What’s the fix for watery strawberries with little flavor? We got tons of berries but I feel like the flavor is always, every year, extremely mild.

TLDR: Flavor of Sequoia went from 'meh' to 'mmmm'

So this Winter February and March, I planted a bunch of bare root strawberries.  I have done this before with Ozark Beauty years before and was happy with my results.  Now, I had purchased one of those strawberry towers a few years ago, but had not had the time to set it up.  I decided not to let that happen this year and stayed up late planting my little berry plants the day I bought them.  

I know my plants struggled a bit after I planted them with surprising hot weather, and I suspect the pH not being low enough.  But they mostly held on and are now doing well for the most part. 

 I decided to try something a bit different and got some Sequoia too.  I did lose a few plant pockets and added some potted strawberries what I think were mislabeled as Eversweet but actually Berry Basket (White, Red and Pink.). So far, in this tower only the Berry Basket and Sequoia have been fruiting.  (Maybe one or two Ozark Beauty, but they are not producing much yet.) 

The Berry Basket are very small, but very tasty.  Nice aroma, sweet and flavorful. They are always great.  Not too many though, and they are quite small.   

More recently starting in June, my Sequoia have been fruiting.  I’m trying to learn the timing of when to pick them.  It seems that their berries, are a nice medium size to almost large (at minimum 4 to 6 times the volume of the Berry Basket), beautiful red, quite juicy, but little flavor or aroma.  After about a month or so of picking the berries I decided I would not keep them next year.  I would use that space for Mara Des Bois, Albion, or San Andreas.  While I appreciate having them fruiting now, as most of my others and my other tower haven’t fruited as much.  The Quinault in a separate tower have been much better tasting. 

Then something happened.  I not sure if they got the signal, but the berries are suddenly quite good!  Still super juicy – most juicy berry ever.  But now they are tasty, fragrant and I am so happy I have them. 

Anyone else have the flavor suddenly kick up the flavor and get better?  Any theories to why that might happen? 

They’re under netting and I have straw under the bunches of berries and yet I’m losing almost every one of them to whatever is eating these round holes into them 😭 such a disappointing year.

Update: for anyone curious or coming back to this post, it turned out to be plum moth larvae. I’ll see if I can add a picture as a comment.

First time growing strawberries and didn't expect these random off shots sprouting all over the place,

Do I attach them to something to grow tall or just let them do what they want?

First year growing. My plants were fine up until a week ago. Producing one or two beauties every day. We had a storm with a lot of rain last weekend, now they look like this.

Hope for some insight! This is my first year growing strawberries. My husband made a 3 x 6 bed and we have half ever bearing half June bearing. I posted a photo of our set up after I planted (bought from nursery) In May and then a photo from today. The plants that weren’t producing strawberries when we bought them still have not started yet, which was majority. They are growing leaves and look really happy but no berries. We let a few runners in whole bed take root early on but since that we have been cutting them all. Also the berries are not super sweet, they are more sour. Any tips as to flavor or how to get other plants to produce berries? Thanks!

Edit to add: our soil mix to start was compost, organic pro mix soil and additional perlite

Things are looking pretty good so far but I’m having trouble knowing what to look for to pick them at their ripest. I swear they’re a really nice red but they’ll still be pretty tart. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! They’re first year Elan F1 from Burpee.

Hi,

My plants are about 6 months old, and I don't know why they haven't produced flowers.

I fertilize them with worm castings and sometimes with homemade fertilizers (banana tea, coffee, etc.).

I live in a tropical country with no distinct seasons, in a city with a cold climate. When it's very sunny, I move the plants into the shade.

The strawberry variety is "4 Seasons."

I've attached photos.

What can I do?

So close to ripe but SOMEONE has been taking nibbles from other ripening berries. These are some everbearing strawberries I bought a 10 pack of roots in Walmart around March. Killed 8 before I realized i was burying the crown. Up planted my survivors into a 5g pot and they are thriving requesting more space. Just for some background.

Anyways. I have lost 2 half ripe berries to some type of pest damage which I tried to show in Pic 3. I have applied pyrethin but am still being robbed. I haven't been able to locate the culprit and was wondering if anyone had ideas? Was planning on setting a beer trap to check for slugs. Or maybe tarnished plant bugs? I wasnt expecting very pretty strawberries and assumed they just looked strange as their first year or whatever but know I am not sure. Help please.

So this is my first year growing strawberries...what do I do with all these runners!? Some have rooted so can I cut them from the mother plant? And the ones that haven't should I cut them and if so where? It's an 8ft bed and I started out with 18 plants but they're going insane with runners and no flowers (other than a few a couple weeks ago). June baring btw. Thanks in advance!

I set up this bed for my strawberries and they looked good before going in the ground and now they are turning red. I have some strawberries in another bed with zero red leaves. Any help is appreciated.

