[adri123]

Hi

My Polytunnel book says remove strawbs from beds and put into pots outside once they have finished fruiting and then replant them inside the PT in Feb/March the following year.

Does anyone do this?

TIA

Adri

[mumofstig]

I think it is a plan to free up more space inside the P/T for the rest of the year.

[adri123]

Yes.  I think the author mentions this as the reason.  But doesn't it affect the plants for next years crop?

TIA

Adri

[JayG]

Possibly also makes sure they get vernalised? 

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=111895.msg1270894#msg1270894

[adri123]

Yes I'm aware of the benefit of frost on the plants.  I'm concerned that uprooting them every year is going to affect the amount of crop from the plants.

Do commercial growers uproot their plants every year and put them outdoors to vernalise?

TIA

Adri

[JayG]

Don't think so -  I believe they chuck them out and start again with new plants because they've pretty much worked them to death!

[yorky]

The large soft fruit farm behind my house employs about 50 East Europeans to remove all the covers from the Polytunnels in the Autum. The Strawberrys are kept in place and the covers replaced in early spring. I suppose thats the same as putting them outside.

[Eblana]

I am trying it this year.  I started with 50 plants in the PT last year and now have well over 150 plants in pots outside.  I will bring them in and replant some of them (70 or 80 at most) later this month.  It took a good few hours to pot them all up but I probably would have spent most of this time trying to sort out all the babies anyway.  It has meant that the beds were empty for the winter so that I can manure them.

[JayG]

Only just "on topic" (sorry Adri ) but I thought I'd have a bit of a surf around to find out more about commercial strawberry growing in the UK.

Found THIS (now that really is a strawberry crop - they seem to be growing very tightly packed in some sort of deep growbag arrangement, and no, I'm afraid there's no mention of what they do with them after the cropping season, or what they feed them with.  )

[adri123]

No probs JayG.

Interesting article.  Makes me want to start on the "why do we have suggested plant spacings of xxx inches?" rant again.  I mean what's shown in the photos there is plants shoved right up against each other, isn't it?

dunno!

 

[JayG]

Certainly quite a lot closer together than the usual recommendations!   

I suppose that if you can provide exactly the right combination of heat, light, water and nutrients you can get away with it, although you can't help suspecting that something has to "give" (possibly real depth of flavour, although the grower does claim that last year at least they were both sweet and tasty.)

[mumofstig]

Perhaps they only use them for 1, maybe 2, harvests and then throw them away.

[JayG]

Certainly wouldn't fancy being the person responsible for potting that lot up to over-winter!   

[adri123]

Decided to pot them up for winter.  I think the vernalisation is important and it will free up some space in the PT beds. 

One of the varieties I have though is an everbearer.  Buddy is the name.  Will that need leaving in until later as it will still be fruiting when the others have all done and dusted?

Adri

[JayG]

My everbearers, grown outside, still continue to flower into November if there are no frosts, even though there is little chance of them getting pollinated, never mind ripening. 

I read somewhere that because everbearers are so prolific they are pretty much knackered at the end of the season and should be replaced - I'm not sure how many people actually do that (I don't!) but I suppose if you are potting them up for the winter you could could snip off all the flower heads to conserve some of their energy.

Not quite sure how this potting-up plan works overall - do you intend to put them back in the PT or plant them outside the following year?

Potting them up for a few months just to put them back where they came from seems like a lot of hard work to me, and doesn't really provide much opportunity to use the space for something else in the time they are outside, although I am only guessing - others who have actually grown strawberries in a GH or PT may have better advice, particularly when it comes to the vernalisation requirements.