Is there anything better than a fresh-picked, perfectly ripe strawberry from your own garden? I say no, except for one thing: a whole lot more of them! And that’s the tricky part sometimes: as popular as they are, I hear lots of gardeners, including my own friends and family, complain that they have trouble getting a big bumper crop out of their strawberry plants.
That’s always disappointing, but it doesn’t have to be. Today I’ve got some critical tips that you need to know if you want to grow tons of strawberries. Keep reading and we’ll get right into it…
Start with the Right Variety
As a rule of thumb, you’ve got three basic varieties out there: June-bearing, seasonal, and ever-bearing. June-bearing, just like the name says, produces a crop in June or early July at the latest.
Seasonal varieties produce fruit throughout the season, and ever-bearing varieties produce several crops throughout the entire year.
All have their advantages and disadvantages, and all of them have their fans, but if you want a truly massive haul, you need to pick a June-bearing variety.
These invariably have the most bountiful crop out of all of them, ensuring you’ll be swimming in berries for eating or have bunches for processing into jams, preserves and more.
My picks for great June-bearing varieties include Jewel, Seneca, All-Star, and Earliglow, but there are many others.
Watch for Burnout
Another basic tip, but one that I’ve seen both new and seasoned green thumbs forget about time and time again. Even the healthiest and best-cared-for plants don’t grow big crops forever. And that includes the June-bearing varieties we talked about just a moment ago.
As a rule, you’ll usually get three years’ worth of solid growth and impressive crops out of any given strawberry plant, and then it will slow down considerably. By the end of year four, its best days will definitely be behind it in terms of quantity and quality.
It’s not a relationship that’s made to last forever, so you should plan on replanting your strawberries every three or four years.
Give Your Plants Plenty of Sun
Strawberries need lots of sunshine to grow and thrive, and even if the plant is growing without enough, your crop will be disappointing in terms of size and volume. Strawberries need full sun, and at the minimum, that means 6 hours a day, and 8 is better.
When picking a spot to plant them, choose a perpetually sunny patch that’s south-facing in your garden, and pay particular attention to what might shade your plants throughout the day. Even a little shade can affect the quality of your harvest.
If you’ve got your plants in containers, you’ll be in luck because you can easily move them if needed to optimize the amount they get.
Fertilize Periodically with Organic Nitrogen…
Every plant out there needs a certain amount of nitrogen, but strawberries need more than most people think. Specifically, you should fertilize your plants with organic, nitrogen-rich materials like compost or fully rotted manure to give them the food they need throughout the growing season.
A good rule of thumb is to give them a boost of fertilizer early in the springtime to help them take off and stay healthy early on when they are at their most vulnerable. You can also prepare the soil ahead of time for planting if you’re willing to test, work in amendments, and then retest later on.
…Then Switch to Potassium-Rich Organic Fertilizers to Improve Fruit
You aren’t done fertilizing your berries once you’ve given them that shot of nitrogen early in the season. Like most other fruits and veggies, a dose of potassium at the right time will help your plants produce truly exceptional strawberries.
Happily, it’s easy to time this, as all you’ll have to do is keep an eye on the development of the plants themselves. Once they start flowering, it’s time to give them a liquid or water-in organic fertilizer that has the potassium they need.
Alfalfa meal, potash, kelp meal, and homemade banana peel fertilizer work wonderfully for the job, and all of them are natural and safe to use on foods you are going to pick and eat.
Trim Back Runners to Boost Fruiting
Strawberry plants are known for sending out runners as they grow, and savvy gardeners know that these can be trimmed and planted to make a brand-new plant or left to their own devices if you want a truly big strawberry bush.
However, if you’ve got your eyes on the prize and the prize is that bumper crop, these runners have got to go. That’s because a plant that is investing resources in growing runners is taking the resources away from fruiting. Pruning them back means more and bigger fruit, easy as that.
But make sure you prune them responsibly. Keep your pruners very clean and sharp and trim them off close to the main stalk. Note that you will still need to replant your strawberry bushes every 3 to 4 years regardless; once they get too big productivity will diminish no matter what.
Don’t Plant Them Too Deeply
Another classic strawberry screw-up is planting them too deeply. Your plants should be stuck in the ground with the crown slightly above the surface of the soil. They really don’t like to be planted deep!
Even if the plant manages to establish itself, the stress and wasted energy will impact your crop later on.
Keep that crown slightly proud, just above the level of the soil, and you’ll have a healthier and happier plant every time.
Spread Out the Roots for Maximum Nutrient Uptake
Another planting tip: take the time to set and spread out the roots of the plant before you secure it in place. This will directly improve the health and production of your strawberry plant by helping the roots gather more nutrients over a wider area. Aim to plant your berries 10 to 18 inches apart (closer to 18 inches for June-bearing varieties).
If you leave the roots wadded up or, worse, compacted together, they will quickly strip all of the nutrients out of the soil that is immediately adjacent to them. This wastes valuable time when the plant could be benefiting from optimum nutrition and channeling that into productive growth.
Strawberries naturally tend toward establishing a wider root system over time, but just because they do this themselves doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from special handling early on.
Ensure Soil is Well-Drained
This is a big one. Strawberries tend to grow best in loose, sandy, well-drained soil. It’s critical that the soil drains rapidly and evenly to protect them from root rot and other types of fungi which can devastate them and rob you of a bountiful harvest.
This is gardening 101 for most plants, but worth mentioning here because I know too many folks that assume their soil is well-draining, only to check after it’s too late and find their plants dead or dying from soggy, sick roots.
But Keep the Soil Moist!
Make sure your soil is both well-draining and constantly kept moist. What gives!?
Strawberries are just a little fussy like that. The roots don’t need to stay sopping wet or, far worse, in standing water, but it’s also bad news if they’re allowed to dry out.
The way to accomplish this is not by chasing some impossible standard with your soil composition, but instead to use mulch, straw, or some other ground cover to help lock in moisture and prevent it from evaporating too quickly.
This ground covering also has additional benefits for your plants by suppressing weeds.
Protect Developing Foliage and Fruit from Dirt and Splashes
Lastly, here’s a trick that all master strawberry growers know. You want to protect foliage and fruit alike from splashes and dirt.
Don’t water your plants directly over top, and even if you’re watering the root zone and missing the plant itself, don’t water too hard; that will splash dirt and other debris up onto the leaves and the developing fruit.
Remember: strawberry plants are highly vulnerable to fungal infection, and keeping them moist and dirty is bound to cause disease, brown spots, and other health problems. This stress will reduce yields and the overall quality of the berries themselves.
If you put down mulch that will go a long way toward stopping dirt from splashing up on them, but you should still water them gently and close to the soil, away from the base. Let the roots do their job and drink up the moisture.
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Tom has lived and worked on farms and homesteads from the Carolinas to Kentucky and beyond. He is passionate about helping people prepare for tough times by embracing lifestyles of self-sufficiency.