Allotments 4 All

Hi. Am new to gardening but am trying trying trying and loving (most of) it! 

Today's worry: About a month ago, a friend gave me a little strawberry plant he'd bought from a nursery. It was healthy with 3 green "stalks" coming out of the centre, each having a few leaves.  I kept it inside, in my kitchen where it got good morning sun.  Three more stalks grew, as well as a little clump of white flowers. 

Now, three of the stalks appear dead (completely brown, leaves are brown) and the flowers are shrivelled up and dragging their heads on the soil.  Two of the stalks still have large healthy green leaves at the ends but the lower 1/4 of the stems are turning brown from the centre (crown?). 

Only one stem is still entirely green and is growing healthy leaves. 

I transplanted the whole thing yesterday into a slightly bigger pot, and now have it outside in the warm sunshine.  Maybe I should have done this sooner?  Did I give it too much water?   Can I save the plant?  Should I cut the good stem off and ditch the rest of the plant?  Should I keep it as is?  Put it in a larger pot?  Spin around anti-clockwise chanting "red berries red berries red berries"?

Help,
FarmerFen
(who is a tad bit embarassed b/c all the websites say "strawberries are easy to grow" but this same thing happened last year, what am i doing wrong?)

whenever i've had strawberries i've planted them outside with no problems.  My neighbour did the same thing with hers, had it on a windowsill and it didnt produce fruit but looked half dead.

Every strawberry I have tried to grow in a pot has given up and died but put them in the ground with a bit a manure and I get monster bushes with masses of red berries.  I think the answer is to not give them too much fuss and definately keep them outside.

Hope that helps

Maybe you planted them too deeply? Thats the only thing I can think of except the obvious ones like too much or lack of water. But inside in a pot isn't really a good place. Best to get some plants to put directly into the soil in say, September. The soil will be warm enough for them to get established before winter, and you will most likely get a crop next year.

There are certain plants that need never be bought from nurseries, rhubarb crowns being one and strawberry plants another. Strawberries throw so many runners that 90% probably never get used. In a few months, go to anyone on an allotment site who's got strawberries and they'll probably gladly give you runners to plant. My patch has started 3 patches for new gardeners this year amounting to over 100 plantlets and still I threw loads away.

You are right djbrenton, I have given loads away this year.
The funny thing is I have grown strawberries in a "strawberry barrel"  for a few years and had very disappointing crops. They threw out loads of runners but very little fruit. So at the end of last season I potted up the runners, threw away the barrel and found room for them in the garden, the rest I gave away.
I have had a fine crop of delicious juicy strawberries this year, with more still to come  :P yum.
Next year I intend having a strawberry bed and I shall keep all my runners to myself  :-X

After several years of next to no strawberries, I decided to dig them all up and start again in the autumn. Naturally, I'm getting a lot more berries this year off the few that remain! But it's still a pathetic crop, and I'm going to buy some in the autumn to make sure of getting good ones.

my last years plants have grown immense foilage but very few fruits and a few runners  (in a pot).

this years new plants are producing more fruit but got a long way to go (in a growbag).  i'll not worry about not harvesting this year as i'm green and must have some to eat.

next year they're all going to have a bed for themselves.

This might not your particular problem but might help for next year.

I was given 3 strawberry plants about 3 years ago in spring I just stuck them in a spare bit of ground in the garden, they grew, produced a few fruits and loads of runners.

I got my plot last february and transferred the strawberry plants and runners, I had just cleared the ground and not really given it a good dig. I got about 1 decent strawberry per plant last year.

Last autumn I dug over the whole plot and moved the strawberries to a new position and used the subsequent runners to make new rows. After mioving they looked knackered but have picked up and I have just picked my first strawberries today.

So all I can say is strawberries seem to like well dug weed free ground and however sad they look they will pick up and as other listers have said if you have strawberries you will have runners which you will want to pass on