Topic: pick off strawberry flowers 1st year??

[trickydiggy]

Hi all,

My sister reckons I should pick off the flowers from the small strawberry plants I was given by a fellow allotment holder, so that next year they'll fruit better.

Is this normal practice?...if so my wife and daughter will be unhappy, as they're looking forward to home picked strawberries this year....perhaps I could compromise and do  half??

Thanks,

TD

[OllieC]

For the home grower it makes no odds. Once upon a time some commercial growers did this, but they don't bother these days.  Grow, eat, enjoy!

[chriscross1966]

Deppends on the variety I guess... modern ones (like the Florians I've got just germinated in the GH) are meant to be fine fruiting the first year, some older ones aren't

chrisc

[valmarg]

I couldn't.  I just couldn't ;D.  I think that advice is probably for growing for showbench, not particularly for eating.

The thought of going a whole year for nothing :'( :'( :o

Thin out, by all means if there are a lot of flowers, but cut them all off.  No.  I just couldnt. ;D

valmarg

[jennym]

Grow lots of strawberries here, hundreds of pounds each year, have done for years, and have never felt the need to pick off flowers the first year, don't know anyone else that does it either!
Keep them well watered the first summer, give them plenty of muck in the autumn and they'll be fine.

[antipodes]

Yes I confess that I did not do this, and my strawberries gave much more fruit in the second year, as they normally would. I mean, this doesn't happen to wild strawberries so why would we do it to our plants???
True the first year the harvest is generally not the best one you will get but I still got plenty of fruit my first year, take that harvest and for the second year you will increase it by at least 20%.

[trickydiggy]

thank you very much for your comforting advice!

[Digeroo]

Just planted some strawberries, great to hear I can have some the first year.