’Tough Love’ is Best Care for Strawberry Beds 6/8/01

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Strawberry beds need "tough love" and they need it soon, to have the best odds for producing a bumper crop next year.

"If you don’t renovate strawberries after each year’s major harvest, you can end up with an empty bed or an attractive groundcover that produces the occasional fruit," warned Ward Upham, horticulturist at Kansas State University.

Did you know that strawberries:

* were cultivated in ancient Rome!

* were used as a medicinal herb in the 1200s.

* are not really a fruit or a berry, but rather the enlarged receptacle of the flower.

* are grown in every U.S. state and Canadian province.

* are a member of the rose family!

* have a museum dedicated to them in Belgium.

* are very high in vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants.

* have just 55 calories per cup (plus 0 cholesterol and 0 fat).

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

The first step is to make sure the plants are getting enough light. Tall weeds and the strawberries themselves can act as a sunblock, as well as a competitor for water and soil nutrients.

"Skip this only if a bed looks healthy, but sparse – with large open spaces between plants," Upham said.

The horticulturist recommends hand-pulling weeds, because strawberry roots can be so near the surface that hoeing will damage them. Except for very small beds, however, he suggests removing the old strawberry leaves by mowing.

"Just be sure the mower is set high enough to avoid the strawberry plant crowns," Upham said.

A second step is to thin the plants so they’re spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart. This also can be an opportunity to remove unhealthy looking plants or to expand strawberry production.

"On large beds, however, you can get about the same thinning effect if you use a rototiller to create rows of strawberries that are about 10 inches wide," the horticulturist added. "The plants that get plowed under will just enrich the soil."

The final step in the renovation is to feed the plants with a complete fertilizer (for example, a 13-13-13 mix of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), applying close to one pound per 25 feet of row. For soils that test as having adequate phosphorus and potassium, substitute a high-nitrogen mix (29-3-4, 30-3-3 or the like), but apply only one-third pound per 25 feet of row.

"Then irrigate, to dissolve the fertilizer. And keep watering and controlling weeds through summer, so the plants are vigorous when they begin to develop fruit buds in September and October," Upham advised. "But let the soil get dry between waterings. Then use a sprinkler or drip system to irrigate to a depth of 6 to 8 inches."

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.