I have never had trouble growing strawberries but would like some tips on growing better, super strawberries,,more productive, perhaps bigger. Would enjoy reading some input on what you do for your strawberry patch,,,what kind of soil preparation, I use natural fertilize, (dry cow manure) Do you have great results from using something else? Thanks ahead of time for any tips,,:-)

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), May 21, 2001

Answers

Hello Patsy, This is my first year growing them and I have had no problems at all. My soil is running about 6.8 pH. I used only organic materials for amending. I dumped my garden with dry cow manure in the early spring and have added sulfur to the soil to reduce the akalinity. After I set out the strawberry plants and mulched around them using pine needles. They are thriving! The flowered quickly and began throwing out runners right away. We have been picking berries off of them for a bout a week now. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), May 21, 2001.

I was just reading in the local farm newspaper that to grow bigger sweeter strawberries, use red mulch. The red color is supposed to be very advantageous for strawberries. I am going to try it.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

Don't crowd your plants.

Get your pH to 6.0.

Mulch with an inch or two of compost covered with a thin layer of straw (the lighter color helps to keep the soil cooler).

Plant in a place that gets sun 100% of the day.

Clip all runners.

Pick off the earliest blooms.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 21, 2001.

I knew an old Amish lady once who grew a lot of wonderful strawberries to sell. She always took an old butcher knife every fall and cut out every other foot of her rows, the whole way down to the end. Then she mowed them off with her lawn mower at the highest setting, and then put 6 inches of manure on them (pretty fresh stuff too), and covered them with leaves.

In the spring, she made sure they got plenty of water up to the time the berries began to ripen. And those plants would bear like crazy.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

Thanks to all,,got several new indeas from you..sure appreciate them,,,will get to work putting into practice,,:-)Happy Gardening!!!

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), May 23, 2001.