Are you considering moving strawberries to a new location in your garden but are unsure of where to begin? When moving strawberries or crowns throughout your garden, there are a few important steps you need to take. This post explains each step you should take to effectively transplant strawberries in the garden.
Why should you transplant strawberry plants?
During their lifespan, the majority of strawberry plants will generate a large number of runners. For those who garden at home, this is great! This woman is gardening, dragging a shovel across the dirt while holding a strawberry plant. If the soil isn’t very favourable for growing strawberries, transplanting the plants to a rich, sandy loam with sufficient drainage may also make all the difference in the world.
To maximize strawberry productivity, relocating undesired strawberry plants to different beds can help establish new strawberry patches and start a strawberry bed rotation system. Furthermore, to improve ventilation and lessen the likelihood of many fungal infections, thinning existing beds by removing and relocating strawberry plants elsewhere can assist.
Transplanting Strawberry Runners
The seasoned plants will often yield the largest and most abundant strawberries. A gardener should anticipate that the most fruitful years for a strawberry plant are years two and three because it takes some time for a strawberry plant to root effectively and produce at its maximum level.
After year 3, most strawberry plants begin to lose some of their youthful vitality; nevertheless, some will still produce remarkably well in year 4. It is often ideal to transplant strawberry runners that were sent off and rooted that year, as this maintains the roots of the most firmly established plants.
The following section describes what to do if you let the strawberry runners spread out on their own or if you guide them into movable pots or containers.
Which Is the Best Time for Transplanting Strawberries?
So when should you move your strawberry plants? You will probably receive your strawberry plants by mail in the spring, by your hardiness zone’s recommended planting time, if you buy them online. Place them on the ground right away if you find them in the spring.
If you have an established bed, you should normally transplant strawberry runners that have already taken root. For the majority of US zones, late August is usually the ideal time to transplant. However, transplanting can wait in the warmer southern regions. You can transfer strawberry runner plants early if you live somewhere much colder.
Remember, however, that moving strawberry plants in the scorching summer months harms the plant. Instead, strawberries can grow well almost anytime during the growth season if they receive enough water and have a friendly growing environment.
How to Transplant Strawberry Plants
Correct transplanting techniques are essential to preventing needless harm to strawberry plants and minimizing stress on the newly transplanted plants.
To transplant:
- First things first, furnish your new residence. Ensure that the soil is rich, sandy loam, sunny, well-drained, and somewhat acidic; additionally, it should be historically acceptable and generally suitable for strawberry plants.
- Choose the strawberry plants that you want to move. Transplanting established, young runner plants that are only a few months old is generally the best option. Before transplanting, select only healthy-looking strawberry plants and remove any flower buds, yellowed or broken leaves, and runners.
- Obtain an item or materials that can retain moisture. The ideal material would probably be sphagnum or peat moss, but even something as basic as moist paper towels would typically work. During the transplanting procedure, it is crucial to maintain the moisture content of the strawberry roots.
- It’s time to dig up the runner plants you have selected and prepared. Remove as many of the strawberry plants’ roots as you can. When the roots are no longer attached to the dirt, cover or wrap them with damp peat moss.
- Place strawberries in the freshly set up strawberry bed. It is not advisable to dig up and plant all of the chosen strawberry plants at once. Transplant one strawberry plant at a time. Before going on to the next strawberry plant, make sure you give each one a thorough watering after relocating it. If you wait to water the entire batch of plants at once using a sprinkler system or another method, you might be able to prevent any plants from dying during transplanting.
Systems for Transplanting Strawberries
If you wish to maintain the vigour and productivity of your strawberry plants, use a transplanting technique. You may maintain three or more healthy, fruitful strawberry beds by relocating the plants every year.
If you would like the strawberry plants to bear fruit for fewer or more years, you can adjust the following instructions: If you don’t transplant every year, you can maintain the cycle with fewer strawberry beds.
Year 1: Transplant strawberries from the established bed
If strawberries are ordered online or from a local nursery, they may not be planted in the spring, and the bed won’t become established and begin “fruiting year 1” until the next spring.
After the first fruiting year, move a few of the robust, healthy strawberry runner plants to a different bed in the autumn. As mentioned on the Growing Strawberries page, tend to your beds and winterize them.
Year 2: Another Fall Transplant and Two Fruiting Strawberry Beds
During their first fruiting year in the system, the transplant strawberries in bed 2 will produce runners in the second year. Since the strawberry plants in Bed 1 will be in their second fruiting year, they should yield a good crop.
Should they get too thick, you might need to thin the runner strawberry plants in bed 1. Straw runner plants for strawberries from bed 2 onto a new bed in the autumn.
Year: 3 Three Producing Beds, another Transplanting Strawberry Session
We’ve been producing Bed 1 for three years now. These ancient plants are probably going to start losing their ability to produce shortly. There should be plenty of harvests from Beds 2 and 3. In the autumn, strawberries are replanted.
When moving runner plants from bed 3 to bed 4 in the autumn, use the same method. After all of the plants in bed 1 have finished bearing fruit, the plants should be pulled out in the autumn of their third year. The procedure for renewal should start after removal and last until year 4.
Year: 4 Renew the bed before replanting the strawberry plants
It was time to remove the strawberry bushes in bed 1 when they finished fruiting in year 3. Bed renewal should start as soon as it happens. Add plenty of old manure, rich organic compost, or other soil-improving materials, and till them in. Both conventional and organic fertilizers are acceptable for use.
In the spring and summer of year four, add rich organic materials two or three more times. Beds two, three, and four will provide a harvest in year four, while bed one is renewed. The autumn of year four should see the robust runner plants return to bed 1.
This strategy should yield plenty of harvests from three beds of strawberry plants throughout their peak-producing years, provided that your plants stay free from diseases. You do run a higher risk of your strawberry plants dying from one of the several strawberry plant diseases if you replant in the same beds.
Repeat the cycle until the relocated runner plants are back in bed 1. This method should produce an endless supply of berries from three beds, provided that the soil is sufficiently loaded with nutrients to allow the establishment of new strawberry plants—that is, provided no diseases develop.
Conclusion
I hope this transplanting strawberry plant advice was helpful. Now that you know why, when, and how to transplant strawberry plants, you should also know that it’s usually better to move young, healthy strawberry runner plants.
I hope the plan I’ve provided for strawberry transplanting will enable you to achieve your goals of growing strawberries as well. I wish you success and joyous transplantation!