strawberries in polytunnel

[bluebellParticipant]

Hi I have been looking at getting a few strawberries for my new polytunnel and everyone appears to grow for the earliest possible crop, however Im more interested in a steady supply that hopefully will extend the late season, so I was wondering if I should get ‘everbear’ type strawberries since they crop until the first frost outside and if they were in a frost free poly tunnel may crop significantly later?

Has anyone tried this?

[KarenParticipant]

Hi bluebell… just my thoughts… am not sure if it´s worth growing strawberries in a polytunnel… perhaps it would be optimal to grow heat loving plants e.g. toms, cucs, melons. And perhaps other annuals. Strawbs are “perennials” and can be a nightmare when their runners start wreaking havoc. We have like 7 beds (5m x 1.5m) of strawbs growing outside. In addition, strawbs need the cold to produce fruit. We have several varieties of strawbs in order to “stretch” the harvesting period. My recommendations would be korona (early), Florence (late, plus my fav!), amandine (everbearing)… I have also planted some new varieties and trying them out… Donna, daroyale and deluxe.

Our polytunnel has 2 beds… 1 bed designated for toms and the other cucs and melons. And salads thereafter….

Just my two cents worth. 🙂

[peapodParticipant]

Hi
I had a good crop last year of outdoor strawbs, unknown age and variety as I inherited the garden about 3 years ago, but I figured being at least 3 years old it was time to get some new plants and start again. I found picking at ground level was hard work, so this year I am having a go at growing them in grow bags on a bench. Does anyone have any experience of this? Should i plant through slits or remove whole panel of plastic. As an insurance policy I have kept some of the old plants growing.
Also how good are runners at producing quality strawberries if you pot them up, and how many runners should you take from each plant.
I love this website and I have 3 of Charles books so far, they are brilliant, can’t think why anyone would want to dig.

[bluebellParticipant]

Hi Karen
Thanks for your thoughts. I am growing heat loving toms, peppers, aubergines etc but we love strawberries and grow everbears outside, which produce right up to the first frost, so I wondered if I put some in a pot and moved them in to the green house if they would carry on fruiting under cover so long as they did not get frosted??

Peapod – a friend has made frames out of pallets to hold the grow bags and just grows in the top of open grow bags (but then he replaces the compost in this way rather than buying new grow bags. I suspect that there would be less water loss if you grew in slits. He grows in a green house with lettuce under and is very successful.

[KarenParticipant]

Heya bluebell…

you most definitely could try it out…perhaps designate a section of your polytunnel to grow those strawbs… and if it´s forecasted for frost… double/triple fleece or even bubble wrap it? I´m not a huge fan on growing plants in pots as the watering an be a real pain…although we do have some grapes and blueberry plants growing in huge pots on our patio too. goooood luck! 🙂

[peapodParticipant]

Thanks Bluebell, I was wondering how I will add manure to the bags in due course, so will probably end up taking the whole panel out anyway. Good luck with yours in the polytunnel.

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