If you are wondering if planting a strawberry will result in growth, the answer is definitively yes, but success depends entirely on the methods used and the quality of ongoing care. Strawberries are perennial plants, meaning they can live for several years and produce fruit season after season. They possess a crown, a shortened stem structure where the leaves and flowers emerge, and they enter dormancy each winter to survive cold temperatures. With the right start and consistent maintenance, a small planting can transform into a productive patch, yielding sweet fruit for years to come.
Choosing the Right Starting Material
The most common and most successful method for a beginner is planting dormant bare roots. These are plants shipped without soil, allowing for a quick and economical way to establish a strawberry bed. Bare roots are already a year old, providing a significant head start compared to seeds and often leading to some fruit production in the second year. To plant them correctly, the crown must be positioned with the middle of the woody section exactly level with the soil surface, ensuring the roots are fully covered and the growing point remains exposed.
Another straightforward option is transplanting runners, which are the plant’s natural offspring. Runners, or stolons, are long, leafless stems sent out by a mature plant that develop a small plantlet at the tip. Once the plantlet has developed roots, it can be severed from the parent and replanted to create a new, genetically identical plant. This method is essentially free propagation but requires waiting for a mother plant to become established enough to produce them.
Starting strawberries from true seed is the most difficult and time-consuming approach due to unpredictable results. Strawberry seeds require a process called cold stratification, which mimics a winter period, before they will germinate reliably. Seeds scraped from grocery store fruit are unlikely to yield the same quality of berry as the parent plant, making it far more practical to purchase bare roots of a known variety.
Establishing the Ideal Location
Strawberries require a location that receives a minimum of six to ten hours of direct sunlight each day for optimal growth and fruit development. This full-sun exposure helps maximize the plant’s photosynthetic activity, leading to higher sugar content and better flavor in the berries. The soil must be well-draining, as the shallow root system of the strawberry plant is highly susceptible to root rot in waterlogged conditions.
The ideal soil composition should be a fertile, sandy loam with a slightly acidic pH, ideally ranging from 5.6 to 6.5. It is beneficial to amend the soil with aged compost or well-rotted manure a few months before planting to improve structure and fertility. Planting time is typically in the early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked, giving the new plants the entire growing season to establish their root systems.
Proper spacing is determined by the planting system you choose. For June-bearing varieties, the matted row system is common, requiring plants to be set 1.5 to 2 feet apart in rows that are 3 to 4 feet apart. Day-neutral and everbearing varieties are often grown in a hill system, spaced more closely at 12 to 18 inches apart in double-rows. Adequate spacing ensures good air circulation, which is essential for reducing the incidence of fungal diseases.
Seasonal Care and Runner Management
Consistent moisture is necessary throughout the growing season, especially once the plants begin to set fruit. Strawberry plants require about 1 to 2 inches of water per week, increasing to a full 2 inches during the peak period of fruit development. It is best to water in the morning using a drip system or soaker hose to keep the foliage dry, which minimizes the risk of leaf diseases.
Fertilization schedules depend on the type of strawberry being grown, as June-bearing and day-neutral varieties have different growth cycles. June-bearing plants should not receive nitrogen fertilizer in the spring before harvest, as this encourages soft, leafy growth at the expense of fruit quality. Instead, they benefit from a balanced granular fertilizer applied immediately after the harvest season concludes.
Runner management is a defining feature of strawberry care, particularly in the first year after planting. Runners are horizontal stems that allow the mother plant to produce new clones, but this process diverts energy away from establishing a strong root system. For the best long-term production, all runners should be pruned off the plant in the first year to direct all energy toward crown development. Allowing runners to root in subsequent years is only recommended if you wish to expand the patch, but they should be thinned to prevent overcrowding.
Harvesting and Winter Preparation
A common practice to maximize the subsequent harvest is to remove all flowers from newly planted June-bearing strawberries during their first season. This removal prevents the plant from expending energy on fruit production and instead channels it into developing a large, robust crown and root system for the following year. For day-neutral varieties, it is usually sufficient to only remove the first flush of flowers for the initial three to four weeks after planting.
Once the plants are established, you can expect a good yield. The berries are ready for harvest when they show a uniform, bright red color across the entire fruit, including the tip, and feel firm but not hard to the touch.
As the weather cools in late fall, preparing the perennial plants for dormancy is necessary for their survival through the winter months. Once the plants have experienced a few hard frosts and the leaves begin to turn brown, the foliage should be cut back to about one inch above the crown. The entire bed should then be covered with a thick layer of loose mulch, such as 4 to 6 inches of weed-free straw or pine needles. This layer insulates the crowns from extremely low temperatures and prevents the freeze-thaw cycles that can heave plants out of the soil.