[Brad26]

Hello,

sorry but after yet more advice please. I got a couple of strawberry plants from a garden centre about 2 months ago having never grown them before I thought I'd give them a go. I moved them into something like 10 inch pots and they're doing great as far as growth of the leaves are concerned but there have been no fruits or flowers at all. I'm at a loss.....do they take a year before they fruit or something?

Many Thanks

Brad

[JayG]

Depends to some extent on the variety, some are early, some are later, some are so called 'everbearing' which isn't of course 100% true but looks good on the labels. 

You could try a tomato-type fertiliser to try to encourage flowering rather than leaves, although it has to be said that some growers would recommend cutting off the flowers in the first year to let the plants build up strength.

(My Albion strawbs are so neglected they are flowering even though have virtually no leaves - I've had to cut the flowers off and feed the plants to try to build the poor things up a bit first. )

[Trikidiki]

I would suspect the plants bought from a garden centre have been 'forced' to produce runners then the runners grown on in 'ideal' conditions to produce a lush leafy product that looks good on the shelves. They may be very confused about what time of the year it actually is so may not produce any flowers at all until they settle down with the seasons. You may get some flowers later in the season.

As JayG says, many people suggest removing the flowers in their first year anyway. I personally don't follow that preferring the mantra of 'a strawberry in the mouth is worth two in the bush'.

Too much feed (particularly Nitrogenous) will just produce more lush leaves. A high potash feed might trigger it to flower. As they have produced good leaves I would just keep them watered for the rest of the year with a view to a bumper crop next year. Give themm a good general purpose feed when they start into growth in the spring.

If you have a few plants try growing one in the ground and compare the taste when you do get fruit. I'll bet you'll grow them all in the ground after you've tasted the difference.

[Brad26]

Hi, thanks for the advice.....the plants are Cambridge delight and I've got them on a bench in the greenhouse.....The runners are all over the place can I cut them back without it killing the plant?

[Stevens706]

Cutting off the runners will not harm the plant, don't pull them off. However I would peg some of the runners first into their own pots to increase your plant stock. All you need is a piece of bent wire and a pot of soil / compost they will root in weeks then cut them free.