June-Bearing Strawberries
I have had a lot of luck growing Sequoia June-Bearing Strawberries in pots. Right now, they are full of ripe strawberries. The berries are so much tastier than what I typically purchase in a grocery store.
When I grew strawberries in the ground, snails ate the berries before they even turned red. I was reluctant to put snail poison near the fruit, and it washed away quickly anyway. A few years ago, I started growing strawberries in pots that have copper tape around the bottom. I have had very few problems with snails since then.
Back in May, I was harvesting strawberries every week. Then in June, the June-Bearing strawberries suddenly stopped producing strawberries, even though I was watering every few days, and they looked healthy otherwise. Usually, the plants wilt if they are not getting watered at least that often.
I then tried fertilizing them with water soluble fertilizer every week. In about 3 weeks, the plants started getting the white flowers again, and now they are producing berries in abundance. I think that the nutrients may have leeched out of the soil in the pots.
Also, the plants are probably root bound in the pots and competing for nutrients and water. I probably put too many in each pot, although they don’t seem to mind as long as they are getting watered and fertilized regularly.
July 27 2008 12:23 pm | Strawberries