growing strawberries

[cheri]

I tried to grow strawberries in containers a few years ago and was told that the reason they weren't blooming was because strawberries don't bloom until year 2. fine. my dh dumped out the dirt, so no strawberries for us.

i decided to try again this year and bought a couple of plants. one already has a strawberry budding through. but then i read something online that said you're supposed to pick all of the flowers off in the first year. why? are they not edible?

[canadiyank]

It's to encourage root growth so they keep bearing well over don't die during the winter.

:)

[illinoismommy]

doh!! that's why my 2nd year strawberry plants dont look so well... they did bloom last year, but didnt make strawberries. I didn't expect them to though. I didn't know I was supposed to pick them. Well anyway the rabbits are getting to them also. Maybe I will go ahead and pick the blooms this year as well to encourage the plants to get stronger and bigger before making strawberries

[cheri]

well i grow mine in containers.. so if i didn't pick them off and decided to eat them this year, would that only affect next year? or would that also mean that i would get a smaller crop 1st year as well?

[canadiyank]

I'm not sure, Cheri. :think Are you saying you wouldn't save them until next year? You can in containers...I had one of those strawberry pots growing up and it came back every year, even in a harsh climate, until we dropped the pot. Heh.

[cheri]

I'm saying that I'm impatient and want to eat them this year. :shifty

[canadiyank]

:think I dunno. I planted some last year and didn't really get any berries on them; also didn't know to pinch, so :shrug I'd probably pinch now that I know to do so.

[illinoismommy]

I didn't get any berries last year, but I did get flowers .... my problem may have been birds though :giggle