[Jane in Norfolk]

Hi all

On my new allotment I inherited an estabilished strawberry bed, which has given me a huge crop of fabulous strawberries. The bed is 2.5m x 2.0m and the yield has been 6kg. I've now removed the netting and will let the birds have the remaining berries.

The established plants have produced a fabulous bounty, but the bed has some issues:
1) The plants have rooted themselves from runners and so the bed is hugely overcrowded, without clear space to walk between the crowns.
2) The overcrowding is exacerbated by a serious bindweed problem - I'm amazed the plants produced any berries at all this year as they've been strangled by the bindweed and have also had to share space with marigolds and some invasive couch grass. The bindweed problem was exacerbated by me as I didn't realise what it was (total newbie here!) so I let it grow unchecked - I thought the little white trumpets were strawberry flowers and the twining tendrils strawberry runners. I'm such an ignoramus that I didn't even realise the leaves were completely different! So I can take no credit for my bumper harvest at all!

With the bindweed it's a definite case of mea culpa...I can't believe I was so unobservant and ignorant!

This morning, after I harvested the last of the berries, I removed all the bindweed (took me hours!) and it's already made an enormous difference to the bed. I can now actually see the individual strawberry plants - before, the bed was just a mass of twining bindweed foliage. Poor plants! However, I'm under no false illusions - I very much doubt that the bindweed roots have gone for good...

Here are my questions.

1) Given that I have no idea how long the current bed of plants have been established and fruiting, would I be wise to peg off the strongest runners into sunken pots and then, when they're established, cut them from the parent plant and move them to a completely different bed in a different part of the allotment?

2) If I did that, what is the best approach to the parent bed? Should I trim back the foliage, clean away the straw, tidy the bed and just leave well alone (being vigilant for bindweed) in the hope of having an equally good harvest next year (while the immature bed is getting established)? Or am I best to dig up the parent plants this year once the new plants have established, and empty the parent bed completely?

3) If I emptied the parent bed, would that mean I would have no crop next year from my new bed of immature plants?

Through choice, I think I'd like to keep the parent bed going for one more year in the hope of having a good crop next year, and then dig up the parent plants once the plants in the infant bed have been established a whole summer (i.e. dig up the parent plants and empty the parent bed in July 2024).

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Candide]

Don't know much about strawberries but bindweed....I did once get rid of it in a bed by repeatedly forking over and removing every fragment of root and doing that later when the bits I'd missed sprouted.  Managed to put in a late crop ( dwarf beans I think ) and could also keep on top of the bindweed by locally hand forking.
Later on, in another garden, glyphosate had been introduced and I used that.
Now, in the allotment, there's couch grass and that gets locally napalmed with glyphosate using a cut off large pop bottle popped over it and the sprayer going in where the screw top was.
A good tip from this site is to stick a bit of bamboo alongside bindweed - it'll grow up it and weed killer can be brushed on.
For me, this sort of persistent perennial weed justifies the use of chemicals.

[Goosegirl]

I think your last paragraph "re- choice" is probably the best option along with using the first plantlet from each  runner to use next year. It will provide you with a chance to go over the current bed so as to get rid of the bindweed and couch grass problems and then to add some new soil and compost etc. Not sure if you could then use this same bed for your plantlets but others on here will advise. 

[Nobbie]

I’m in much the same position with a 4 year old bed that I neglected last year and is now infested with grass, horsetail and runners. I’ve already identified a new location and will be transplanting this years rooted runners in the next few weeks. Luckily it’s perfect weather at the moment for them to root and grow. I’m hoping that they’ll be strong enough plants by next year to give a half decent crop. I may even put them in at 9” apart rather than the normal 18” and then just remove every other one after cropping so the remainder can grow to full size. Once I’ve taken the runners, I’ll nuke the old bed with Glyphosate and then dig over to remove as much Horsetail root as possible.

[Learnerlady]

Hi
I'm also going to start growing on runners as strawberry plants are about 4yrs old and will be growing in raised bed through plastic again which keeps the soil in place, helps keep the weeds down and the runners in check. I've found the downsides being that you need to be careful when watering to make sure water goes into the soil and can need a bit more regularly as most rain will run off but I have a dipping barrel quite close which is handy.
Also looking to buy a couple of different varieties to try and extend the picking season.
Still haven't cracked stopping the pesky critters getting their share but seen somewhere about using old plant pots as collars so worth a try?

[mumofstig]

Make sure you don't start the new strawberry bed on ground that has recently grown potatoes. I did that once with disastrous results, nearly all the new plants died 

Strawberries should not follow potatoes or tomatoes because both crops can infect the soil with verticillium wilt, a disease that seriously affects the growth of, or kills strawberries. Potatoes left in the ground can also be a problem and getting rid of them may interfere with the roots of the strawberry plants.

https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/image/data/pdf/Growing%20Guides/Strawberries.pdf

[rowlandwells]

we are going to change our strawberry bed this year as the strawberry bed has been in the same place for 3 years but although we had a good picking of strawberries they could have been better

we will be  planting  in a breathable membrane with  a new batch of strawberry plants and using breathable membrane has made cleaner picking and controls the weeds the new bed will also be well manured prior to planting