critters in my strawberries

dwighet

Lads I know nothing about strawberries. I got some cuttings off my neighbour and they are growing like mad...But they are infested with a tiny white bug...what can I use to rid them??

Thanks

amandstu

What part of the plant is it?

I got something similar on the truss - the little stems attached to the fruit - I thought it was mildew but maybe I would have seen little critters if I had looked closer.

It didn't spread but it sounds like yours has.

Could you try a weak dergent (ie Fairy) solution?

That is what you can use for greenfly or whitefly (I think) so perhaps it might work.

Mine was is a badly ventilated tunnel and I thought it was connected with humidity(and heat) but yours might be unrelated to what I had.

dwighet

amandstu wrote: »

What part of the plant is it?

I got something similar on the truss - the little stems attached to the fruit - I thought it was mildew but maybe I would have seen little critters if I had looked closer.

It didn't spread but it sounds like yours has.

Could you try a weak dergent (ie Fairy) solution?

That is what you can use for greenfly or whitefly (I think) so perhaps it might work.

Mine was is a badly ventilated tunnel and I thought it was connected with humidity(and heat) but yours might be unrelated to what I had.

Its all over the plants...I gave a dose of fairy liquid from a squirty bottle and will keep an eye on them... If anything they will be shiny and smell nice :cool:

redser7

Are they finished cropping? If they are then you can prune them back by taking off all the foliage above say 1 inch above the crown. That will get rid of the pests. Winter cold should sort out any that linger.

dwighet

redser7 wrote: »

Are they finished cropping? If they are then you can prune them back by taking off all the foliage above say 1 inch above the crown. That will get rid of the pests. Winter cold should sort out any that linger.

I only got a few strawberries from them...There just in window sill pots...Nothing huge..

Im guessing that's it for the year then is it? Should I just cut them back and wait for next year????

redser7

That's it I'm afraid. They should give you a bigger crop next year. Generally people say to keep them for three years then get rid of them. Year three will give the biggest crop and then they'll go downhill after that.
So yes, prune them back but be careful not to injure the crown. New growth will come back before winter. Leave them outside over winter. In Spring repot them to larger pots with some new compost and start giving them a little water to wake them up. Once new growth start you can up the watering and take off any old or deseased foliage left after the winter. Once you start to see flowers you can start giving them a liquid feed each week with tomato food.

dwighet

redser7 wrote: »

That's it I'm afraid. They should give you a bigger crop next year. Generally people say to keep them for three years then get rid of them. Year three will give the biggest crop and then they'll go downhill after that.
So yes, prune them back but be careful not to injure the crown. New growth will come back before winter. Leave them outside over winter. In Spring repot them to larger pots with some new compost and start giving them a little water to wake them up. Once new growth start you can up the watering and take off any old or deseased foliage left after the winter. Once you start to see flowers you can start giving them a liquid feed each week with tomato food.

Every days a school day:cool:
Is it too late to take some cuttings and get them going for next year as Im fond of the old strawberry and would like to have them all over the place.

amandstu

Is it possible to starve some of the plants of water in the spring so as to delay their start and so stagger their production?

Maybe it would set the roots back too much?

I have tried a few everbearing plants but have not had much success so far.
(are they more prone to fruit rot than the June bearers?)

redser7

Not at all. When you say cuttings, do you mean 'runners'? That's how you increase your strawberry stock. Let the runners grow. Select about 4 from each plant. Pin the nodes down onto the soil or into a small pot of compost (keep it damp). Leave them for a few weeks to establish roots and then cut the runner away from the mother plant. New plants for free

redser7

amandstu wrote: »

Is it possible to starve some of the plants of water in the spring so as to delay their start and so stagger their production?

Maybe it would set the roots back too much?

I have tried a few everbearing plants but have not had much success so far.
(are they more prone to fruit rot than the June bearers?)

You'd probably have an easier life going for a late season variety.
You can force an early crop but I'm not sure if you can delay one as such. My understanding is that they repsond to the length of day light. So if they are June bearers they will stay June bearers.
Having said that, commercially they refrigerate 60 day runners. So in theory you could plant these any time in Spring and early summer and hope for a crop 60 days later providing there is reasonable weather.
My ever-bearers have been disappointing too - small fruit mostly. It could be down to variety as I believe some people continue to get nice crops right into October and November some times. Just gotta keep searching I guess.

dwighet

redser7 wrote: »

Not at all. When you say cuttings, do you mean 'runners'? That's how you increase your strawberry stock. Let the runners grow. Select about 4 from each plant. Pin the nodes down onto the soil or into a small pot of compost (keep it damp). Leave them for a few weeks to establish roots and then cut the runner away from the mother plant. New plants for free

Runners is what I meant:o
I will give that a go..New plants for free..I like that idea:cool:

Many thanks for your help.

I going to give my runners a go too. So excited when I checked this morning they are a good lenght now. So Im going to try potting them tomorrow and hope for the best.