Hi everyone— rookie gardener here that got their first strawberry crowns about a month ago. Its been one disaster after another with these guys, and I’d like some guidance on how to save them.
Tl;dr Plants developed black root rot. Advice on treatment appreciated!
Here’s the rundown of issues/sequence of events:
1) I over-fertilized them which caused them to wilt. I ended up having to flush their soil out with a LOT of water, so the excess fertilizer could escape.
2) The leaves developed Leaf Spot and Leaf Blight due to the stress of excess fertilizer and overwatering. I was worried this would hurt the growth of my strawberries, so I tore off infected leaves and have been spraying them weekly with a copper fungicide treatment.
3) I tried to give the strawberries directly sunlight on my apartment’s public patio. However, they wilted about 2 hours in. I opted to keep them on my porch (which faces the north), thinking that I maybe overloaded them too much and that they needed time to recover.
4) The strawberries seemed to be doing okay, developing new leaves and even potential runners. However, when I gave them their weekly water, it took a little while for it to sink (1-2 minutes).
5) Some leaf stems started blackening at the base. New leaves grew slow and stunted.
6) Plants had to stay inside my apartment for a while because the weather was cold. They probably didn’t get enough light :/
7) I dug up some soil and squeezed out water, discovering the soil was waterlogged. I (gently) roughed up the surface of the pot and stabbed holes into the soil, away from the roots to prevent injury, to try and allow the soil to dry out and provide aeration.
8) I started putting them out on the public patio again to ensure they got the full sun they needed.
9) I dug around and found some white roots, some black. My plants have definitely developed root rot.
My plan of treatment:
1) Buy fresh potting mix (and other fertilizer and mulch necessities) and a new pot for them. Poke holes into the bottom of the pot. Sanitize pot with a light bleach mixture.
2) Dig up strawberries. Use sterilized scissors or pruners and chop off dying leaves and black roots. Dip the healthy roots in a hydrogen peroxide solution.
3) Put soil mix into new pot. Water. Replant strawberries. Cover with more dirt and lightly water. Add mulch. Dig out crowns if needed.
4) Continue trying to grow them… while being RELIGIOUS on the amount of sunlight, water, and fertilizer they receive.
I’ve become so enamored with these little guys, and I feel so ashamed everyday knowing I gave them a rough start to their life. I’ve been doing my best to care for them, and I’ve been pushing my best beyond its ceiling everyday. A friend of mine (experienced 3 year gardener) has her strawberries already growing flowers. Mine are clearly stunted and not where they should be. **Please give me feedback on my process and plan of treatment— I don’t want them to die on me!**
Pic 1: My plants
Pic 2: Stunted plant. New bud that started growing 1-2 weeks ago, has made little progress. All other leaf stems rotted off. Looks like it’s becoming gray/brown.
Pic 3: Weird tight gray ring that seems to be causing the leaf stem to sag and eventually fall off.
Pic 4: Same-ish issue as in pic 3
by SU01X
3 Comments
Strawberries are hard to kill, its hard to overwater in a pot but extremely easy to under water. As a general rule you shwould avoid direct sunlight for the first week or so after you transplant them to minimize shock.
The most important part from seeing your pictures to me would be that it looks like your plants are a little too deep. Strawberry crowns should be half protruding from the soil. Depending on variety they can develop crown rot very easily when they are too deeply submerged in soil.
The dark spots/rings on the strawberry leaf stems aren’t from disease but from the plant self pruning for whatever reason (disease, damage, stress, etc)
If your soil is newly purchased (fresh from a bag) then it does not need any fertilizer, at least for the first fruiting year you probably dont need any.
You really shouldn’t need to spray for leaf spot on a strawberry plant. The disease itself usually isn’t directly harmful for plant health/fruit production. I would only remove leaves if the spots covered a sizeable portion of the leaf (40% or more) otherwise your forcing the plant to spend more energy producing leaves when it clearly doesn’t have that many. Given that they are growing so close to the soil (as strawberries do) I wouldn’t even bother worrying about preventative measures either.
You seem very concerned with preventing disease on your plants which is admirable, but you should also take care not to necessarily create a 100% sterile environment as lack of disease can also cause life to become weak in protecting against it. (Unless you know your soil has some sort of 80% effective strawberry killer like crown borers then I wouldn’t be concerned about sterilizing it, or your pot either)
At more dirt. Topsoil or potting mix right on top to dilute the fertilizer. Add water and keep somewhere shady, warm, but not in a lot of direct sunlight for a while.
non wild (virginiana) strawberries are like post HGH people – they always have problems and need extensive medical help.
Get a few wild strawberries from Etsy or something
plow some of your lawn
sow & watch them take over
???
Strawberry delight – prophit