Strawberries in my polytunnel.

[PurpleDragon]

When we bought the house, the polytunnel had an abundance of strawberries in the polytunnel. They were planted in the ground, under plastic and chuckies.

Last year the crop was abyssmal, and I ripped them out ready to plant new. Well - my new have just arrived and I have realised I shall probably have to prepare the soil! Yikes!

So - my ground is heavy clay. I don't know how good the soil is in the poly (and can't afford one of these posh testing kits). I know I shall have to lift the chuckies and the plastic, and dig something in, but anyone got any tips as to what?

Also, I had considered putting them in hanging baskets. I saw this in the local garden centre and thought it a good idea, but I'm having 2nd thoughts now. Comments anyone? Ideas? I guess if they are in the ground and I can't water for a day or two, the ground water will keep them right, but in pots they will probably suffer.

[HILLDREAMER90]

Hi, I grew strabs under black plastic, over what had been a farm trak,there was only 3" soil. So adding bit of compost/topsoil will do. The main prob may be virus,strabs are v supsptable [spelling] to this & is recommended not to grow in the same place for too long.Tgey do fine outdoors,unless yr after earlies. I wouldent bother with h baskets,as you said,too much watering. Big pots work well.A.

[PurpleDragon]

Thanks for that. Do you think it would be okay to put them outside now, or not? I might put them the other side of the tunnel, though ...

[hedgewizard]

I say dig in some compost and a good handful of fb+b per sq meter. Move them to the other side to rest the soil, and don't expect too much from them in future years!

Is it just me, or do all the strawberry suppliers say "for best results plant in September, orders dispatched from early November"?

[PurpleDragon]

fb+b? Wassat? Why shouldnt I expect too much from them? I dont expect that many this year, but next year should be abundant, surely?

[hedgewizard]

Fish, Blood and Bone - a good slow-releasing form of nitrogen to be dug in before planting. It's a good idea to start feeding a phosphate-rich feed as soon as the first flowers appear too.

From what I read, strawbs in a polytunnel get stressed because the growing season is longer than outside. Note, this is received wisdom - and it might apply to "perpetual" varieties more than other sorts because they're the ones where you really get the value out of having them in a tunnel, because their fruiting season goes on until it's too cold for them to grow any more. A local lottie grower only finished cropping his "Cezanne" in open ground in the middle of October, and they would have carried on for another few weeks if they were in a tunnel (but would have been exhausted in the process).

[PurpleDragon]

Thanks, HW.

[Ireland-or-bust]

A friend of mine who owns a garden centre says that the best
way to grow them (and only way for him) is in guttering
hanging from the ceiling.

[PurpleDragon]

That's interesting! I saw some in our local garden centre in hanging baskets, the same as you get flowers in front of people's houses.

[ohareward]

Hi PD, Strawberries need a lot of compost and well rotted animal manure. I use horse manure as I can get as much as I need. This should be dug in a good spade depth prior to planting. You will find that worms will start doing their thing. I plant mine outside as our winters aren't as severe as yours. To get a continuing supply of plants I put small plastic containers full of potting mix into the ground and pin the runners into them so that the runners will form roots in the containers. When the new plants are established, cut the umbilical cord and you will have new plants for next season. You need to put out the number of containers to get the number of plants to fill the area you are to plant. The plants need to be about 30-40cm apart and 60cm between rows. I will be planting out my plants sometime in March-April, which is our Autumn. We have problems with black birds but being in a tunnel house you don't need to cover the strawberries. It is advisable to put in new plants, at the most, every two seasons, as the yield and size diminishes if they are left in too long. I put new ones in each year. As long as you upgrade the soil each season you can plant in the same place. I have a permanent bed under a wire mesh and this will be my fifth year in it. Happy strawberrying.

[hedgewizard]

So far I've not had many worms in my tunnel, although it's early days yet - so manure has to be well forked in.

[Millymollymandy]

Translation please! What are chuckies?

[hedgewizard]

a mulch of dead chickens?