Do Strawberries Need to Be Planted Each Year?

Perennials

• Botanist divide plants in three groups: annual, biennial or perennial, based on how long they live. Perennial plants live for more than two years, while annuals live for only one year. Biennials live for two years. Strawberries, the common name for plants in the genus Fagaria, live for more than two years, making them perennials. With proper cultivation methods, you can keep your strawberry plants producing fruit for three or four years.

Annual

• Although the strawberry is not an annual, some gardeners treat them as annuals by growing new plants every year. In some areas of the United States, such as Texas, replanting strawberries every year gives better results than growing them as perennials. Also, if a perennial grass, such as quackgrass, has infested your strawberry patch, replanting works better than attempting to remove the weedy grass. For an annual weed, such as crabgrass, you can typically maintain control by hand cultivation and avoid replanting your strawberries.

Renovation

• Keeping your strawberries healthy, so that they will yield a high amount of quality fruit for three or four growing seasons, requires a specific type of maintenance called renovation. Renovation practices, such as mowing the plants to a level of about 1 inch above the crown, will help you avoid yearly replanting. You also need to remove all weeds, thin the plants so that only the most vigorous remain, make the rows about 12 inches wide and apply a 10-10-10 fertilizer.

Plant

• To grow strawberries, whether you intend to grow them as an annual or perennial, make sure you plant then in a site with full sun. Choose disease-free and disease-resistant varieties of plants. Grow in a fertile soil that has a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Avoid planting in soil where tomatoes, peppers or potatoes recently grew. This makes disease more likely.