Planting Techniqes for Strawberries

Types of Strawberries

• Choose the best type of strawberry for your needs. June-bearing strawberries produce a crop of berries during a two- to three-week period in the spring. Everbearing strawberries will produce three different periods of flowers and fruit during a growing season. Day-neutral strawberries produce throughout the growing season.

Growing Strawberries

• Strawberries prefer temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and grow best in a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Work a 10-5-10 formula fertilizer into the soil at planting to add nutrients for growing plants. Plant the strawberries on a cloudy day or during the late afternoon in the early spring as soon as the ground can be worked. Set the plants so that the soil just covers the roots. Strawberries require about 1 inch of water per week for good growth, either through natural rainfall or irrigation. Weed around the plants regularly.

Matted Row Technique

• Use the matted row system for June-bearing varieties of strawberries. Set plants 18 to 30 inches apart in rows set 3 to 4 feet apart. The daughter plants that grow will root in a matted row about 2 feet wide.

Spaced-Row Technique

• The spaced-row system limits the number of daughter plants that grow from original plants. Set the mother plants about 18 to 30 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart. Remove daughter plants from the mother plant by cutting them or removing them from the soil until they root about 4 inches apart, according to the University of Illinois Extension. Though this system requires more labor, it produces a higher yield and larger berries, as well as fewer disease issues.

Hill Technique

• Day-neutral varieties and everbearing strawberries grow best with the hill technique. Remove all of the runners that grow, so that only the mother plant remains. Removing these runners causes the mother plant to grow more crowns and flower stalks. Set several rows of two, three or four plants about 1 foot apart. Weed the beds and carefully mulch for the best production of fruit.