Strawberry renovation is a foundational maintenance practice for established June-bearing plantings, designed to rejuvenate the plants and maximize the following year’s fruit yield. This process involves the strategic removal of old foliage, followed by critical steps to clean and prepare the bed. Renovation encourages new, healthy growth, controls disease and pests, and channels the plant’s energy into developing the next season’s flower buds. Successful renovation ensures the longevity and productivity of the strawberry patch.
Optimal Timing for Foliage Removal
The timing for mowing June-bearing strawberries is highly specific and must occur immediately after the final harvest is complete. Growers should complete this foliage removal within a narrow window of seven to ten days following the last picking. This strict timing is necessary to allow the plants sufficient time to regrow a full, healthy canopy before fall.
Strawberry plants form the flower buds for the next spring’s harvest during the late summer and early fall. Mowing stimulates renewed vegetative growth, which is a prerequisite for robust bud initiation. Delaying the mowing past this window, especially into August, prevents new leaves from fully developing, potentially leading to a significantly reduced yield the following year.
Preparation and Mowing Technique
Before mowing begins, a few preparatory steps ensure a clean and effective cut. Water the strawberry bed deeply a few days prior, especially during hot, dry weather, to reduce plant stress and aid quick recovery. Any large, mature weeds that have already produced seeds should be hand-pulled and removed to prevent their spread during the mowing process.
Cutting the foliage requires precision to avoid damaging the plant’s crown, the compressed stem base where new leaves and flower stalks emerge. The mower deck must be set to cut approximately one to two inches above the crowns, with 1.5 inches being the suggested target height. Carefully running a rotary mower over the rows will cleanly shear the old leaves, but adjust the height to the highest setting if the bed surface is uneven.
Immediately after the foliage is cut, all debris, including old leaves and fallen fruit, must be thoroughly raked up and removed from the patch. Leaving this plant material creates a moist environment that harbors fungal diseases and insect pests, undermining the renovation’s purpose. For small patches, a string trimmer or sharp pruning shears can be used as an alternative to a mower, maintaining the same cutting height above the crown.
Essential Post-Mowing Renovation Steps
Once the mowing and debris removal are complete, the next critical phase involves narrowing the rows and improving plant spacing. For the matted-row system typical of June-bearing varieties, rows should be narrowed to a width of about 8 to 12 inches using a rototiller or cultivator to remove excess plants and runners in the aisleways. This practice increases air circulation, improves light penetration, and concentrates the plant’s energy into the remaining crowns.
Following row narrowing, a fertilizer application is necessary to fuel the vigorous regrowth of the new foliage. A balanced fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10 formulation, or a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer, is broadcast over the beds. Applying 25 to 60 pounds of actual nitrogen per acre is common, often split into two applications separated by four to six weeks for better uptake.
The final and ongoing step is thorough irrigation, which is paramount for successful renovation. Plants must receive the equivalent of one to two inches of water per week until the fall to support the rapid development of new leaves and the initiation of flower buds. Adequate moisture is required for the plants to fully recover from mowing and establish the foundation for a high-yielding crop the following spring.
Mowing Day-Neutral and Everbearing Varieties
The aggressive annual mowing and renovation described for June-bearing strawberries is generally not applied to day-neutral and everbearing varieties. These types of strawberries produce fruit continuously throughout the summer and into the fall, meaning they do not have the same distinct post-harvest rest period. The primary focus for these varieties is maintaining plant health and spacing throughout the season.
If the foliage of day-neutral or everbearing plants becomes overgrown, diseased, or heavily infested with pests, a less aggressive form of cleanup may be performed. This typically involves using shears or a string trimmer to selectively remove old or damaged leaves, or to cut back the entire canopy by about two inches in the late summer or early fall. Any such trimming will temporarily reduce fruit production, so it is often timed to minimize the impact on the desired fall harvest.
These varieties benefit more from regular runner removal and thinning to prevent overcrowding rather than the complete annual renovation.