How to Grow Organic Strawberries
Strawberries are one of my favourite fruits but unfortunately it’s difficult to find really tasty strawberries. When buying strawberries in the supermarket or the fruit and veg shop, you never really know what you’re going to get. They can be expensive and I often find I have to throw out a few which are too soft or worse, mouldy. Home grown strawberries are always fresh, firm, and delicious. I have never grown strawberries which weren’t tasty. The only problem is that I never seem to grow enough.
Tips for Growing Organic Strawberries
- Plant a few different varieties of strawberries (which crop at different times of the year) to enable harvesting from late spring to early autumn.
- For best results, you need at least 12 plants of each variety so the number of varieties you grow will depend on how much space you have.
- Strawberry plants only remain healthy and productive for 3 years so you need to plant new plants in a new location after that time.
- The best way to get new strawberry plants is to propagate your own from your healthiest plants (disease free and pest resistant) by planting the runners in pots.
- Strawberries need full sun to grow well and to ripen the fruit. The sunnier the position, the sweeter the fruit.
- Give strawberry plants plenty of space to grow.
- Strawberries need a very rich soil with plenty of organic matter. Add well rotted animal manure and blood and bone before planting.
- Fertilise growing strawberry plants with the liquid from your worm compost or with seaweed based liquid fertiliser.
How to Prevent Diseases in Strawberries
- Choose disease free plants or runners.
- Plant where strawberries (or raspberries) have not been grown during the previous 6 years to avoid soil based diseases.
- Don’t overcrowd the plants. Plant in rows around 75cm apart.
- Place straw around the base of the plants to keep the leaves and fruit off the ground and therefore clean and dry.
- Remove any diseased leaves and fruit immediately.
How to Control Pests in Strawberries
- Cover strawberries with a net or cage to prevent birds from eating the fruit.
- Hand pick slugs off plants.
- Encourage natural slug predators such as frogs and centipedes.
- Provide alternative food for slugs by using companion plants such as French Marigolds and lettuce.
- Use organic pest control methods to get rid of aphids if they are a problem.
- Place a cloche over green fruit to protect them from pests.
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16 Comments so far
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Thanks so much for this information on how to grow organic strawberries. Do you know where I could order some plants for delivery through the post? I live very remotely and won’t be able to get out to buy some plants before the end of June and I want to plant before then.
Tesselaars and great for bulbs but they also have a fantastic range of strawberry plants for sale. I have used them for many years and definitely recommend them.
I’ve recently started growing some strawberries in a large tub - there’s two different varieties in potting mix with some composted cow manure. So far, there’s been lost of leaf growth and flowering on one of the varieties (Sweetie?), but the strawberry buds that looked so promising have stopped growing. And the other variety (not sure of the name) has lots of green growth, but the leaves seem to be curling.
If you have any ideas re what’s going on, I’d be really grateful. My toddler and I are eagerly awaiting our first strawberry.
Thanks.
It’s really hard to say. The plants must have full sun, is that the case? They also need quite a bit of space, at least 20-25cm between plants. Maybe yours are a little crowded in the pot? Also, if you just planted them you might not get fruit until next season. Are you in the northern or southern hemisphere?
It’s also a good idea to pinch off the new flowers in the first month or so to give the plant a chance to get established. So maybe if you do that and cut off any runners too then you’ll have a bigger, healthier plant which will produce fruit in summer.
Also make sure the crown of the plant is just above the soil level because if you plant them too deep they will rot and die.
I hope this helps.
hi, I just planted strawbwerry plants 6 weeks ago surrounded by weed mat, they are now fruiting and sending off runners, can I pinch off runners and sucessfully plant elsewhere, or do they need to self plant which means i will need to get rid of weed mat???
Seeing your plants are still very young, I think you should definitely pinch off the runners to ensure the main plants grow large enough to produce enough fruit.
I wouldn’t worry about the runners for the moment but if you want to propagate them later in the season then yes, you would need to remove the weed mat.
Good luck growing your organic strawberries.
Hi My wife is very interested in having a go at growing Strewberrys we are on the northside of brisbane can anyone tell us where we can get some good plants at a fair price.
Thank You
Edited by Andrea. Reason: To remove email address.
Robert, you could order them from Tesselaars. See comment above for a link to their site.
Hi
Planted several strawberry plants in Spring 07, in raised beds in full sun. Plants are growing well, with large leaf growth, but no flowers. We are in Tasmania. Is it too early to expect fruit? Runners prolific too, should these be cut off? Appreciate you thoughts. Thanks
It depends on the variety of the strawberry plant. If they are a late season variety then they might not be ready to fruit yet.
I would cut off all runners until the plants are well established and have finished or nearly finished fruiting.
Hi
I have been growing strawberries now for two years and I don’t seem to get much fruit from them. I have an idea they may be getting a little old. I did put some on a table and I had a few strawberries but not very many. The plants are now throwing runners out and the leaves are turning red. Why are the leaves turning red? I have read the previous comments which have answered some of my questions but the change in the leaf colour is a mystery to me. I hope you can answer my question.
Thank you for a great web site.
Hi
I too was wondering why the leaves are turning red.
I have also heard that one way to make the roots strong is to let the plant grow, but pinch the fruit off when they are young. And then at the end of the strawberry season I should take my lawn mower and mow them down. I was told that this makes great strawberries the following year. Is this true?
Thank you.
Hi,
i stay in tropical country where temperature is around 30Celcius or above. is there any possibility to grow strawberry with the help of airconditioner to reduce the temperature down to 20 celcius?
thanks
Hi,
I love celery, those light-green and tender stems. I`d like to grow it in a little farm in Brasilia, Brasil, where we grow other kinds of organic vegs, except celery. We`ve tried but it grows small, thin, hard and dark-green color. I’ll appreciate your help. Thank you. Dinorah
Sorry, but I also want to know why the leaves turn red, cause my potted strawberries have red leaves also.
Thank you
Cheryl