Strawberry plants never bear fruit? WHY!?

Question

I've been waiting for four years now for these d**n plants to produce some strawberries, and they never have. They get little yellow flowers, and then turn brown and die. I've tried to pollinate them myself by rubbing the flowers together, giving them plant food, nothing works! Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Strawberries have white flowers with a yellow center. What you have is more then likely a "wood strawberry". While it can grow fruit,  this wild variety is a lot harder to get to that point. Generally insects or wind do enough to get the plants to pollinate. Rubbing the flowers together can damage the stems, instead, try using a Q Tip to pollinate with. Personally I would try getting some plants from your local nursery if you want to grow some to eat.

Answer 2

Make sure you cut off any runners.

Give them high potash fertilizer, as nitrogen based fertilizers make them produce lots of leaves as opposed to flowers.

Make sure you have bees in your garden. Hand pollinating doesn't always work. Try growing some flowers to attract bees.

Most important of all, make sure the plants are in a sunny position.

Answer 3

Are you giving them a high nitrogen based food/fertilizer? if so they will give you all leaves and no fruit ..you will get some blooms but they wont necessary take due to the fertilizer..all purpose miracle grow is one of the worst foods to give them..it is a very high nitrogen boost..Here is some info..scroll down to fertilizing strawberries..notice about over feeding?

http://gardening.about.com/od/fruitsberr...

Answer 4

Future Mrs. Silac,First of all I do not know where you live, if you have a cold or warm spring or climate. So I will just give you some facts about strawberries that may help. Strawberries do not like alkaline soil, so next spring while your strawberry plants are still dormant, you could try planting them in a rich bagged top soil by working up the ground with it or planting them in pots. And remember strawberries like to be planted with their roots straight down not fanned out. Strawberries also like to have direct sunlight all or most of the day.

If the flowers come on and then turn brown and fall off, they may have had some cold, cool weather they did not like. Invest in some spun bound row cover to protect blossoms from spring frost and freeze. Most garden centers can help you with that and any other tips and tricks that you might need! I call my local nursery all the time for advice and they gladly share their knowledge.

If you live in an area that has cold springs you might also want to look for a strawberry plant named 'Seascape' by its name you can tell it can bear cooler temperatures and still flower and fruit but no strawberry plant likes frost of freeze, so it would still need some protection in the frosty, freezey  weather.

`Seascape` is a day-neutral type strawberry variety similar to `Selva` but with a somewhat lower chilling requirement. It is noteworthy for high flavor, high yield, large fruit size, firmness, symmetry, attractive appearance and general flexibility in planting requirements. I hope this helps. Faira

Answer 5

I am wondering if the plants you have are really strawberries at all.

I know that this year has been a bad year for bees but I have still had fruit off mine.

Are they getting too wet I wonder. Regards UK