Polytunnel strawberries

[Vince G]

Last autumn, I planted up some strawb runners in a hanging basket in the poly. They did well and we had good strawbs about 4 weeks earlier than the outdoor ones.

The plants still look perfectly OK so my question is, will the plants I "forced" in the polytunnel still produce plenty of fruit this year, or will they be "tired" from being forced and should I chuck them and plant new runners in the poly for next year.

[Bigmallly]

I would personally plant new runners in the pot & plant the parent in the ground. After all "they" do say to get rid after 3 years so you can at least rotate them.

[marchogaeth]

Mine are coming up to their third year of production. The advice I followed is:- the important thing is to get them outside in the autumn so they get cold. If they have had a good frost by the end of November they can come in. I think mine will be out a bit longer yet. End of December is the latest to bring them in. I'm growing last year's runners on for replacements. Also, apparently, if the temperatures are very high when flowering is initiated you won't get as much fruit so baskets are a good idea as you can put them outside if you get a crazy patch of weather like we did two years ago (2012 up to 30 in the tunnel in Feb).

[marchogaeth]

Should have said that I don't think the yield is greater, just earlier so they shouldn't be "exhausted".