How to Clean Up Strawberry Plants
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Strawberry plantings can become congested with runners and new plants. Here’s how to clean up an overgrown strawberry bed to improve growing conditions and help your plants grow healthy and productive. This is a great job for early spring, and it gets your plants back into fruitful production.
If you grow strawberries, you can bet that they’ll end up growing where you don’t want them. I find that wild alpine strawberries are the worst for that, but garden strawberries are wayward, too. Long tendrils start forming in late spring, sometimes before the plants have even finished fruiting. They can stretch for up to 18″, trying to find a good spot to settle and start growing a new plant. It’s these runners that are the main cause of overgrown strawberry beds.
Though you can trim runners back as they emerge, they often get the better of us as summer progresses. By the start of September, what was once a neat and tidy planting of strawberries turns into a cluttered mess. If that describes your strawberry patch, let’s tackle the thatch and get it back into a more productive state.
Benefits of Strawberry Runners
Strawberry runners can be annoying, but they are also a gift to the gardener. Wherever the end of a runner touches the soil, roots will grow, and a new strawberry plant will form. Once you have strawberry plants growing, you’ll never have to buy new ones again.
The other reason they help your patch survive the winter. Strawberry plants grow in zones 3-10, but they need protection to get through freezing winters in colder regions. If you get serious cold, ice, and snow, a 4″ layer of straw over your plants is advised. You remove it when warmer conditions return, but this blanket insulates strawberry plants and keeps them safe from freezing.
In milder climates (zone 8-10), it’s not necessary to mulch strawberry plants in this way. However, the thatch left over by old strawberry leaves, runners, and new plants protects mature plants over the winter. That’s why it’s perfectly fine to let your strawberry patch go wild and then give it a tidy in spring. If you clean out an overgrown strawberry bed in winter, your plants could suffer more from cold temperatures.
Planting a Strawberry Bed
Strawberries can be grown in containers such as the Strawberry Pallet Planter, Strawberry Pots, in elevated grow bags, or directly in the ground. When you visit a PYO strawberry field, you might notice that plants are usually grown in thick double rows of plants with narrower aisles on either side that you walk through. If you have a large growing space, this might work for you. If you don’t, growing strawberries in a single bed, such as a raised bed, that you access from the sides could be better.
When you plant strawberries in a bed like this, you can space plants 12-18 inches in each direction. Provided the conditions are good, the space between plants will quickly fill with foliage, berries, and runners. You need to keep the plants maintained, or clean out an overgrown strawberry bed each spring.
Something to consider: a first-year plant may only produce a few berries, but it will mature and give you much bigger harvests in its second and third years. After that, it produces fewer berries, so many gardeners replace their plants after the third year. You have the choice, at that point, to buy new plants or to transplant baby strawberry plants formed from runners. How you clean your strawberry bed each year can mean the difference between lots of free plants and very few.
Two Ways to Maintain a Strawberry Bed
In my experience, there are two camps of gardeners: those who let their strawberry beds go wild and those who maintain their plants more meticulously. Both can have abundant strawberry harvests, and it’s up to you how you want to handle maintenance. A big part of that decision comes down to saving time and whether you need new strawberry plants.
The traditional recommendation is to give June-bearing varieties the chop after they fruit. That means cutting the plants back, runners, leaves, and all, to two inches above the ground. Pruning them this way encourages new leaves to form and fewer runners to develop. The following spring, all you do is mulch the bed and prepare for your next harvest. The benefit of this is a tidy patch and less work in spring. The con is that you have fewer baby strawberry plants to transplant.
This method also doesn’t work well for everbearing and day-neutral strawberries. They fruit several times, or continuously throughout the summer, and chopping them after their first harvest would be a setback for them, and you’d get fewer berries.
The second method is to let a bed go wild in summer and do the cleanup and inventory in spring. The thatch of leaves and runners protects the strawberry crowns in winter, and you can dig up new plants and either share or transplant them when it warms up. It can be a daunting task, though, and you might not need more strawberry plants.
When to Clean Strawberry Beds
Cleaning up overgrown strawberry beds is a task for late winter to early spring, depending on your climate. I have a mild maritime climate, so I can begin as early as February. For those with more defined seasons, wait a little later to tidy up your patch. The ground should be frost-free, and it’s better to wait until you see signs of the first new leaves forming.
If you clean a strawberry bed up in autumn or winter, there’s a chance of plants not making it through to spring. Leaves and old runners help protect the strawberry crowns from freezing and dying. I’ve also found quite a few frogs and other wildlife sheltering in my strawberry patch in winter. If you value your garden as a wildlife-friendly space, forgo any garden clean-up until spring.
The idea is to clean up strawberry beds after the worst of the winter is past, but before the plants begin sending up too many new leaves. That makes cleaning an overgrown strawberry patch a great job for late winter (zones 9-10) to spring (zones 3-8).
