Missing Strawberries

[goodmow]

Last year i had 12 strawberry plants of which only 6 survived the harsh winter.
The remaining 6 plants have grown very well,lots of foliage,lots of runners which i keep cutting off,but no flowers at all so no fruit.
Any ideas anybody,should i keep some runners to make new plants,should i also keep these plants over for next year or ditch them and start again.
I did buy an extra 6 plants from my local garden centre(family run very good quality,not one of your big chains) these only produced no more than one punet between them the whole season.
I live in South Bucks if that is noteworthy.

[rustylady]

Hi Goodmow. Welcome to the Vine. Are your strawberries growing in pots or in open ground? By the way if you add your location to your profile you won't have to keep telling us where you are - it will show up on your posts.

[goodmow]

I've got half of them in pots and half in hanging baskets.

[rustylady]

Ah, that could be something to do with your problem. I've never found that strawberries do particularly well in pots, and are usually pathetic in hanging baskets. I think it's too windy for them and it's difficult to water consistently. Strawberries can crop for years, but most people advise replacing with new plants after 3 years. They certainly should crop better in year 2, and more so in year 3.

[goodmow]

I will try to plant some runners in the ground for next year then.

[FB.]

Strawberry plants perform best in years 2-4, so it's better to build up the plant size and strength in year 1, so that you can get really heavy crops in years 2-4.
Some strawberries won't crop at all in the first year - and many will perform better in the open ground, rather than in containers.

Keep some runners each year.

Give the plants time to establish and see how well they crop in their second and subsequent years.
By year 5, the plants may be exhausted and may need replacing with runners obtained in earlier years.