Everbearing strawberries produce multiple harvests throughout the growing season, unlike their June-bearing counterparts. This characteristic allows gardeners to enjoy fresh fruit from late spring until fall frost. Achieving this extended harvest depends significantly on proper cultural practices, beginning with the precise timing of planting. Understanding when to place these perennial plants in the ground is the first step toward establishing a successful and productive strawberry patch.
Understanding Everbearing Varieties
The term “everbearing” is often used interchangeably with “day-neutral” varieties. Both describe strawberries that do not rely on specific day lengths to initiate flower bud production, flowering and fruiting regardless of photoperiod. These plants typically produce two main flushes of fruit: a lighter crop in the early summer and a more substantial harvest in the late summer or fall.
This continuous fruiting habit requires specific planting and management strategies to maximize yield. Since the plant’s energy is divided throughout the season, it contrasts with the single, concentrated energy burst of June-bearing types. Everbearing varieties prioritize fruit production over runner formation, making them well-suited for smaller spaces and container gardening.
Optimal Timing for Planting
The most advantageous time to plant everbearing strawberries is early spring, allowing the plant ample time to establish a robust root system before summer heat arrives. Planting should occur as soon as the soil is workable, typically after the threat of a hard frost has passed. The ideal soil temperature for successful establishment is consistently between 50°F and 60°F at a depth of four inches. This range promotes vigorous root growth while allowing the plant to prioritize vegetative development.
Planting before the soil warms sufficiently can lead to slow growth and increase the risk of crown rot. While late-summer or early-fall planting is sometimes attempted in mild winter regions, it is less preferred. Fall planting gives plants minimal time to establish before dormancy and exposes young plants to freeze-thaw cycles that can heave root systems out of the ground, necessitating careful mulching.
For most northern and temperate climates, planting bare-root crowns or plugs immediately after the ground thaws provides the maximum duration for vegetative growth. This early establishment directly correlates to higher yields in subsequent years. Waiting too long into the spring can subject newly planted crowns to immediate stress from high temperatures and dry soil conditions, hindering initial growth.
Step-by-Step Planting Method
Selecting an appropriate site is the initial step, favoring a location that receives at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily and offers well-drained soil. Since strawberries are highly susceptible to root diseases in standing water, amending the soil with organic matter like compost is beneficial to improve both drainage and nutrient retention. Before planting, soak the roots of bare-root plants in water for an hour to rehydrate them and reduce transplant shock.
The physical act of planting requires careful attention to the crown, the thickened stem where the roots meet the leaves. The plant must be set so the middle of the crown is precisely level with the surrounding soil surface. Planting too deep will bury the crown and likely cause it to rot, while planting too shallow will expose the roots and cause the plant to dry out quickly, inhibiting establishment.
Everbearing varieties are often grown in a hill system or a narrow matted row, with spacing typically ranging from 12 to 18 inches between plants. Rows should be spaced 30 to 36 inches apart to facilitate air circulation, reduce disease pressure, and allow for ease of harvesting. Proper spacing minimizes competition for nutrients and sunlight. Immediately after planting, a thorough watering settles the soil around the roots and eliminates air pockets.
First Year Management and Fruiting Expectations
The first year is dedicated to building a strong, productive plant structure rather than maximizing immediate fruit yield. The most crucial management step involves removing the first flush of flowers that appear shortly after planting. All flowers should be pinched off for the initial four to six weeks, or until the plant has developed at least six healthy leaves. This redirects the plant’s energy toward developing a robust root system, which increases long-term vigor and future harvests.
Everbearing plants produce runners, which are horizontal stems that develop new plantlets. These runners should be consistently clipped throughout the first season, especially when using the hill system. Removing the runners maintains the plant’s focus on the primary crown and concentrates energy into developing larger fruit on the mother plant.
Expect the first harvest to be small, arriving about three months after planting, generally beginning in mid-summer once the initial flower-pinching period is complete. The main harvest for everbearing types occurs later in the season, typically from late August until the first heavy frost. This management strategy provides a sustained, moderate supply of berries throughout the latter half of the growing season and ensures a stronger, higher-yielding patch in subsequent years.