Growing Strawberry Plants

Fragaria : Rosaceae / the rose family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
      P P P P P        

(Best months for growing Strawberry Plants in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

  • P = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • Easy to grow. Plant with crown (of roots) just covered.. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 68°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 12 - 39 inches apart
  • Harvest in approximately 11 weeks. Strawberries bruise easily when ripe, handle carefully. Pick with a small piece of stem attached..
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Better in a bed on their own to allow good sun and air circulation
  • Avoid growing close to: If you are using rotation beds, avoid putting strawberries where you have grown tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplant
  • Ripening fruit
  • Strawberry plants

Strawberries are low-growing leafy plants which grow 12 - 15 cm (about 6 inches) tall and will spread to about 50 - 100 cm (20 - 40 inches). They have five petalled white or pink flowers. The flowers are followed by the delicious red fruits (which have their seeds on the outside).

Later in the season the plants send out runners like thin stems across the garden which will take root to form new plants. Cut them off and leave the parent growing. You can transplant the runners or let them grow where they rooted to produce new plants.

At the end of fruiting, trim off old yellow leaves and clean up any mouldy fruit still attached.

Strawberries like well drained soil with plenty of humus. To prepare your bed, dig in some compost before planting and possibly use a liquid fertiliser during the growing season. Well fed strawberries taste better.

To protect the fruit from moulds and mildew use some form of mulch around the plants. Straw, pine needles, or black plastic are all suitable. Mulch will also help suppress weeds.

Protect your plants with some sort of netting or bird scarer or you will lose most of your crop!

Strawberry plants often need replacing after a few years as they get affected by viruses and stop producing well.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Strawberry Plants

Pick strawberries and eat them straight from the garden warm from the sunshine - delicious!

Strawberries can be used in any dessert needing soft fruit or berries. Summer pudding (which also has raspberries and blackberries or boysenberries), mousse, trifle, dipped in melted chocolate or just with cream.

Sprinkle a bowl of strawberries with balsamic vinegar and a little sugar to enhance the flavour and colour.

A quick jam of diced strawberries cooked in the microwave with an equal weight of sugar until completely soft won't keep but can be used right away.

Your comments and tips

18 May 24, Lea (Australia - temperate climate)
This is not about strawberries but watermelons . Planted in March nothing happened and now plant dying off. My question is can I leave the seeds in the ground or should I replant when warmer Thanks
21 May 24, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Best to plant watermelons in the spring.
14 May 22, Beverley Nelson (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Do strawberries grown in strawberry planters really work, or is ground growing the best method? Do the 2 methods need different treatment? TIA
17 Aug 20, Deborah (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
My rootstock strawberries have produced flowers. I read I should deflower for the first season to strengthen the root system. Since I live in a sub-tropical climate, when should I stop deflowering?
16 Jan 21, Zyllas (Australia - temperate climate)
Most they will not make them flower and runner for another 6 mos straight since they want the plant to focus on growing not reproducing. They prefer the stem/crown atleast thickness of our pinky or ring finger by then if you let it flower it will give you dozen since plant are mature enough for reproduction. Some people let 1 runner at a time while plants is bearing ofcourse you need to provide fertiliser to support the whole process like NPK 20-20-20 and cacium nitrate
19 Aug 20, Anonymous (Australia - temperate climate)
I'm sub-tropical (Bundaberg) and strawberries are grown commercially here. They plant new stock each year in first week of April -depends on temperature soil/air. They start picking strawberries in late June. It is probably the height of the picking season now. The deflowering sounds like rubbish to me. Commercial growers only pick one crop and then plough out. Home gardens can pick off the same plants for 2-3 years and then you require new stock again. If you do this then you have to contend with the old plants sending out new runners each year.
04 Oct 22, Veronica (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi, with respect to your comment about the commercial growers ploughing the crops back in at the end of the season, do you have any idea where they get the next year's "seedlings" from? Many thanks
30 Oct 22, Bernie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I got my initial supply of runners from Sweet Strawberry Runners in the Stanthorpe area. I purchased 25 runners and now have 60 plants. I grow then as a green wall in three rows of 20 pots. Each year I discard the bottom row and then move the others down one row and plant new runner to form the top row. This way you replace your plants every three years and you never forget which plants to discard. As for deflowering, that is garbage. I get beautifully sweet berries from my first year crop. You maybe a bit late to start now but if you contact Sweet Runners they will let you know what varieties are growing and when they will be ready . Good luck and happy eating.
22 Aug 20, Deborah (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Thankyou
03 Sep 20, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Talked to a grower last week and they plant mid March (St Paddy's Day) and are starting to pick fruit 8 weeks later.
Showing 1 - 10 of 193 comments

I'm sub-tropical (Bundaberg) and strawberries are grown commercially here. They plant new stock each year in first week of April -depends on temperature soil/air. They start picking strawberries in late June. It is probably the height of the picking season now. The deflowering sounds like rubbish to me. Commercial growers only pick one crop and then plough out. Home gardens can pick off the same plants for 2-3 years and then you require new stock again. If you do this then you have to contend with the old plants sending out new runners each year.

- Anonymous

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