How to plant strawberries in a new raised bed and a hanging bag - How To: Weekly contest by WizarDave - WizStead Post #11

in #howtoweekly7 years ago

I'm super excited to have just planted my favorite fruit... the strawberry!
Let me show you how to plant strawberries in a hanging bag and also in a raised bed.

  • I am trying something new this year. A hanging growin' bag.
    • The rest I planted in a new raised bed.

I looked at a LOT of different varieties of strawberries

  • Trying to decide if I wanted a June bearer, day-neutral or an everbearer.

40879-pk-25.jpg

Image Source

I mean, just look at the size of those things.
And the description sold me...

...you'll just love the flavor of these plump, bright red, juicy berries!...
Expect to harvest 1 to 3 pints from every plant!
... This is the strawberry to grow if you have uncooperative soil or unpredictable weather.

25-75 pints of strawberries a year off my 25 plants!

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the annual per capita consumption of fresh and frozen strawberries is 4.85 pounds.

Researching pounds / pint of strawberries gave me a pretty wide selection of answers.

  • Perhaps 1# / pint is about average.
    • So it looks like 25 plants should be plenty for the wife and I to eat more than double the average American.
      • That works as a starting point for me.
  • If we run out from one year to the next, I'll simply keep a few more plants...

Growin' bags

I caught this combo on sale at Park Seeds.

  • I could actually purchase the combo and basically the grow bags were free.
    I've never tried grow bags, so what the heck. You can't beat FREE! haha
    • Doing a bit of research shows mixed results from these hanging bags. They tend to dry out quickly, so will need watered daily as I water other potted plants.
      • The instructions say to use new plants each year. Potting up any runners to use the next year. But this goes against most planting instructions that say to not use any berries the first year, so the roots can get better established. Hmm. Guess I will just play it by ear...
  • I was quite surprised how small these bags were.
    • I planted 10 strawberry plants in 1 bag.
      • I'll save the other bag for flowers.
        Perhaps some Wave petunias would be nice.
        42009.jpg
Image Source

Growin' bag planting instructions

This was the first time I've ever used hanging grow bags.
First here's what didn't work.

  • I filled the bag about half with potting soil with fertilizer added to it already.
    • Put the 10 plants in through the already cut X's.
      • Tried filling it the rest of the way with potting soil.
        Nope. That did not work!
        All the plants pulled into the bag.

Here's what worked and is recommended.
I dumped it all back out and started over.
I filled the bag to just below the first 2 holes.

  • Put in 2 plants.
    Filled the bag to the next 2 holes.
    And so on, until the bag was full.
    • This worked great!
      • Then I used a garden hose to water it in.
        Slowly running water until it started coming out the bottom drip hole.

Here's the finished bag

IMG_20180428_191023853_HDR.jpg

The instructions say to lay the bag flat for a couple of weeks to let the roots develop and settle in.

  • Then hang it where it will get full sun and is protected from wind.
    • So, I have 2 weeks from now to find that perfect hanging spot.
      • I'll keep you posted.

Planting strawberries in a new raised bed

This is the 2nd bed I made from scrap metal animal feeders I had laying around.

  • Here's the post explaining how I used the first one for growing asparagus.
    • I pretty much followed the same procedure.
      • Digging down 6" or so (one shovelful deep).
        Setting the metal ring.
        Putting that dirt into the ring.
        Adding some more top soil.
    • Then I planted the strawberry plants as evenly spaced as I could.
  • Last but not least was to give them a good watering in to settle the soil.
    Plus, it's been really dry here for awhile...
    • This afternoon, when I mow the yard, I will use the bagger to collect the clippings.
      I'll put a few inches of these around all the plants so I won't have so much weeding to do later on.
      Plus it breaks down and helps amend the soil.
      • I'll water every couple of days until the plants are doing good.
        Then, I'll water once a week, unless we get plenty of rain.
        It looks like we should get rain Wednesday, so I'll skip watering for a few days then...

Not sure why this says to space at 30". That's too far apart IMHO...
IMG_20180428_191333859_HDR.jpg

Here's my planted strawberries in a raised bed

IMG_20180428_191824664.jpg

Choosing a variety

3 types to choose from: June bearer, day-neutral or an everbearer.

  • June bearers
    • 2-3 weeks of harvest, typically in June.
      • Renovate beds after fruiting. Remove weeds. Thin plants to 6" apart.
  • day-neutral
    • Length of day does not affect setting fruit.
      • But temperature does. It won't set fruit >85F.
  • everbearers
    • Get a spring and fall crop.
      • requires short days to set fruit.

Matted row vs. Hill or Mound system

Matted row
Good for June bearers.
Plant with 18-30" spacing in rows 4' apart.

  • allow runners to form a matted row about 2 feet wide.
    • produces the greatest number of strawberries.

Hill system
Mound soil 8" high and 24" wide.
Plant with 12" between plants in a staggered row.

  • remove all runners.
    • produces the best quality strawberries

Fertilizing strawberries

Use a balanced fertilizer. Ex. 10-10-10

  • Fertilize when planting.
    • Again at about 4 weeks and again in August.
      • Fertilize everbearing and day neutral after the first harvest.
  • Each year after planting, fertilize after fruit set and again in the fall.
    • Fertilizing in spring creates too much growth and not enough fruit production.

