Feeding Strawberries

When you think of strawberry season you will always think of Wimbledon. You know summer has definitely started when you start picking those tasty strawberries on a daily basis. My tip is you can never have enough strawberries. So the key to when feeding strawberries is important so that you get fantastic crops of them. What will you make with all your strawberries?

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Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants are tough plants and can be grown in many conditions. Gardeners either grow them in the ground or if you are short of space they can plant them in pots either to have on the floor or hang them on walls and fences. If you grow strawberries in pots they will require watering more when they are fruiting.

Not only feeding strawberries will lead to big crops but other tasks will help gain great crops too.

When you are first deciding on your location for your strawberry plants these need to be planted in a spot that has sunlight for around 6-7 hours a day. This means they cannot be planted in a shady spot as they will not ripen.

Strawberry plants like to be planted in soil that has lots of organic matter added. It needs to be rich and fertile. This will help lead to bumper crops. Make sure that the soil you plant them in is not too wet. It needs to be able to soak away easy when you water them or it rains. They also do not like dry soil. So just water them every so often and every day in hot weather before the sun comes up so you don’t burn the plants.

To look after the strawberries you need to keep them weed free. If weeds grow they will take all the nutrients needed by the strawberries and the vital water supply. Keep checking the plants for any pests like slugs or diseases on the leaves. If you see any foliage or leaves dying snip these off immediately.

How to feed strawberries

When you first plant your strawberries you need to mix your soil with compost and manure this will limit the amount of feeding needed for the plants. At the beginning of Spring you need to be adding lots of nitrogen to your strawberry plants, this also needs to be done at the end of summer when the strawberry plants are sending all the runners out from the plants.

You can feed your strawberry plants with commercial feed. If you are growing your strawberry plants organically you can even get organic food. Why not try making your own plant food and save money.

When feeding strawberries after the first month of them being planted you can add fertilizer to them. The tip for this is one pound of fertilizer for a 20ft row of strawberries. When the strawberry plants have reached one year old this can be done once a year. Feed them after they have finished fruiting around August.

Do not fertilise your plants in Spring as this can encourage the foilage to grow rather than the fruit. It can also damage your crops which will grow. Always feed the strawberries after they have finished cropping for the year.

To apply the Strawberry feed put some round the base of each plant. Remember to give them a water after you have applied the feed to the strawberries

Strawberry Fertilizer

There are many types of Strawberry fertilizers you can use on your plot to feed them with. You can use manure but make sure it has rotted down well. Do not use fresh manure.

If you are wanting to use organic methods to feed your strawberries you can use Fish meal, blood meal, soy meal or alfralfa meal.

We hope you have found these tips for feeding strawberries useful. Make sure you check out all our other tips on our website here.