Strawberry Growing Tips For 2023 

Right on, hope its a bountiful year for you! :-)

Thanks so much for watching.....appreciate you sandy! 🙂

Thanks so much.... Appreciate the support!

Thanks so much Brian, sorry to hear about the wheelchair. What are you into growing on the ledges and window sills? What's working well for you this year so far?

Ha ha you got it Alex.....and its not even a Canadian native, which is where I am! A zoo that went bankrupt back in the 80's let loose all their animals, Bullfrogs and Wall Lizards were two of them and in the 40 years since have absolutely taken over the native fauna. I even wrote a paper on the Wall Lizards back in high school for a national geography contest, ha ha, so I've been keenly aware of these little guys since 1993.....30 years! I call them naturalized now as there's no getting rid of them and they do eat a ton of insects. Cheers man, thanks so much for watching! :-)

The wild ones can be sooooo tasty!

😂😂 I love it

You sneaky sneaky

You stole something you thought was a weed but planted it? Hmmmm

@@Candlewick14 I stole wild strawberries FROM A YARD I LANDSCAPE. THEY(as in not me) thought they were weeds. Hopefully that clears up your confusion? God has the education system failed horribly. It's honestly a daily miracle the world doesn't burst in to flame. Avoid holes.

And it only gets better AM! 🙂

Cheers Phyllis, thanks for watching! 🙂

Cheers, always happy to help!

Right on, happy to help and best of luck!!

Cheers Roxana, thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

Thanks Mary, appreciate the kind words. 🙂

Cheers. 🙂

Cheers, thanks for watching!

Ahhhh year 3.....the mega year! Best of luck!! 🙂

Hey, that's awesome, thanks for watching! Just heading into your summer, hope you have a productive one!

Thanks Ash, and thanks for checking the video out! :-)

Thanks, appreciate that! Yes, that inner crown HAS to sit high and proud (above the soil, not necessarily the mulch)....plant them right and you're more than half way there! 🙂

Definitely you can Donna! Pick up some starters and go with container strawberries to get a feel for it first! :-)

Thanks so much TD...I didn't want to leave anything out!

Cheers Naomi, hope everything is going great in your world! :-)

@TheRipeTomatoFarms Raising small flock has been alot of work but so fun. Now they are almost laying age I can get back to my gardening. They enjoyed most of my early greens.

@@naomi2646 that's exciting Naomi! Lots of work, but well worth it!

Cheers Patricia, thanks for watching, have a great week! :-)

Right on Zan....not much longer now!!

Thanks! :-)

Hey right on, happy to hear that!

That's so awesome to hear Christine! Do you amends your soil with any compost during the off season at all?

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms I don't but, shall I? If so, what would you suggest for my Strawberries? Thanks 🙂

Right on, best of luck! :-)

Totally agree Gilbert.....its never enough! Especially with kids..they can mow down 60 berries each a day! 🙂

That's exactly.....when I see $6 a plant I just about pass out, LOL! Fortunately, you only have to ever buy one plants and then you're off to the races! 32C already for you? That's bonkers.....a record? Luckily the wildfires are a province over in Alberta.....but we're definitely on high alert here and campfire bans are now in effect. 😞