How to Clean an Overgrown Strawberry Bed
An overgrown strawberry bed is one matted with older plants, young plants, and the remains of runners. It may well look like an impenetrable mess, but never fear; they’re easier to clean up than you’d think. All you need is a little time, a pair of pruners (secateurs), and some general guidelines. It’s okay to be a bit ruthless when cleaning a bed, just be mindful not to damage the crowns of each plant.
The goal with cleaning up an overgrown strawberry bed is to uncover each mature plant. It should be trimmed to be neat, but have about 3 to 4 inches of top growth. The area around each mature plant should be free from competing plants, and dead leaves and runners should be removed.
But where to begin? I tend to start at one corner of the bed and work my way in it from that point. As you go along, take handfuls of runners, cut them off, and set them aside. Remove any other weeds while you’re working. Both annual weeds and the strawberry plant foliage can go in your compost.
After you’ve tidied the first few mature plants, it will be easier to see the rest. It’s also easier to spot any young plants that have colonized the spaces in between.
When the bed is fully cleared, apply a thin mulch of compost or well-aged manure. Gently spread it in a half-inch layer around each plant and over all exposed soil in the strawberry bed. As green berries begin to form on the plants later in the summer, mulch them again. This time, with straw or another material that will keep the berries off the ground.
If you have pesky birds, you could also consider growing them under hoops or inside a fruit cage. Just ensure that the flowers are pollinated and that berries are growing before covering the plants with a mesh that is too fine. You don’t want to exclude pollinating insects before they’ve done their work.
Transplanting Baby Strawberry Plants
Cleaning up an overgrown strawberry takes time, but it’s an annual ritual in my garden. The process helps open up and prepare the bed for new season growth and gets me in the gardening spirit! Volunteer plants found while cleaning are also a welcome bonus. Even if you don’t need them, I recommend that you carefully dig up any that you find.
You can replant them elsewhere in the garden or pot them up to sell or give away. You could even bring them to a seed swap if you have one going in your area. Young strawberry plants grow well in multipurpose potting mix or just straight garden compost. Keep them watered and give them two to three weeks in a greenhouse or coldframe, and they’ll start growing new leaves and roots.
Is cleaning up strawberry beds an after winter task, or can you do this in the fall before the winter. I live in Vancouver, so a similar climate to yours. Thank you!
Strawberry leaves help to protect the crowns of the plants over winter which is why it’s better to wait until early spring to do the clean-up. In a relatively mild climate (zones 8+), you could get away with doing this job through the winter. However, if you’re expecting snow or freezing temperatures at any time this winter, just wait a bit. Strawberries are fairly hardy but they can die if the weather turns fierce.
Hi Tanya, Thank you for the video – it was very clear. One question…do i have to leave the baby plants attached or will they root successfully if I clip and pot them up?
Hi Lorraine, you’re welcome! If the baby plants have roots, they’ll grow on successfully if clipped from the runner. If they don’t have roots, and you want them to grow, then leave them attached to the parent plant. Think of the stem like an umbilical cord. It provides sustenance to the babies when they’re underdeveloped. Without roots, the strawberry plants cannot survive on their own.
Hello I look all over the net and cannot find – is the hairy nettles nutrient draining? just I notice with them among the strawberry bed I have not had an issue with snails
Same place, as last year only difference less weeding
Weed your strawberries or wild plants of any type will out-compete the plants. Nettles are one of the worst for crowding out plants, so make sure to get all the roots out. You may need to dig up the strawberry plants first before clearing the bed and replanting them.
Fantastic info! Feeling more confident about giving my strawberries a heavier pruning!
Thanks for this helpful video. I have just inherited an allotment plot with an existing strawberry bed. I have no idea how long the strawberry plants have been there. Is there any way to tell if they’re three years old or older, and should be cleared, or whether the bed just needs some cleaning up?
I’d clear the area, mulch the strawberry plants with compost, and allow them to grow. While you’re at it, dig up some of the new plants that have started to grow from runners to create a new bed of strawberries. As for the old bed, see what kind of a harvest they give you this year and if it’s poor, you can replace them with runners that they create this year.
The information I’ve been searching for! Thank you!
I let my strawberry bed run wild this summer, and I noticed (still during warm days, before the overnight freezes hit) there was white…mold?…under a large area of the plants. Thinking not enough air flow due to the overgrown bed and it being sheltered along side the house. Should I start over and clean out everything, or can I clean the bed up and you describe and carry on? I’m concerned the unknown mold(?) will return.
Hi Amanda, was the mold on the plants or the soil? If the soil, it’s probably just the mycelium from underground fungi. Nothing to be worried about and just soil-life at work :)
Hi! Great video! How do you know for sure which strawberry plants are the runners and which were the originals??
