[Michael D]

Hi all  my berries are finished now, i plan to cut them back to about 2 in  above the ground give them a feed and cover them up with straw  is it to early. Mike

[aelf]

Hi, I'm not sure about feeding them at this time as they are about to go dormant for the winter. Also, I don't cover mine during the winter to avoid giving pests and disease somewhere to thrive. The plants seem to do ok without it.

[DD.]

Cut the old leaves off and feed the plants.

No need to cover, as said, strawberry plants are as tough as old boots.

[gavinjconway]

From a Strawberry site I found....  http://strawberryplants.org some good info here..

Day-neutral and everbearing strawberries can be fertilized after the first harvest. June-bearing strawberries should be fertilized during renovation. This is done to keep the plants vigorous. Be sure to water the fertilizer well to get it to soak in down to the roots of the growing strawberries.

You should not fertilize your strawberry plants in the sp ring of a fruiting year. Too much nitrogen will result in soft, easily-damaged strawberries. You can still fertilize after the initial crop for day-neutral and everbearing strawberries, and you should also fertilize immediately after renovation once the plants are completely dry. Applying fertilizer to wet strawberry plants can result in phytotoxicity, and no fertilizer particles should remain lodged in the plants. After application, sweep your plants with a broom or other suitable tool to dislodge any stuck fertilizer.

edit to clarify quote

[gavinjconway]

Thanks for the edit mod...

[JohnB47]

From a Strawberry site I found....  http://strawberryplants.org some good info here..

Day-neutral and everbearing strawberries can be fertilized after the first harvest. June-bearing strawberries should be fertilized during renovation. This is done to keep the plants vigorous. Be sure to water the fertilizer well to get it to soak in down to the roots of the growing strawberries.

You should not fertilize your strawberry plants in the sp ring of a fruiting year. Too much nitrogen will result in soft, easily-damaged strawberries. You can still fertilize after the initial crop for day-neutral and everbearing strawberries, and you should also fertilize immediately after renovation once the plants are completely dry. Applying fertilizer to wet strawberry plants can result in phytotoxicity, and no fertilizer particles should remain lodged in the plants. After application, sweep your plants with a broom or other suitable tool to dislodge any stuck fertilizer.

edit to clarify quote

Interesting but a bit confusing if, like me, you don't know what "renovation" means. How many of us renovate our strawberries?

[tonel]

Cut the old leaves off and feed the plants.

No need to cover, as said, strawberry plants are as tough as old boots.

Sorry if this is a daft question but when you say cut off the old leaves, is that as in all of the foliage, or just old/tired looking bits? We have a couple of plants in a planter in the garden, I know they go dormant over the winter but not sure wether to cut them right back or not..

[operabunny]

Just cut off the older, tatty foliage. They can then be happily left until spring when they will need another little tidy up ready for the growing season.

[tonel]

Will do - thanks for the advice. Have an area on the allotment dug over that we plan to use for fruit, hoping to get a decent sized area planted with strawbs next year. Tempted to try and get some going from seed, will have to give it a go.

[gavinjconway]

Generally you'll find the seed are mostly Alpines which are small little strawbs and a some are designed for hanging baskets that dont send out runners.. I've got some F1 Temptation and Sweet Fresca (both for hanging baskets) that I'm going to play with ... just to see what they will do!!