[moomoos42]

Hi. i've had some strawberry plants in a raised bed since november. i put straw round them and covered them when it snowed. the are planted in a horse manure/compost bed. it's been raining heavy for a week now and they look worse than they did when the snow was on them. what can i do? are they water logged? can i lift them an put better drainage under them or just leave alone and hope? thanks 

[DD.]

As they are newish plants, there should be no problem in moving them, but I thought one of the ideas behind raised beds, (I don't do them), was that being higher up, they drain better, so what's stopping the drainage is what you should be asking.

There is no need to mollycoddle strawberries, they are very hardy, snow itself forms an insulating blanket.

Straw is only needed at fruiting time to place under the ripening strawberries.

[Kleftiwallah]

Strawberry plants are strong little beggers !  I'm sure they will be O.K. come the spring.  Just carefully remove any leaves that are showing signs of sickness.   Cheers,   Tony

[moomoos42]

Thanks. have removed straw and at least one is ok (better than none!) removed rotting leaves and now have fingers crossed

[ex-cavator]

I'm certainly no expert (asking about strawbs myself on anther thread  ), but could it be that the straw is the problem - holding water around the plants & causing the leaves to rot? Perhaps they need a bit more air flow?