Adequate spacing for strawberries is crucial for plant health and productivity. Providing sufficient “room” ensures proper air circulation, which helps prevent common fungal diseases. Sufficient spacing also allows each plant to receive the necessary sunlight and nutrients without intense competition. Ultimately, the correct distance between plants maximizes the quantity and quality of the fruit yield.
Specific Spacing for In-Ground Systems
Gardeners using traditional in-ground beds typically choose between two primary planting methods, each with distinct spacing requirements. The matted row system is frequently used for June-bearing varieties, which produce numerous runners. This method begins by setting the initial mother plants 18 to 24 inches apart within the row.
Rows are spaced widely, generally three to four feet apart, to allow for walkways and future plant expansion. This wide spacing is necessary because the matted row system permits the mother plants to send out runners, which then root to form new daughter plants, filling the row into a continuous, dense mat. The goal is a final row width of about 12 to 18 inches.
The hill system offers a different approach, often preferred for day-neutral or everbearing strawberry types, which naturally produce fewer runners. Plants are set much closer together, typically 12 to 15 inches apart. This tighter spacing is maintained by removing all runners, directing the plant’s energy solely into fruit production and the development of multiple crowns.
Hill systems can be planted in single rows or in staggered double or triple rows, with the rows themselves spaced 12 to 15 inches apart. This intensive planting requires more plants initially but often results in larger berries and can be particularly effective in raised beds or when utilizing plastic mulch for weed control, as the lack of runners means new plants are not rooting into the soil.
Density Guidelines for Container Planting
Growing strawberries in containers shifts the focus from horizontal row spacing to intensive surface density. Since strawberry plants have relatively shallow root systems, the surface area of the container is often more relevant than its depth.
A general guideline for individual pots is one plant per square foot of surface area. A single strawberry plant can be comfortably housed in a container as small as an 8-inch pot. For larger pots, a 12-inch diameter container can accommodate two to three plants.
In raised beds, plants are spaced about 12 inches apart in a grid pattern in all directions. This close spacing maximizes the yield for the given footprint while still allowing sufficient room for air circulation. Specialized vertical structures, like strawberry pots or towers, maximize space by placing a single plant in each pocket or opening.
Maintaining Required Space Through Runner Management
Strawberry plants naturally propagate themselves using specialized horizontal stems called runners, or stolons, which quickly consume the allotted space if left unchecked. These runners extend out from the parent plant and form tiny daughter plants at their tips, which then root into the soil. Overcrowding reduces airflow, increases the likelihood of diseases like gray mold, and causes intense competition for water and nutrients.
The management strategy for runners depends on the initial planting system chosen. In the hill system, all runners must be removed immediately and consistently throughout the growing season to maintain spacing and focus the plant’s energy on fruit production. This pruning effort preserves the yield of the mother plants.
For the matted row system, the approach is one of controlled allowance. Gardeners permit a limited number of runners to root and fill the row to the desired width, typically 12 to 18 inches wide. Any runners that try to root outside of this established border or those that would create a density of less than six inches between plants should be removed.