How Hard Can You Cut Back Strawberries?
Last year my strawberries plants grew very thick and spread outside my pyramid box I had built for them.
Although they produced a lot of strawberries, it was very wet during harvest and many were lost to slugs, pill bugs and rot. So, about a month after last year’s harvest had ended I decided to take the weed whacker to them and cut them back hard. My hope was they would come back thinner this year and allow for more air circulation and less rot problems. This technique also was much easier than cleaning them up by hand. This is what they looked like after I whacked them.
After whacking them I immediately gave them a feeding with some organic strawberry fertilizer I use and topped the beds with compost. I kept them well water over the remainder of the summer and protected them with shredded leaves before winter set in.
Early in the spring I vacuumed up most of the leaves and fertilized again. They came back very nice and are getting ready to produce a healthy crop.
Notice that although they came back nicely and are loaded with berries they aren’t as thick as last year. I’m hoping for a dryer harvest season this year and less rot. I also found some organic bait that is supposed to keep the pill bugs under control so fingers crossed for good harvest in a few weeks.
Thanks for reading and please upvote and resteem.
I'm thinking I might have to convert my strawberry garden into a multi-level setup.
The pyramid is working rather well for me although I did put it in a low part of the garden which is a problem if we are getting a lot of rain during harvest. It's a good way of maximizing space though.
I got them in pots
I think I should give some baby plants away
or plant them in my veggie garden
is it necessary to put some mulch ?
It probably isn't necessary to do too much to strawberries but I go a little overboard sometimes. I think a little fertilizer once or twice a year is good and mulch or compost allows the runners to root easy and form new crowns. A crown is only good for a few years so if new ones are constantly forming your strawberry bed may hold a lot longer.