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Yes they have banned disposable bbq's here in public parks and they do kinda here with firepits. No campfires as too residential and bad enough not tending their composters that caught on fire last year. I have that social renting noisy new neighbours who ignores the rules about everything. Chopping down trees in a conservation area in May, chopping hedges down again in May when a lot of birds lost their nests and spend a lot of time in our garden now. They were doing their patio at 10pm when my kid was asleep right next to them on a school night. We have air bricks, in a brick house, which was lovely for my kid not. They like to have parties until 1am in the garden and have the fire pit going in 40 c weather, with no appropriate adult supervision on the patio 5m (if that) away from the houses. The neighbours on the other side who are privately renting, moved out of their end of terrace house after they blocked off their fire escape alley to join the outside toilet building to the main house to create a bedroom for their adult kid. Such a big worry for us now if they have a fire outbreak as that fire alley is also meant to be a third fire escape access point as they are the end of the terrace. We are backed onto a dangerous no entry area, hence the fire alleys and escape tunnels from the rear of the house. It is highly regulated as i thought but as i was washing my outside windows upstairs, minding my own business, they felt it necessary to shout up at us to tell us that it was all approved and above board.... They also lied about who is their housing association is when i asked and already knew, when they kept on parking over our drive. When we got our loft extension done, we had to get so many people involved from the council, get the plans registered by the architects and the council planners would regularly have to visit and inspect. 3rd parity agreements with the neighbours on the terrace all had to sign it and it was very expensive. None of that happened with these renters and the work was done by one of the kids grandfather, called Paddy (That is literally his name!). So yes, as their poor dog and animals stay outside all night to bark and make noise as they wonder, coming from an urban area to the suburbs, that there are foxes and rats and how storing 20 pets in a shed is not a great idea and why the dog is constantly barking. Gardening was and is my therapy after trauma. We lost my MIL last Feb and then my Dad had a stroke during the July heatwave. I was also very sick but still had to deal with entertaining my teen niece and her bf going off into London during train strike or heat rail issues and my sister interfering from The Netherlands, with no local knowledge of how it has changed since she left. I had to drive over an hour, often escorting different people like on a tourist taxi visit to the hospital just so i could look after my Dad as the hospital was over packed. 12 hours in a chair 24hrs for a bed and he had a stroke... Petrol prices were at its highest and we had big inheirtance tax bill to pay for my MIL, before we could do anything with that. And i was still sick. My family living in other countries were gossiping and hating on me when i was already things but not advertising on social media, as i am not that kind of person. When my sister finally arrived for the weekend and left our house straight after to go partying with her friends, like we're a hotel, she visits my Dad in ICU, mask off, next to the dying patients, having travelled through several countries from the Netherlands, to have a selfie, with my Dad that she promptly posted on FB! All this while, telling the family how bad i am at looking after him. The first thing we did was take his cat in, which i am very highly allergic too, so that plus recovering from covid, plus heatwave was not a lot of fun. She is an outdoors cat but she lives in the countryside and wouldn't be safe in a busy residential area, next to an aggressive dog. She was also a rescue after a dog attack as a kitten and had to have her jaw rewired, so not ideal. I am more of a dog rescue person and have plenty in our time. Our fur daughter passed in Dec '19 when i got really sick. Hubby doesn't know how to drive, so everything gets complicated, like labour, etc. Really sorry for this rant but yeah. I just hope it isn't as bad as last year. And i am learning to say no to people now too. We are low income now after my illness, so gave friends plants on the proviso that we got the pots back, so they could get plants back next year. When i asked for them back after waiting so long as i wanted to give them this years plants, they told me they put them in the bin! This year, I have limited plants due to poor germination. They are getting reused fizzy bottles for pots. The delay in returning the pots mean the plants are a bit stunted. Going to sell the rest at the school fair as it will all go back to the school. Only offered plants to one friend/ neighbour this time. Communities and families shouldn't be about expecting something. I always prefer someone's presence than presents. Is that too much to ask for these days?

@@AnyKeyLady Oh never worry about ranting...I think we have one of the best communities out there.....we all deserve to be heard and to let others know we're just as much people as we are gardeners!! Find solace in your gardening and comfort in your plants. I treat mine like family sometimes, just by how much I hang out with them each and every day! Take care, we got you! 🙂

Best of luck. You got this! 🙂

No, you're not useless, just no one has shown you before now. Give it a go with everything you've learned and I bet you are going to have the time of your life!!!

Thanks rose, happy to help! Yes, you can cut (they are sooooo hard to pull off without damaging the plant) any yellow or brown leaves at any time with strawberries.

🙂

Nice! A little extra dirt/compost will never hurt. Have they started to fruit yet?

Yup, that's exactly it...just propagate off your existing plants in year 4 or so......get them up to size and then replace the following year. I have a few spent beds so at the end of the summer, I'll make a full transition video about it! So yes, in short, the clones reset the lifecycle and go back to year 0 once rooted! 🙂

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms awesome, thanks for clarifying that!! Can't wait to see the transition video. I have a 2 year old bed of strawberries and was curious.

I hear you on that one Eric. If its not the pill bugs, its the slugs and if its not the slugs, its the birds....sigh.

Red rocks really do work for birds. *IF* you're going to mulch up to the plant (haven for pill bugs and slugs), do a mixture of Dawn soap (just a touch), baking soda, and water, and it will deter slugs; you can put on plants, on berries, on soil, on mulch. Diatomaceous will not work on slugs or other non-chitinous critters.

@@Mandy138Cool Great tips Amanda!

Yup, been there Tammy.....you can't control nature. If it rained and the garlic is still growing, fear not, just let it keep growing, mulch or no mulch. Check the weather and try to let it go for 4-5 days without rainfall....if the garlic is truly ready to harvest (foliage has died back 75%), then start harvesting before it rains again. Garlic will NOT rot if its still growing undisturbed in the ground....its when you start pulling it up and severing the root's ties to the ground that they can rot if left wet. Also, harvesting wet isn't terrible...it just makes is 5x harder than harvesting when dry. Not ideal, but not impossible.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms THANK YOU ... I am headed out to the garden right now to evaluate things... lol.. before it starts raining again....

@@tammyj.9152 Keep us updated Tammy! Its not a unique situation and a lot of people can learn from it! 🙂

Definitely RLB....I'd do a couple containers first, see how they taste. Wild ones send out runners like CRAZY, so if you like them, you'll have millions in 1-2 seasons. As for planting, literally any time from last spring frost date to 3-4 weeks before last fall frost date. Earlier is better though. 🙂

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms thanks Jeff I’ll be digging them up this week and getting them into some pots.

