So, you decided to grow some strawberries this year. You carefully prepared the bed and have enjoyed your first crop. Now you are wondering what to do to keep your strawberry bed healthy and productive.
In part, the care after harvest depends on whether you are growing June bearing or day neutral (everbearing) varieties and what kind of row systems you have them planted in. June bearing strawberries are most commonly grown in what is known as the matted row system. Mother plants are set 18 to 24 inches apart in 3 to 4 1/2 foot rows and runners are allowed to root anywhere within the row.
This system is usually the easiest to maintain. Typically, at the end of the third growing season both plant quality and fruit quantity start to decrease and the whole bed is dug up and replanted with new disease-free strawberry plants. Try to incorporate this into your garden rotation plan to reduce disease problems.
June bearers can also be grown in single rows composed of different aged plants with the original plants set about a foot apart. A second row is started with first year runners and set 18 inches from the initial planting. Use only the first or second daughter plants produced along the runners because they are the most vigorous and productive.
The rest are usually discarded. The next year a third row is made again using the first one or two daughter plants and once more surplus runners and plants are removed. After the original mother plants have produced fruit for about 3 years,.