[Baldy]

I've got one strawberry bed on the plot that has me scratching my head. Two others there are doing fine but this one...
Its got a dense mass of strawberry plants (variety unknown but the same as one of the other beds that is fine) - I've been cutting out runners and desperately pulling out leaves to allow sunlight in.
To no avail.
Very few fruit.
Any ideas?

What there is looks relatively small and dry. Its done the same a couple of years running - but has been treated the same as the other beds. I guess there's something about the soil in this bed... On the flip side my strawb bed at home has produced its best ever fruit - plenty of taste and they are at least as sweet as a bought one doused in sugar.

I might plant dandelions - delicious if 'forced' or so I'm told. They tend to do ok on my plot so I have no fear for them on this particular bed. 

PIp pip,
Balders

[LotuSeed]

How old are the plants? It could be that they've just gotten old so aren't producing as well.

[Baldy]

Nope - all 3 beds are 3 years old and should still be ok. One of the other beds is the same (unknown / inherited) variety - aspect is the same and the ph of the soil is pretty close to neutral. All get the same 'care' (ie not much). Just  one of those things I suppose. The plants do look very healthy just no fruit - but they are getting the same feed as the other two successful beds.

Pip pip,
Balders

[mumofstig]

Is that bed somewhere it could have got a touch frosted, while it passed the other beds by?

[sunshineband]

A bit of a  mystery.

I wondered if perhaps there are vole tunnels under the plants? Try treading in between them to see if any of the soil is over-soft perhaps?

[Goosegirl]

Assuming you prepared all the beds the same and didn't notice any difference in the soil etc, and they aren't growing any closer together than your other ones, then I would hoick out a few plants and have a furtle underneath.

[Baldy]

Yep - I think I'll pretty much write them off for crops this year and dig the out find out if there was anything weird gong on below decks. Think I'll try to grow the more vigorous of them in rectangular guttering - seems to work for other round here. Put the bed over to something else.

Thanks all,

Pip pip,
Balders

[pigguns]

Do you lime?  I've having a bumper year following a dose of calcified seaweed in March, after autumn-planted runners in manure.

[Goosegirl]

Thanks for the reminder to get some calcified seaweed for general use in my veg beds. It's on offer at Amadzonian - four for the price of three - and will use it when I can be reasonably sure my new strawberry bed is free from cough grass/