Why were the strawberries i tasted down the lotty last night so sour?
They are quite old plants, and it has been incredibly dry. And it is a
slightly neglected / weedy bit of ground. Do i need to replant them all
or can i just rescue the flavour with watering?
sarah

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Why were the strawberries i tasted down the lotty last night so sour?
They are quite old plants, and it has been incredibly dry. And it is a
slightly neglected / weedy bit of ground. Do i need to replant them all
or can i just rescue the flavour with watering?

Well, there's nothing to be lost by trying the water. A certain
amount of sun will also sweeten them somewhat so you might tear back
the weeds too. But strawberries do deteriorate in health, vitality and
production after three years and most people get rid of them after that
age, roots and all. Preferably burn don't compost. Ideally, you should
plant some new plants each year so that you have a three-year
succession. In their first year they don't fruit much, second is better,
third is best, then they're history. By then, you have another
generation approaching their peak age for cropping.

In the circumsatnces I wouldn't bother with the usual method of
getting new plants, which is by rooting some runners from your own crop.
Just in case they are diseased or not a good strain.. Prepare a new
strawberrybed in a different area, well dug, compost or manure added,
and see if you can beg some healthy runners from another allotmenter who
has a tasty strong crop.

Janet.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:44:49 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

In the circumsatnces I wouldn't bother with the usual method of
getting new plants, which is by rooting some runners from your own crop.
Just in case they are diseased or not a good strain.. Prepare a new
strawberrybed in a different area, well dug, compost or manure added,
and see if you can beg some healthy runners from another allotmenter who
has a tasty strong crop.

Is there any particular reason to generate new plants from runners
rather than from seed? At present I have a fairly healthy crop of
poorly fruiting strawberries (most in their first year, a few in their
second) if I propogate from those using runners when should I do that?

JB

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from JB contains these words:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:44:49 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

In the circumsatnces I wouldn't bother with the usual method of
getting new plants, which is by rooting some runners from your own crop.
Just in case they are diseased or not a good strain.. Prepare a new
strawberrybed in a different area, well dug, compost or manure added,
and see if you can beg some healthy runners from another allotmenter who
has a tasty strong crop.

Is there any particular reason to generate new plants from runners
rather than from seed?

Runners are foolproof to grow, will be identical clones of the
plant they came from, and will fruit well in two years from now. Have
you bought strawberry seed? Never seen or tried that. If it's seed
saved from a modern hybrid fruit, it won't all come true.

At present I have a fairly healthy crop of
poorly fruiting strawberries (most in their first year, a few in their
second) if I propogate from those using runners when should I do that?

They don't crop very well in the first year anyway. You need to cut
off all the runners from each plant to save it's strength for fruiting
next year, so reduce the number now, but let one or two per plant grow
on for propagating.

Keep an eye on the remaining runners. They will develop leaves and
start rooting into the ground where they lie. In a few weeks when they
have a little bunches of roots just dig them up with a trowel, trim
off the umbilical cord , and line out the new plants where you want them
to grow. If you do that in July they will be well established before
winter.

Janet.

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

In a few weeks when they
have a little bunches of roots just dig them up with a trowel, trim
off the umbilical cord , and line out the new plants where you want them
to grow.

I have major problems with slugs and mice so I leave some plants for
them but for myself I have a strawberry tower to keep the fruits away
from beasties. I made this from a piece of 6" plastic drianpipe and a
flat bottomed bucket such as a cattle lick (Farmers throw these away
when finished).

Method:

Using a hole cutter make holes in the drainpipe at varying intervals so
that plants will not obstruct each other. Upend bucket, sink slightly
into ground for stability and half fill with gravel. Insert pipe end
into gravel so that it stands upright. Put a smaller pipe into the
drainpipe and fill around it with soil of your choice. Pack down and
remove the inner pipe. Fill resulting hole with gravel to enable
watering (alternatively fill inner pipe with dry, coarse sand and then
remove pipe). Insert plants into holes and water in. Fill bucket with
water to prevent invasion by mice and other beasties. The result has
been plenty of sweet berries and less foliage than when the roots are
free to run iin the open ground.


| |
| |
| | Pipe
| |
| |
| ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬|
| | bucket filled with water
| |
--------------

--
Cheers,
Compo - Caithness

compo writes:

I have major problems with slugs and mice so I leave some plants for
them but for myself I have a strawberry tower to keep the fruits away
from beasties. I made this from a piece of 6" plastic drianpipe and a
flat bottomed bucket such as a cattle lick

Using a hole cutter make holes in the drainpipe at varying intervals so
that plants will not obstruct each other. Upend bucket, sink slightly
into ground for stability and half fill with gravel. Insert pipe end
into gravel so that it stands upright. Put a smaller pipe into the
drainpipe and fill around it with soil of your choice. Pack down and
remove the inner pipe. Fill resulting hole with gravel to enable
watering (alternatively fill inner pipe with dry, coarse sand and then
remove pipe).

Sounds like my flower tower. Six columns of 0.75" holes making up a
triangular grid, plant a lobelia plug in each (takes about 150 plugs)
and stand in a big pot which can either have more lobelia or a
contrasting flower. I find running a length of sprinkler hose (the
stiff black variety) up the middle before filling the tower is better
than trying to use gravel or sand. Lead it out through a bigger hole
below compost level and up to the side of the big pot, Hozelock one
way connector on the bottom end and a marble forced in the top and
watering is just a case of clipping the hose on, turn the tap on for a
minute and you're done. I mix slow release fertiliser granules in with
the filling to avoid having to feed, they'll cover a summer nicely and
the whole tower can be swapped for the winter version with just four
columns of holes at a wider spacing filled with winter flowering
pansies.

Anthony

In article ,
(Janet Baraclough) wrote:

Have you bought strawberry seed? Never seen or tried that

Yes, it's the normal method for Alpine straws. Scrumptious. Season runs
from May to October here too.

Suttons do seed and it's in the larger GCs around here.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

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from contains these words:

I find running a length of sprinkler hose (the
stiff black variety) up the middle before filling the tower is better
than trying to use gravel or sand.

Good idea! I'll give that a try next year.

I mix slow release fertiliser granules in with
the filling to avoid having to feed,

I should have added that I mix a handful of fish, blood and bone in with
the soil.

--
Cheers,
Compo