[whippersnapper]

My strawbs are new this year and been in the ground for about a month. Variety: 'Everest' everbearing. They seem well and most plants have one or two fruits that have set.

Would it be a good idea to use some of my tomato feed on them? It has NPK ratio of 4/4.5/8

So I thought the high potassium might help the fruits that are forming.

Or should I just leave well alone?!

Also, they are well netted. Do I need to leave one end open to encourage insects that will aid pollination or are they perfectly capable of sorting this themselves

[Aidy]

others may differ but all I do is feed every so often with liquid seaweed extract and make sure they are well watered in long dry spells.

[whippersnapper]

Thanks. I don't really want to buy any extra feeds but my tomato stuff is the Tomorite which says it contains seaweed extract so your plan sounds very good!

[janiejakemum]

I am doing strawberrys this year for the first time and when doing a bit of research before i bought them i found out that you shouldn't over feed strawberrys they wont produce more berrys just leaves.  As mine are in fresh soil this year i probably will only feed once or twice with a bit of worm tea.

The theory being if the plant feels under threat it will naturally want to produce berrys which obvoisuly produce the seeds to reproduce.  If the plants are too comfortable they just make more and more leaves.

[whippersnapper]

Is this true though if you get the NPK balance right for whatever you feed them?

[Trillium]

Strawberries should not be fed at all before they finish fruiting as it causes the berries to bloat with water intake and you have soft berries that quickly go moldy. The rule is to always feed the plants after fruiting to assist with next year's runner production and replenish this year's energy. Whether you use fertilizer or manure is your choice, but I've found that fertilized berries don't taste anywhere near as nice (or keep as well) as manured berries.