Strawberry Patch Muddle

[LostthePlot]

I got my plot in early November and made a good effort to tidy it up and do some preperation whilst the weather lasted but..........my strawberry patch. It is overcrowded and I did intend to re-plant it but time ran out - weatherwise. So I would like to know if I should still re-plant it out (at the earliest opportunity) or thin what is there to a better quantity and let it fruit this year and start fresh next year?

[Lesley Jay]

You don't say just how overcrowded it is. If it is not too bad I would leave the strawberry plants alone until they have fruited, use the runners to create a fresh strawberry bed and thin out the original bed but don't dig up the strawberry plants you want to keep.

The following year the original bed should have a good crop of fruit and the bed made from the runners should give some fruit. These will crop better in year two and three.

If you dig the bed up and re plant then next year you will get very little fruit. I hope you have managed to follow that!

[LostthePlot]

Thanks. It is quite overcrowded with some big dandelion plants in there as well. I was going to ask if I could use a spot weedkiller on the dandelions (the sort that you apply directly to the plant with a touch pen or like)? Also could I take off the obvious runners from this year and pot them up for replanting in a newly formed bed at a later date?

[Snadger]

I got my plot in early November and made a good effort to tidy it up and do some preperation whilst the weather lasted but..........my strawberry patch. It is overcrowded and I did intend to re-plant it but time ran out - weatherwise. So I would like to know if I should still re-plant it out (at the earliest opportunity) or thin what is there to a better quantity and let it fruit this year and start fresh next year?

If it was me, (and I must stress here , I aint no fruit expert! ) anyway, if it was me, I think I would thin the bed out accordingly and pot the thinnings up into 5" or 6" pots for an early potted crop in the greenhouse or polytunnel. I would try not to disturb the roots too much though, even if it meant taking quite a bit of soil with them!

If you haven't got a greenhouse or polytunnel, use cloches!

Just a thought!

PS Dandelions are quite easy to pull out if you get a good hold as low down as possible. Because they aren't in full growth, weedkiller would take a long, long time to work anyway! Its not the end of the world if you snap a few either because by the time they re-grow you should be able to use weedkiller if you want too!

[Benacre]

I agree with the last post, in fact I have just re planted some from this autumn
I would remove the flowers of Dandelion and make a rissoto from them then spray with a translocated weedkiller

[JennieAtkinson]

I get dandelions out of the ground with a daisy dibber, sometimes, a bit of the root is left in, but its fine if you are going to redig over later in the season. Also if you keep weeding dandelions, they do get weaker and eventually die off - I speak from experience as when we came here 12 years ago the garden was just one big dandelion field and now you can see a bit of grass!

[Snadger]

I get dandelions out of the ground with a daisy dibber, sometimes, a bit of the root is left in, but its fine if you are going to redig over later in the season. Also if you keep weeding dandelions, they do get weaker and eventually die off - I speak from experience as when we came here 12 years ago the garden was just one big dandelion field and now you can see a bit of grass!

In betwen the dandelions? Lol

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Losttheplot!

We faced a similar situation on the plot we took over in september, and decided to move the strawbs, weeding out everything that wasnt wanted and planting up thru weed control fabric before mulching them. I know we will have a reduced yield, but with 234 plants I dont think its going to be too much of a problem!

Good luck on sorting them, however you decide to fo it!

[Michelle]

We grew some alpine strawbs from seed last year, and planted in a nice newly dug bit of the plot. They now look nice and healthy and happy.

We also had some old strawberries on our plot (which we took on just over a year ago) and planned to move the runners over to our new strawberry patch and chuck the old ones.

I got as far as potting the runners when they first appeared, but unfortunately never got round to replanting them... so, they're still in their little pots.

Do you think it's ok to plant them out into the strawberry bed as soon as I get a chance?

Thanks

Michelle

[nick the grief]

Hi Michelle.

I would have thought it would be OK to do it now as they won't have too much root disturbance.

[Michelle]

Thanks Nick!

[LostthePlot]

Thanks for all your replies. I think I will just thin what I can without too much distrubance and clobber the dandelions as best I can for the time being.

[Snadger]

Thanks for all your replies. I think I will just thin what I can without too much distrubance and clobber the dandelions as best I can for the time being.

If the dandelions are quite big, pour table salt onto the crown. it's supposed to kill them!

[JennieAtkinson]

Didn't work on mine Snadger! Tried that one.

[Shortie]

Also, I think I've read on here before that salt on the soil can kill other things too, like strawbs if they're located near enough