I have been having a difficult time with my strawberries being productive this year, and last couple. It's mostly likely due to the fact that they're not getting enough water , and the soil is poor , as I have been struggling with a new new garden plot with many challenges. However, I just wonder if it isn't partly because strawberries need to be started over every few years? This is about the fifth year with same strawberries, and/or their offspring.

The first year the parent plants were in a whole different soil, water and sun situation, and I had so many strawberries, I was making and giving jars of jam away.

What do other gardeners do ?

A strawberry plant stops being productive after 3 years. Toss the plants.

You can replant your bed with the daughter plants, or buy new plants.

When you replant amend the soil at the same time with something like compost.

That's the first I've heard the term for the shoots that take root off of the main plant ... Daughter plants. Cute. So, are those as productive as the parent plants? Someone corrected me once, and told me they aren't. Should I get all new bare root stock this next season?

I can't figure my strawberries out. My poor plants have been moved and moved around and last year they spent the whole summer fairly neglected in pots I made from milk jugs (waiting for new constructing and a place to root). This year I planted those old worn out plants in some new flower beds to be ornamentals and got all new stock for the main berries. The old plants in the flower beds are producing like mad, and the berries are bigger and sweeter than they've been in the last 4 years. Go figure. They're also rooting daughter plants like crazy.

I've never heard that the daughter plants are less productive than the parents. If I were you I might get a few new plants, maybe a different variety, and also start some new ones from your current plants.

After reading these posts I've decided that it's not the plants, it's the soil and the lack of attention. Maybe they're in too much sun as well. It's a west facing steep slope, gets blasted in summer late afternoon. I"ll try getting some new bare roots next year, just to replace all that died this summer.

The daughter plants will produce well the second year and a few after that. Strawberries can't tolerate getting dried out. They die easily when neglected. Sun isn't a problem, just mulch like mad and keep them watered.

Mildred ate every single leaf above the ground n my whole slope of berries. All I could see was green stalks sticking up. That was about 3 weeks ago. Now I have a good bed of new leaves filling out and even a berry or two. Last year I planted starts on the other side of the stairs and they all died, turned brown and shriveled up. This year they are starting to grow and spread. IMHO - strawberries are really very hardy and tough and can take a lot of abuse. As far as productivity, I think as long as they have room to send out shoots, they will keep producing.

I rented a house in the UK with a strawberry patch growing up the fence and it had been there for a decade at least and still producing.
If they stop, you can move them, divide or something, but I wouldn't throw them away.

Maggie

quote:

The first year the parent plants were in a whole different soil, water and sun situation, and I had so many strawberries, I was making and giving jars of jam away.

I think you just solved your own problem.

Since strawberry daughter plants are of the same genetic makeup as the parent, they will do just as well as the parents given the right conditions. I would start some of the younger plants in a new bed. Good luck.