By the size — runners are tiny compared to the mother plant :)
This is so helpful! We planted strawberries two years ago – last year they grew like crazy without a ton of berries. This year I really want to take care of them to ensure they have what they need to give us a bumper crop. I was afraid that I’d completely messed up by not clearing the bed in the fall. I’m so relieved! Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. :) I look forward to watching the rest of your videos.
Super helpful!! Thank you so much for the video. I’ve completely neglected my poor strawberries for 2-3 years in a row.. last year they were so crowded and over run and the only berries we found were the blasted pine berries! When I started the patch, the majority were red strawberries with a minority pine berry but that’s definitely not the case anymore.. I was so over whelmed with what to do to fix it/start over/clean it up etc.. that I’ve just ignored the poor patch entirely. Not so much anymore after watching your vid! Gunna tackle that soon before it warms up anymore. Thank you!
Tanya, I am new to gardening, we moved into a home last June which has raised beds in the garden area. I have a raised bed of strawberries, which did not produce a lot of strawberries last year (but maybe they were done producing?) I do not know when the plants were planted, do I rip everything up or clean them up and see what they do this year? I am in Nampa Idaho, I did not do anything to my strawberries this year to protect them from the winter, do I need to do this in my area?
Hi Coleen, strawberry plants are only highly productive in their first few years. After that, you replace the plants with new ones that you create using the runners. I’d suggest that you either create new plants from runners this year (the free plant option) and then plant them out, or buy strawberry plants this spring. Make sure to add plenty of rich organic material to the bed though first — both garden compost and aged manure are great. Strawberries thrive in fertile soil, and you can’t get that without adding compost.
Hi
I live in Vancouver and am going to clean up my out of control strawberry bed. My question is after I clean them up I should put down mulch (what kind)? Also should I put down straw so the berries don’t rot. When should I do this. I have everbearing strawberries. Thanks for you advice.
Lisa
Hi Lisa, and Vancouver has a similar climate to here — mild, wet, and plenty of slugs. Avoid using straw as a mulch until the plants have formed green berries, then tuck it underneath. Until then, a good inch of garden compost will be your best mulch. It keeps the soil moist and weed-free and won’t give slugs and snails a hiding place as straw does.
I have the same question as Lisa above. I am in Northern California and attempting to clean a strawberry bed. What type of mulch and should I use rice straw. What about cardboard for the dart worms.
Hi Teresa, compost is always the best mulch for strawberries until the plants begin forming berries. At that point, you’d lay another layer of mulch down around each plant. That mulch should be dry and keep the berries from touching the ground. You can use whatever you’d like and that is available in your region. Ordinary straw, rice straw, or paper egg cartons will work. The point of this dry mulch is to keep the berries lifted off the ground and away from the soil. I’m not familiar with dart worms, but if you mean earthworms, they love hanging out underneath cardboard mulch. Flat cardboard can be a place for slugs to hang out too though, so keep that in mind.
I’m 2 hours north of Toronto, Canada and I’m just getting at my garden now…there are still patches of snow in shady areas and north facing slopes! I’m worried I let my berries get too far gone; last summer I kind of slacked off and the weeds got out of control. I weeded it today and there are a number of plants alive. Sad looking but alive. It looks more like a dirt patch than a berry patch. Should I still fertilize now and then mulch it once leaves start growing, or is there something else I should consider? Night temps could still hit -4 C for the next 2 weeks.
Brrr…that’s cold. I’d keep those berries covered with mulch until it’s warmer. This autumn, consider covering the entire patch with autumn leaves or straw over winter. Scandinavian gardeners do that to protect their strawberries through sub-zero temperatures.
Well, I took your advice and backed off a little. By the middle of May night temps were no lower than 1 Celsius. I did pull out some old looking plants with big dead, woody looking roots at ground level and buds were coming! In early June, there were green berries which started to grow and ripen over the next couple weeks. And then the squirrels came. Just when a berry looked almost ready to pick…it was gone. Sometimes I would see a squirrel run by my door with a berry in its mouth. On a happy note, I did beat the squirrels to a handful of ripe ones! Its now mid September and frost warnings are in the forecast. I’ll re-weed and load on the straw in October!
Your strawberry beds look so great after you cleaned them up. I miss my strawberries. I am hoping to have them again in my next house. Thanks for sharing so I can keep the dream
Hey Tanya, thanks for the enlightening info! I’ve been wanting to grow strawberries for a while but have been intimidated by the amount of work and whether or not I could make them grow properly. My wife loves them which is why I’ve been thinking of it. Also, wanted to ask why some strawberries I’ve seen are regular size, i.e. about 1-1.5 inches while others are like giant ones. Just curious what the difference is because my wife seems to enjoy the big ones. Thanks.
Strawberries vary in size depending on the variety. Some are bred to be small, and others massive. The larger ones generally fit into the June-bearing varieties and produce a single crop in May/June.