Strawberries and size?

Letyourselfgo

Our first year of trying to grow them and I'm just concerned about the size of them, they seem very red but very small. If I leave them will they get bigger in a week or two? or any other suggestions as I've another 4 plants as well which have only started flowering. Thanks.

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Sgt Pepper 64

Depends on what variety they are, is it their first year, what they are fed on (use a balanced fertilizer) etc
Sounds bad but its best to remove the flowers the first year, so they develop a good root system for next year

Did you grow them from seed? If so they could be hybrid which means they are all clones and wont do as well.

Strawberry plants tend to have a 4 year life span before producing less and smaller ones

I wouldn't worry too much about size, its the taste that counts.

marshmello are one of the best sweetest tasting

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/strawberry-marshmello-plants-pid2834.html

Letyourselfgo

I took a plant from my aunts last year and took a few runners from it. The one that's producing was the original.
I've only fed it tomato feed, once a week for the last 2. It's in a pot with half soil, half compost with a few stones.
Do you think they'll grow anymore given how red they are?

Thanks for your comments

redser7

Sorry but no. Once they turn red that's it. Do you know what type they are? Perpetual ones can be small. Constant watering and feeding is vital for ones pots. Maybe the next batch will be better.
I see you have runners there. Removing those will help swell th strawberries. And watch the stems where they rest on the lip of he pot. Sometimes they kink and it cuts off the supply to the fruit.

Letyourselfgo

Just tasted a few there with the kids, delicious if tiny. Tasted like one of the kids sweets ''millions''

http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server5500/ace87/products/82/images/168/Blue_millions__64429.1343555322.1280.1280.jpg

yellowlabrador

These are alpine strawberries or fraisier des bois . They are more related to wild strawberries and absolutely lovely tasting. I grow these in preference to the standard ones and they will fruit till october. They are also easy to grow from seed.

Letyourselfgo

yellowlabrador wrote: »

These are alpine strawberries or fraisier des bois . They are more related to wild strawberries and absolutely lovely tasting. I grow these in preference to the standard ones and they will fruit till october. They are also easy to grow from seed.

Thanks for that and would yours grow to a similar size?

yellowlabrador

Letyourselfgo wrote: »

Thanks for that and would yours grow to a similar size?

they are small but plentiful. you get more fruit per plant than with ordinary strawberries.

redser7

To my eye they look like regular plants that just aren't doing very well. Alpines tend to be bushier, fruit later and tend not to put out runners. They mostly propagate by seed. Do you remember what the fruit looked like on your aunts plants?

Northumbria

Those are Alpine Strawberries (Fragaria vesca), much smaller than the garden ones. They're a native species across most of Europe (including Britain, not sure about Ireland) and are noted for exceptional flavour, but tiny size.
Garden Strawberries (the ones you see in the supermarket) are a hybrid of two American species.

Letyourselfgo

redser7 wrote: »

Do you remember what the fruit looked like on your aunts plants?

No idea, the plant was very neglected and I found it under a few bushes.

Aglomerado

I grew these from seed back in 2010 and they are thriving every summer since then, they are hardy little plants to survive that bad 2010/2011 winter! The berries are delicious too.

Cork24

With the poor Weather we are having i have seen not one grow on my plants.

your Plant could have also become root bound.

apple26

i'll hold my hands up and admit that i'm useless at all things to do with gardening or growing plants etc, but i see that aldi are selling strawberry plants at the moment and would love to try my hand at growing them. i'm just wondering if these would grow in a pot on a balcony or what is the best way to grow them? do they need any special care and attention???

rgiller

yellowlabrador wrote: »

These are alpine strawberries or fraisier des bois . They are more related to wild strawberries and absolutely lovely tasting. I grow these in preference to the standard ones and they will fruit till october. They are also easy to grow from seed.

I planted alpine seeds in a small propagator in March. They were doing well in their little modules so I transplanted them into a windowbox-sized pot with fresh compost when they were about 1-2 inches tall and they all died. I'm not finding them easy to grow from seed! Any advice on how to look after them better? Do they need sun or shade? Any specific temperature? Too late to plant new seeds now?

firestarter51

i have three huge strawberry plants very healthy yeilding a good crop, my query is, i have alot of runners coming off them, what is the best thing to do with them, normally i just cut them and discard ?

redser7

If you want to propagate new stock then pin them down to the soil or into small pots of soil and compost. Nip off anything beyond the first node and limit how many runners you take from the mother plant so it doesn't get exhausted. Maybe 3 or 4?

Hi, someone gave me a gift of two strawberry plants. They are currently in a rectangular trough type container. They each have about two strawberrys at the moment. I was wondering should I repot them in a bigger container, would this increase the yield?

Thanks.

Northumbria

Jake1 wrote: »

Hi, someone gave me a gift of two strawberry plants. They are currently in a rectangular trough type container. They each have about two strawberrys at the moment. I was wondering should I repot them in a bigger container, would this increase the yield?

Thanks.

It makes no difference, just encourages the plants to get bigger. Strawberries are low yielding, you need a lot of plants to get a worthwhile crop.
Feeding them some potassium sulphate or tomato feed with seeweed extract may increase yields, but essentially you need lots of plants, a strawberry patch ideally.

redser7

The plants should start putting out runners from which you can make new free plants. This time next year you could have 10+ plants and a nice little crop. Take runners again and soon your freezer will be overflowing