Allotments 4 All

We moved our strawberries from the back garden over to the allotment about 6 weeks ago and tucked them up under some fleece to protect them from frost.

They have done very well and now have flowers on them. Should I now remove the fleece (and swap for netting to keep the birds off) so that the flowers get pollinated?

Bit worried that we might get some more frost yet and then they'll be all gone!

Hiya

I would not necessarily remove the fleece unless you are certain that we aren't going to get a cold snap!  Although they won't come to much harm now! 

I am not sure but I think some strawberries are self fertile.  I have loads of set flowers in my polytunnel and there haven't been many bees around recently!

Yummy - can't wait!

Old Bird

;D

I've left fleece on all year to keep birds off as well as the cold and have great crops.

uld take the fleece of now. starwberrys dont mind a bit of frost at all. they are very robust. i have just fed my three beds with liquid manure and hopefully soon they will take off

They're hardy enough, just make sure they're netted before the fruit starts to ripen.

They need pollinating - commercial growers put bumblebees in their tunnels at great expense. I'd uncover them & just keep an eye out for a proper frost forecast.

What a lot of fuss!

Except for straw to keep them clean, and nets to keep the birds off.

You can leave strawberries alone in their bed all year.

Yes, I can't think why farmers waste all that money on tunnels, fleeces, deep strawing, different coloured plastic, soil sterilisation, chill stored crowns, trickle irrigation, varied feeding regimes and so on. Somebody should let them know they're wasting their time.

Quote from: OllieC on April 22, 2008, 20:46:44
Yes, I can't think why farmers waste all that money on tunnels, fleeces, deep strawing, different coloured plastic, soil sterilisation, chill stored crowns, trickle irrigation, varied feeding regimes and so on. Somebody should let them know they're wasting their time.

You should think

Farmers have to grow varieties which will last for the length of time it takes from picking, packing, transporting  to selling, ensure that the entire fruit is fully ripened all round and a slight knock on a strawberry will make it squishy in a day. The fruit has to be picked at a prime time in it's best possible condition. And each friut has to be the 'right size'.

A variation in the weather can spoil his crop for market and the pickers need cover wet fruit spoils.

Home growers can pick and eat to suit themselves.

Quote from: weedgrower on April 22, 2008, 15:46:21
strawberrys dont mind a bit of frost at all. they are very robust.

The plants are certainly frost hardy but the flowers are definitely not. They will blacken in the centre at the first sign of another frost so be wary.

I've picked over 20 tonnes of the buggers, and worked on a fruit farm for 5 years... "pickers need cover" hahaha!

My feeling exactly. it's not for the pickers, it's to extend the season. Never mind the quality of the result, or the fact that the fruit are smothered in noxious chemicals.

Yep, mine have been fending for themselves all winter and now are lovely tough clumps of foliage with the first flowers and even a few tiny fruit. I have 25 2nd year plants and now 16 new ones grown from last year's runners. You can really tell the difference. Yesterday I gave the old 'uns a nice feed of strawberry fertilizer, so I am hoping to get a good crop in the next few weeks.

The other reason that farmers use polytunnels is that the fruit can get damaged by rain.  Which is why - when you are picking strawberries you are careful when you water them as if you get the main crown of the plant get them wet and you can lose the whole crop to botrytis (mould).

I have several plants in my polytunnel and I am going to get much earlier fruit than the outside plants so also extending my picking season!.

old Bird
;D