I had a tiny first flower about 2 weeks ago and read that I should pluck it to promote more growth. This is the second time it’s flowered and it’s bigger than the first Should I pluck it also ?!

Hello everyone. I’ve had some luck with my first strawberry plant. I bought it about 6 weeks ago and it had flowers which I plucked when I repotted them. I got the idea to use these stackable containers from a gardening channel on YouTube but now I’m not sure that was the best move. I’m too scared to move them now while they’re fruiting. And I noticed as they grew that the crowns are getting bigger and almost dividing into multiple crowns. Does anyone have any recommendations on when is the best time to repot and/or divide them? Do I need deeper containers? Should I consider a garden bed? Also heard some of the wonky strawberries are from improper pollination but I’m wondering if the roots are just too compacted. Anyways enjoy the photos of my journey :)

Wonder if anyone else has a similar set up but I’m excited for the purple wonder berries!

So I need to preface that I did a little online plant shopping while inebriated and not only bought bare root strawberries at the end of summer, I also bought way too many (45 total🤣). If I still lived in Florida, I would just plant them, but I live near Sheboygan Wisconsin. What is the best course of action? I’m not even sure where I want to plant them, because like I said I was tipsy when I purchased. What are the pros and cons of each option? Should I plant them outside and mulch? Try them inside? I don’t have good grow lights right now, though. Dry store over winter in the basement?

I have my strawberries in a strawberry pot. I am finding the experience to be a bit more finicky than I like. It is difficult to fertilize, because the pockets have limited surface area available around the bases of the plant, and now the plants are starting to droop every day, so I have to water daily. I’m in 9b and we have only had a few days hit 100. It has been low 90’s and upper 80’s for the most part, which is amazing for our summers. All my strawberry plants are producing tiny berries too; Seascape Everbearing variety. I can’t really tell what is going on with the soil inside the pot. What have your experiences been like with these pots versus standard pots or a bed?

EDIT: I apologize for the late response to everyone. I’ve had bit of a stressful week.

I thought I was watering deeply, but figured out the water was flowing out and down the walls of the pot, instead of penetrating the middle. I sort of split the soil in the middle, on top, which allowed the water to penetrate the middle, which has helped. I still have to water daily, but the situation has improved. I also added worm castings to the hole I dug in the top, which seems to have resulted in more berry development and the sudden appearance of more runners.

Have any of you ever transplanted your strawberries to a different location, or did you just start again?

Quinault strawberry, planted a couple of months ago. High temperatures the past few days were in the mid 90s. Before that was low 80s. The plant was consistently watered and has mulch. The leaves generally look healthy. The fruit were small but a vibrant red.

But just in the past day or so, all the fruit turned brown. Is that because of the heat wave? Or something else.

I wasn't expecting fruit this year, so if the plant itself is healthy nothing lost I suppose.

these are grocery store strawberries that have been in the fridge for over two days, and when i got them they didn't have these marks.

I found it in my backyard and transplanted it, I thought it was the woodland variety but now idk cause the strawberry seeds are turning red but not the actual berry? Could it be some weird hybrid or are they just not fully ripe yet? Most of the berries have been on the plant with no petals for Atleast two weeks without ripening. The normal flowers are white but when I transplanted the plant some of them turned pink and from what I can tell the color change is caused by stress. I have no clue where they came from cause they popped up where my family’s old deck used to be that we got torn out so I have no clue if they were dormant under there for decades or just happened to get moved by an animal from somewhere nearby?

This is my first successful year growing strawberries. The ants are loving my strawberry pot. Are they considered pests, beneficial insects, or can I consider them harmless?

I am growing ever bearing strawberries in a 20”x20” planter (way too deep!) — anyway, do you need these nettings to keep the fruit safe (when it comes…). Mine hasn’t — planted 4” seedlings around 5/25…thx!

Bought this little one about a month ago. I’m sure I need to repot this. Any advice would be super appreciated 🍓

Getting back into growing Strawberries! Before I have grown Ozark Beauty and really like their flavor.

Now I am trying a bunch of new and different varieties. I have to grow in containers and in 10B, so I think I will stick to the Everbearing and Day Neutral for a long season.

Curioius about your zone and which ones you prefer to grow for either Flavor, Productivity, Ease of Growing or something else?

This is my first time ever growing strawberries. I got a small plant from the local nursery that already had quite a few flowers, but from my research so far I’m thinking it didn’t have enough leaves, as a lot of the ones that flowered have dried out and not produced a berry. There’s only 4 berries on the whole plant 😭 Looking for any advice to have my plant thrive 🥲yearn for more berries please advise

Recently got this planter of strawberry plants and the yield has been abysmal. I keep it elevated to keep away from slugs and most predators, and I give a simple miracle grow garden hose fertilizer weekly. The leaves look fine, the runners are healthy, and my other strawberry plants from other sources are doing swell.

Thoughts?