[thestens]

My strawberrys that have been in 2 years have plenty of fruit on but they also have masses of large leaves. This means the fruit are not getting any of the meagre sunshine we are getting and consequently are not ripening. Should I remove some of the leaves to let the light in?

[Goosegirl]

I know you can do that with tomatoes, but not sure with strawbs.If you have new leaves coming, try removing a few of the leaves on some plants, and see how it goes.

[NASH]

 I removed all the leaves on mine as they were infected with leather rot, but I have still lost most of the crop due to the rain damp and lack of sunshine, new leaves are growing back since I cut them all off.

[viettaclark]

Strong leaf growth would be due to the RAIN and possibly high levels of nitrogen. No worries if you've got plenty of fruit as well....shows the balance is ok.
Trim off all the discoloured base leaves then one or two that cover the fruit but don't go mad. The plants need enough leaves to photosynthesise and provide food for next year.
I find the plant usually sorts it out at flowering stage by growing the flowers on stalks that stretch towards the sun which means the fruit is exposed. That said, we've had no sun.....

[viettaclark]

Blimey Nash! What a crop! What did you do to get so many?

[thestens]

Thanks all. Nash all you have got to do now is ripen the blighters!

[NASH]

I have given up on my strawbs, they are grown in pure rotted manure which produced lots of berries and they are three feet off the ground to help picking and weeding.
I was picking one and throwing away five a couple of weeks ago but yesterday I decided I would pick no more this season and the berries will all be binned.

[SnooziSuzi]

Why were you having to throw away so many?  had they been attacked by slugs or birds or is there another reason?

[Sean.]

Oh I'd leave the leaves on, keeps the strawberries hidden from the birds. Mine usually grow alright, under the shade of leaf.

[NASH]

Why were you having to throw away so many?  had they been attacked by slugs or birds or is there another reason?

Hi Suzi

All my strawbs infected with  leather rot

[Erfurt]

Don't cut the leaves off just leave the fruit to ripen which they will, its just a bad year.....