JoAnne Skelly
My friend Eric was wondering why his third-year strawberry plants were not as productive as they were in their second year. Last year he had a multitude of large, luscious strawberries.
This year, while the mother plants were green and healthy, they had sent off runners on which the strawberry fruits were growing. The fruits on the runners were not only small, but, in some cases, deformed.
According to the Utah State Extension and Garden website strawberries are “relatively easy to grow” with a 4-foot by 8-foot bed potentially producing 10 to 15 pounds of berries for three to five years.
Strawberries grow best in a well-drained soil with at least eight hours of sun per day. Unfortunately, strawberries can really suffer in a late spring frost, a common occurrence in our area.
The first flowers, which the ones that produce the largest berries, can easily be killed. One way to reduce early blooming is to plant the berries where they get late winter shade. South-facing aspects can encourage early blooms that are susceptible to freeze damage.
June-bearer type strawberry plants send out runners to form daughter plants. During the first growing season of June-bearing varieties, blooms and fruit should be removed to promote the daughter plants.
Ever-bearers, which produce a small crop in the spring and another in the fall, should have the runners removed completely. What can cause smaller berries? If the plants are too close together and are competing with each other, smaller berries can result.
Another factor might be that the crowns and roots might have been damaged in the winter cold. This can happen easily in raised beds. Or, as I mentioned, a late frost can damage the flowers.
Rows have to renovated immediately after harvest by thinning, weeding and fertilizing to keep June-bearer plants producing new daughter plants. This might mean removing the oldest plants to make room.
But with ever-bearers, the mother plants run down after one or two seasons and have to be replanted. Even poor pollination can be an issue. Deformed and small fruit may also be the result of plant bugs feeding on the fruit.
Strawberries have a high-water demand but should dry out somewhat between waterings to avoid root rot or gray mold on the fruit. They don’t need much fertilizer; just preplant incorporation, at renovation with a 10-10-10 and again in late summer.
For information, go to: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/strawberries-in-the-garden
or https://extension.umn.edu/strawberry-farming/small-or-misshapen-strawberries#:~:text=A%20number%20of%20macronutrients%20and,lead%20to%20small%20fruit%20size.
JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Email skellyj@unr.edu