everbearing strawberries flower but don't fruit

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by bijjy, Jun 14, 2008.

  1. bijjy

    bijjy Active Member

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    Location:
    Burnaby BC Canada
    I bought a dozen everbearing strawberries last spring. i brought them home from the greenhouse where i worked; they had been neglected in their little nutrient-deficient containers, outside in a back lot, yet were fruiting like crazy.

    then, when i planted them all in big half-barrels, in a mix of sea soil, peat, regular gardening soil, potting soil, compost and 'fruit fertilizer,' they would flower profusely, but not fruit. they fruited once, for about two weeks.

    this year, same thing. for the past month they've been flowering but not fruiting! the petals fall off, but the fruit remains tiny and green.

    perhaps they are too cramped in the barrels? maybe need more sun? i'm stumped!
     
  2. Lostmind

    Lostmind Member

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    Location:
    Port Moody
    might be sun? last year my strawberries did pretty ok, this year they are double the amount of green but no ripe fruit at all :(
     
  3. bijjy

    bijjy Active Member

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    I found out the answer to this when I transplanted the berries to a raised vegetable bed this past August. Even though they had formerly been growing in large half-barrels, the strawberry roots had completely taken over the soil inside the barrel. I had put empty plastic pots at the bottom of the barrels for good drainage, and the roots had completely engulfed the pots, so that I had to cut the pots away from the plants.

    The plants had simply run out of the energy required to produce berries, because of their cramped roots. As soon as I transplanted them and gave them some berry fertilizer, they started to grow berries again and even now (October) I'm eating some berries off them!! :) I plan to let the runners spread and take over the bed as a ground cover because the leaves look okay even in winter.
     

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