Hero to zero - strawberries keeling over

[Sonata]

I'm new at this..but I thought I was doing so well!

I bought some strawberry plants from ebay and put them in a large planter. This was about a month ago. I've watered them regularly and kept an eye on them (squashing aphids, etc). This seemed to have paid off as they were all flourishing and putting on strong growth of leaves, buds and flowers!

However, in the past few days, I've lost 3 and one other is on it's way out. They went from healthy, happy plants with flower buds to dead. Their leaves have died and gone brown and the flower buds are still green, bud wilted and pretty much dead. They're from all over the place (it's one of those planters with some on top, then 3 balconies per side, 8 sides), so it doesn't seem to be a localised thing.

Any ideas?

[Nicos]

Have you been overwatering them maybe?????-(not nice when you've been looking after your babies- and then they die on you!)

You've not used the watering can near weedkiller have you????...just a thought!

[Two_Sheds]

Sounds like they've drowned.
You only need to water when it's dry, not every day.

[Sonata]

Hmm, must be the over watering then. My FIL said to beware of them drying out, so I suppose I got a bit overzealous.

Don't use weedkiller, so it won't be that. Grr, now I need more strawberry plants, I gave/swapped away most of my spares. Might just have enough to fill the gaps.

[ckfe]

didn't realise you could drown them.. getting worried now, i've watered mine twice today!!

[Alison Adams]

Another thing - are they in old compost ? It could be vine weevils which seem to appear from nowhere in compost and they just love strawberry roots, so try pulling out a dead one and see what the roots look like. If it hasnt got any.... that'd be vine weevils ! You would also see little white maggoty bugs in the compost.
I had similar earlier this year and ditched the planter in the end - decided to risk slugs in the garden instead !
Good luck,
Ali

[Two_Sheds]

didn't realise you could drown them.. getting worried now, i've watered mine twice today!!

Over-watering kills more plants than does under-watering.

[Spiderling]

Hi Sonata. See earlier thread regarding Vine Weevils in strawberries and check your plants quickly! It's worth taking a close look at a "healthy" plant to see if there are any VW grubs - cream coloured with a brown head - amongst the roots. You can buy a biological product called Nemasys, which is watered into the plants and the nematodes attack and kill the vine weevil grubs. I got mine by mail from a seed company. Please act quickly!! You could lose the lot. Good luck. Cheers.

[Sonata]

Oh no! I have definately seen those beetles wandering around, and I'm sure I saw one of those grubs in the raised bed. I wonder if that's why one of my runners keeled over.

I'd better have a little dig around and buy some killer. Grr! That and finding a slug on my chinese cabbage leaf (despite the organic slug pellets - which are disappearing, so I suppose they're popular!) are not making me a happy bunny.

[Spiderling]

Hi Sonata. There is always something to worry about with pests! I found dozens of vine weevil grubs amongst my over wintered strawberry plants this spring. I had a whale of a time gleefully squishing them. The plants are all thriving now so hopefully, I caught them in time and the Nemesys does the rest. Check your plants daily for signs of adult weevils...irregular notches in the leaves. I try to be organic but find that some of the bug killers are totally ineffective so have to resort to other bug killers. There isn't a vine weevil killer which is suitable for edibles either! Cheers,

[Sonata]

I had a looksee today, and while there were grubs, it wasn't those weevil ones. And I don't have notched leaves on the strawbs. Are there any other grubs that do it?

These ones were white with black tiny heads and a couple of large black patches on their sides. Only found a couple.

[sarah_h]

Another thing - are they in old compost ? It could be vine weevils which seem to appear from nowhere in compost and they just love strawberry roots, so try pulling out a dead one and see what the roots look like. If it hasnt got any.... that'd be vine weevils ! You would also see little white maggoty bugs in the compost.
I had similar earlier this year and ditched the planter in the end - decided to risk slugs in the garden instead !
Good luck,
Ali

Mine, mainly Maxim's, have done the same; drooped first then dired! Culprit? Vine Weevil. Knock the strawberry out of it's container and look for the small (8-10mm) white maggot/caterpillar thingies! I've read they like the roots of the strawberries. Next year I'm going to have a go with Vine Weevil Nematodes.