care of. The output is 3/4 of our bottom berries. rockman