Companion plants

Strawberries love...

  • Asparagus, borage, beans, caraway, dill, fennel, garlic, lettuce, lupin, marigolds, mint, onions, sage, spinach, thyme

Strawberries hate...

  • cabbage

Crop Rotation

Do not plant in a site that recently had strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

Here's some links I found when researching strawberries:

and random notes from those links

  • Strawberries require about 1" of water a week.
  • Mulch in summer to help control weeds.
  • Mulch heavily for winter to prevent heaving out of ground from alternate freezing and thawing.
  • Pick all flowers the first year so you will get more runners.
  • Slugs LOVE strawberries. Use straw mulch to cut down on slugs.
  • Birds LOVE strawberries. You might need to use netting for protection.
  • Extra strawberries can be frozen, dried, or made into jam or preserves.
  • Zones 3-10
  • Full sun
  • Harvest in the morning. Wash and refrigerate (if you can keep from eating all of them! haha)
  • Freeze 1 layer deep on a cookie sheet, then bag them.
  • Slice them to dehydrate.

About the weekly contest

by @howtoweekly
See all posts tagged #howtoweekly

WizNOTE: This is a great contest!
When I first saw the Internet back around '95,
I realized it would do 2 things...

  • Connect people to people
    • and
  • Connect people to information

That's what this contest does.

  • Everyone is an expert at something!
    • You should share your common sense.
      So others can learn from your knowledge and not have to struggle through the same mistakes you made learning that knowledge.
      • You should browse the tags for some great information.
        You should enter this contest to share some great information!

End notes

Let's discuss growing strawberries.

  • Please comment !!!
    • any additional tips or tricks you have
      about growing, harvesting, storing strawberries
      • Do you have a strawberry patch?
        or plan on planting one?

All the rest of the photos were taken by @WizarDave
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Yes I plan on planting some strawberries this year, they are a welcome treat when it's harvest time.

Cool @synergysteem! Yeah, I don't think a person can ever have too many.

  • Fresh, frozen, dehydrated. Gotta lovem!

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Awesome, I'll try the bag. I think it's to warm in my climate for strawberries and I don't want to buy them because of all the chemicals these days and I love strawberries

My first try with the bag. Easy enough. From what I've read, the key is to water them every day.

  • Good luck with that @stranded!
    Let us know how it works out for you...

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I'm not as into strawberries as you are, but I'd have to agree, you always seem to run out of them faster than you get tired of them.

My problem is one year when I was just out of high school I worked in the fields for a summer. That meant strawberries first. I don't know how many I ate during the harvest period, but it was enough to turn me off to them for about three years. Since then, I just haven't been able to consume as many without needing a break. Which I find sad. :(

Anyway, good luck with your bag experiment. Looks like a lot of work. Hopefully plenty of benefit and those Park strawberries are definitely ginormous. Hopefully there sweet and juicy, too, since larger strawberries have a tendency to lose flavor.

That's quite the predicament you're in @glenalbrethsen.

  • I can't imagine ever getting my fill of strawberries!
    • I am so sorry for you. haha

It was a toss up between Parks's Whoppers and Gurney's Giants. The only reason I choose Park's was the sale "giving away" the grow bags. I've never used them...

  • Yes, I've been let down with some of the store bought monsters. Actually some of the best store bought are HyVee's (a local grocery chain) frozen strawberries. They are wonderful.
    • Crossing fingers these are good ones.

I couldn't imagine it happening, either, until it did. Otherwise, I probably would have went easier on the strawberries. Might have made a few more pennies that year, too. I'm glad they didn't weigh us in and out, or I might have ended up paying by the pound. :)

It's also possible that my palate changed. There's just so many tasty things out there in the world that having one of them dominate just isn't in the cards for me anymore. I do have to say, though, there's not much better when it comes to pies than fresh strawberry (with gelatin and whip cream), or strawberry shortcake, both of which are still up there as far as desserts are concerned.

Don't have any HyVee's, so I'll take your word on that one. I think something's lost in the transportation and refrigeration of the store bought ones, since most fruit is pretty green before it leaves the South American farm it was raised on. :)

This is LOL funny!!!

I might have ended up paying by the pound.

Oh man, strawberry pie is awesome!!!
I like my strawberry shortcake with a bit of vanilla ice cream.
OOPS! I let me secret out.

  • There was a 76 truckstop somewhere out east when I was trucking OTR. I always made it a point to stop there and have their shortcake. That's where I learned the ice cream trick.

This particular frozen strawberries are just right for putting on those pound cakes you can get. They thaw out a bit juicy + Dollop of whipped cream + scoop of ice cream. = heaven!

Not a big fan of pound cake. Maybe I haven't had the right one. I'm more partial to one that's made from Bisquick or something similar. Ice cream sounds good, too. Hard to beat Cool Whip, or heavy whipping cream, though. :)

Great information! I planted in raised bed and pots this year...I've never been that lucky with strawberries. Maybe, this will be the year!

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