North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[fuwa fuwa usagi <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com>]

Tom wrote:

I have a question for the fluffy bunny, regarding
strawberries.

I read your Pomona article regarding lifting the crowns and
re-establishing them at the right height.  Have you ever
done this in the fall, or just in the spring?

My reply:

I have done both, in various manners over the years.  Which is a way of 
saying my methodology has evolved over time, and the initial way I attempted 
this has evolved over a period of trail and error.  

Tom wrote:

Is it too late to move some strawberries to a new location
in this season, in preparation for next, using your
technique?

My reply:

No sir, however I would chose a slightly different approach based on various 
factors.

Factors to consider:

1) The remaining length of your growing season, consider strawberries are 
frost tolerant.
2) The amount of moisture in your soil, the chance of precipitation, or your 
ability to irrigate.
3) Are you planning on mulching to protect your strawberries
4) The intensity of your fall sun

Basically what  you want to determine is if you should trim off the leaves or 
not when you lift the plants (trim the roots though in any event).  Here are 
the issues:

1) the sun is usually far more intense in the fall then in the spring and the 
crowns on strawberries seem to react negatively to a lot of strong sunlight 
on them.  It seems the leaves shade the crown or somehow dissipate the heat 
with the end result that the crown seems to keep “moister” in the presence of 
leaves.   Which is to say you can alleviate the suspect problem by frequent 
sprinkling or watering. 

2) the leaves protect the crown in the winter.  Ergo if you trim off the 
leaves and they are not able to harden off properly you will lose the 
insulation value of the leaves and the desiccation resistance that the leaves 
provide to the all important crown.

3) mulching will mitigate the concern of the leaves hardening off properly or 
desiccation of the crown.

4) falls can be brutal, at least where I am at.  I had no need to irrigate 
anything until now.  We have not had rain in weeks and I found the need to 
run the soaker hose on my fall bearing raspberries today.   It is not 
uncommon, where I am at, to go a good 4 weeks without significant 
precipitation in the fall.   So transplanting needs to be supplemented with 
the ability to provide moisture in my area.

In general you can reset your strawberries in the fall.  Just take in 
consideration the above factors when determining how much trimming you are 
going to do.    I would also suggest giving the roots a good soaking in 
willow water or a ½ dilution of fish emulsion for an hour or two before 
planting.

All the best,

the fluffy bunny

P.S.

Sorry for the delay in responding but the fluffy one has been engaging 
squirrels in the battle for the peaches...LOL!!!




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