[gypsy]

Hi there everyone,
This year I grew perpetual strawberries in the poly tunnel, in buckets filled from grow bags, the man on the next plot showed me what to do. He has grown strawberries in this way for a few years and has always had a fantastic crop. This years his strawberries were bitter, my first crop were few and far between, with large leaves and they were bitter too, they are  cropping again now, some of the fruit is sweet but other berries are bitter and the odd one is sour. Does anyone know what we have done wrong and is there a cure?  Catherine

[Trillium]

Its possible that some of the plants are different varieties of perpetual. And it's also possible that the growbag contents aren't up to standards. Strawberries need lots of feed, but not in the current growing season. Its not too late to feed them with either rotted manure or a watered down slurry of old manure around the plants (never on them). they also need regular and adequate watering to keep the sweetness along with lots of sun, something a lot of UKrs complained they got little of this year.

[gypsy]

Thanks for that Trillium.  Catherine

[janiejakemum]

I always thought you weren't meant to feed strawberrys, i was under the impression if you feed them then they dont produce fruit just leaf?

[gypsy]

I always feed mine with tomatoe feed or comfrey, if you feed  high nitrogen you get large green leaves and not much fruit. Gyp

[sclarke624]

You have just reminded me must feed mine now before next season starts.  Not perpetual.  That is what you meant Trillium isn't it feed after they have finished fruiting but before, say Febuary.

[Trillium]

That's right Sheila - feed after fruiting is finished. If you feed during fruiting times, you'll get soft watery berries that rot quickly as well as lots of leaf growth rather than fruit.
Feed anytime now to prepare plants for next year's better fruiting, and do some clipping off of the old reddish leaves which are now useless. Now is when the plants genes are telling them how much food is now available to calculate how many flowers to put out next year. No other plant really works this way, just strawberries.