What is the best way to keep slugs and rolly poly bugs away from strawberry? My strawberries are planted in the ground, on a slight hill. I have tried beer in containers and straw to try to keep fruit off the dirt. Please help. Thanks, Barb
Try diatomaceous earth. It will kill the pests but it won't hurt people ant pets. Here is more information:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/diatomaceous-earth-insect-control.htm
I have strawberries, but when will they ripen and turn red? How much longer?
Yes, they will eventually ripen. Be patient. These articles should help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/strawberry/growing-strawberry-plants.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/strawberry/growing-strawberry-plants.htm
I was given some strawberries by a friend and I threw them in the ground where I know there is not enough sun, but since I live in a condo it was the only place I could snag for them. They didn't produce last year but this year I have a lot of them for the few plants I have and they are very sweet. However, 2/3 of them are gnarly looking. How to describe. . .they have bumps on them, but they have grown that way kind of misshapen into blobs of a strawberry shape with these gnarly little nobs. They taste fine though. Any idea why?
It sounds like you have a plant that is prone to fused blossoms. What you essentially have is siamese twin (triplet, quadruplets, etc) fruit. The plant produced flowers that were fused together and the fruit grow together into rather knobby, blob like shapes.
It is not harmful and the fruit is just as tasty. Just a little ugly is all. It is common on plants like tomatoes, but can happen on any flowering plant. Most of the time you will see just one or two, but you can get an oddball plant occasionally that is prone to producing like that.
This is the second year for my raised bed strawberry plants, and though the plants have spread out and developed many runners, I got very few strawberries out of the beds.
This article will help you:
http://strawberryplants.org/2010/08/strawberry-plants-producing-runners-but-no-strawberries/
My strawberry plant has only runners and looks healthy but there are no blossoms. Is this a climate issue? Hot days and not cooling down at night? Thanks, Dave
It may be lacking phosphorous or they may not be getting enough light. Give them some bone meal for phosphorous and make sure that they are getting enough sunlight.
I would like to know how to keep the weeds from my berries and what will promote them to produce more berries.
Among the chemical weed killers, a broad leaf weed killer should take care of most of your common weeds. On the organic side, you can look for pre-emergent type weed killers. As strawberries propagate by runners, the weed killer would only affect the weed seeds.
The best way to get more berries is to have happy plants. Mulching, fertilizing and good watering practices will all help. They like a little extra bone meal to help with blooming and fruit production as well.
Can a strawberry plant be moved to a new location now?
It depends on where you live. If you live somewhere with freezing temps in the winter, I would not plant or move them after late fall. If you live somewhere that does not get freezing temps, then you can actually transplant during the winter, though early spring would be preferable.