No, basically the same..... Avoid the temptation to fertilize and just make sure your soil is good going into the season. Pick the berries as they ripen and watch the moisture levels!

Perfect.....make more plants Debbie! 🙂

They really are jennifer! 7 gallons. 10 gallons is too heavy and the 5 gallon ones are just that much too small.....7 gallons is the perfect size!

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d7DqpIUTOlg.html It can be tricky.....exposure is they key, but you also can't have them break dormancy by keeping them too warm.

Hi, I hear you! I get my straw local here in Canada.... I've never seen an online version of it. Grass clippings that are nice and loose is a good alternative

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Appreciated! I can source hay easy enough, but it's all GMO (no sprays) and seemed to cause harm to some of my perennials after using it last fall. I would love grass clippings, but having a small yard and cutting it short for tick control makes it tough to get an amount worth the bother.

I always avoid feeding.....you can experiment though if you have multiple plants, especially self-contained potted ones.

Hi Filomena, as an outdoor plant in my climate, my strawberries simply don't get them. Spider mites really only attach the inside stuff here. But if I did, I'd use this spray: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iRYvw9vRguk.html

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms You’re lucky not to have a problem with. Thanks for the link, I will have to try out those methods. It is kind of hard to avoid getting spray on the fruit. Should I avoid eating those berries or is it fine?

Netting is really the only way unfortunately.

Yeah, strawberries do get along with other plants Larry, but honestly, they crowd them out in short order....so I never grow them with others, even if in year 1 it looks like there's a ton of space. Strawberries set their fruit buds in the fall (June-bearing ones for sure), so they can be pruned easily when flowers appear.....I just never do. I hate messing with them during the fruiting season.

I fertilize them once at planting with high nitrogen, then again about a month later with a balanced blend. That's it. Some people feed a 3rd time, but it all depends on your soil.

You can get away with tight spacing SH...you'll just be replanting them in 3 years instead of 5 or 6. Watch the moisture level and the nutrients, you can do it with 4" spacing for some varieties.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Thank you! You're one of the best gardening channels! Videos are short, informative and well edited. Entertaining to watch. Greetings from Alberta! F trudeau! lol

@@SH-jy6lc Thanks so much, super appreciate the support! Stay safe if you're close to any of the fire stuff!

Most definitely.... Strawberries move and transplant VERY well.

Hi Gloria, yes, I cover mine with about 2 inches. Really cold climates will use a foot or more!: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--EI9K3yAaPQ.html

That's a tough one Lisa as strawberries are a cold-weather plant. All my friends that live in warmer climates plant there's in September.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Thank you,

Use straw as a mulch

Yes, like we said in the chat could be water, could be nutrients.....could also be lack of soil if they are outgrowing the containers.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Yes it's mainly happening in the smaller containers so I plan to put them in the ground. Hopefully next year they will do better.

@@LeticiaWorboys I'm sure they will!

Ha ha go for it! Light and cooler tenps will be your only speedbumps!

Wow, sorry to hear that Carol....the only thing in my area that would cause that type of damage would be deer.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms Thank you! We suspected deer or rabbits. Can I cover the plants with netting when I see the flowers?

I've seen squirrels jump on one of my potted strawberries before they don't so much eat the fruit though.

@@TheVeganFamilyDK ya. Something ate the flowers & leaves. I think next year, I'll put netting over the plants when I start getting flowers. IF this guy says it's ok.

@@carolbullard7956 For sure....netting can work wonders as a deterrent Carol! 🙂

No, we don't get it often up here either.....normally its just the 3 numbers! But this one company does it on all their bottles. Weird eh?

How moist is the soil? What's your weather like?

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms when I touch with my hands it’s quite Moist not super watery moist . Currently my weather goes to hight of 82.4f and lower goes to 57.2 f.

Do you know the variety Trace?

Are you feeding them properly? You don’t want to over fertilize, and make sure you’re using a bloom ratio. I use Giya Green products and use a base medium that contains no fertilizer. My preference is the Promix HP mix with mycorrhizae, then amend the soil with Giya Greens 2-8-4 organic mix. Then the plants only take what they need when they need it. Every 30 days, I give a top feed to keep the soil amended. I’ve got new plants that have already started sweet tasting berries that are bigger than already situated plants. I wasn’t sure how it would go, as this is the first time I’m amending my strawberry soil, but I’m shocked by the results. Can’t wait for next year when they will be in their second year and produce hopefully some even more amazing berries. Pro tip…I PH my water to 6.5 also. They love a more acidic water to help absorb those vital micro and macro nutrients.

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms I have the same problem. My variety is quinault.

I don't know the variety

@@tracefl8625 no worries... Just looking for reasons...

What timing Sabby?

Right on Brett... Do you know what varieties you're growing?

@@TheRipeTomatoFarms I think ever bearing. I got them from Lowe’s in Hannibal Missouri .

@@brettfoster6786 nice, best of luck with them!

Who's a thief?