Strawberry Plant Article Archives – Strawberry Plants . org

Strawberry Plant Diseases: Problems Caused by Bacteria, Fungi, Molds, and Viruses

Strawberry diseases can affect fruit, flowers, leaves, roots, and crowns of strawberry plants, and sometimes cause the collapse of the whole plant. While many of the problems caused by bacteria, fungi, molds, and viruses can be treated when symptoms are observed, some of the most serious strawberry plant diseases cannot be treated after the plants are in the ground. But home growers and organic growers will find many organic options that reduce strawberry diseases, even if they don’t eliminate them, in the A to Z listing below.

Strawberry Serving?

This is a question submitted to Strawberry Plants .org by a reader. See the Strawberry FAQ for more questions, or use the search box to find more information.

Q: How Many Strawberries in a Serving / Strawberry Serving Size?

Sara Allister asked:

Pollinating Strawberry Plants

Pollinating strawberry plants is not all that complicated. However, if you want to have a heaping helping of delicious strawberries, it must be done. The good news is that your friendly neighborhood bugs and bees are usually pretty good at pollinating strawberry plants for you. If your strawberry plants are grown indoors or away from insect access areas, there are a few basics you should know.

Pollinating Strawberry Plants: Anatomical Understanding

The male pollinating structure of a flower is called the “stamen.” Stamens usually consist of a filament and the pollen-containing anther. There are typically between twenty and thirty-five stamens of varying lengths in a strawberry flower. These stamens (collectively called the androecium) are arranged in a circle and are usually surrounded by five (or more) petals. Initially, the anthers are a yellow color while they hold the pollen, but they quickly pale after the pollen is released. The flower stem (pedicel) extends up into the flower and forms the cone-shaped area in the middle of the stamens. This stem extension is called the “receptacle” and will eventually turn into the strawberry after the pollinating strawberry plants has been completed. The receptacle is covered with the female part of the flower called “pistils.” Up to 500 pistils cover the receptacle in a spiral pattern. Each pistil has an ovary at its base, and an ovule is present within.

Strawberry Roots

What is the key to a heaping harvest of mouth-watering, juicy, delightful strawberries? Simply put: the strawberry roots. Healthy strawberry roots are the key to a healthy strawberry plant. Roots are just roots, right? Well, the fine filaments that absorb the needed nutrients from the soil that help each plant set a heavy crop of strawberries are a bit more sophisticated than you might imagine. This article will help you understand the nature and importance of strawberry root systems.

How Fast Do Strawberry Plants Grow?

Mostafa, asked: How fast do strawberry plants grow in km/h?

Answer to: How Quickly D0 Strawberry Plants Grow?

Mostafa,
No one has ever asked me before how fast in km/h a strawberry plant grows! An average modern strawberry plant can be expected to reach towering heights of about 12 inches at its highest point (it is, after all, a forb). It usually takes an established strawberry plant about 2 months from the break of dormancy to get there. A new seedling will typically take around 6 months to reach that milestone after germination, depending on its environment.

If You Plant a Strawberry Top, Will It Grow a Strawberry?

Over the course of the years, I have had several people ask me this question, or a version of it: “If you plant a strawberry top, will it grow a strawberry?” This year, however, I have received a noticeable increase in the number of curious questioners hoping to make good on the part of the strawberry most commonly used as a grip while the rest of the fruit is gnawed in happy contentment. After all, the little bit of white flesh left under the calyx and stem isn’t good for much other than, perhaps, making a bit of strawberry water. I don’t know why the curiosity has spiked, but it is a valid question. Since curious minds want to know…

Strawberry Pollination

Strawberries are relatively simple little plants. Their genomes have been completely mapped, and their life cycles are fully understood. But, as simple as strawberry plants may seem, they are still complex enough to warrant study; and, the study that goes into them continues to reveal much fascinating information. This post is dedicated to that topic of plant fertilization that sometimes can induce somnambulism in all but the most ardent botanists: strawberry pollination. But, once you’ve reviewed this information, you’ll be ready to tackle hand pollination of strawberries or be better able to situate your strawberry bed in the most ideal location for growing gargantuan berries!

Strawberry Plants with Yellow Flowers

Few things are more exciting to a green thumb than strolling about outside and discovering a native fruit-producing plant growing wild. I’ve had several such occurrences in just the last few years. I was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop a while back when I noticed a mulberry tree laden with dark, almost black fruit tempting me with its heavy branch hanging over my head and almost brushing my hair on a sidewalk in the middle of a suburban setting. I guess no one ever thought to cut down the tree growing near the runoff drain, but I harvested as many fresh mulberries as I could before I had to leave the area. I’ve often stumbled into wild blackberry thickets in my wanderings, and just last year I discovered four wild American persimmon trees not a mile from my dwelling place.

How Tall Do Strawberry Plants Grow?

This is a question submitted to Strawberry Plants .org by a reader. See the Strawberry FAQ for more questions, or use the search box to find more information.

Q: How Tall Do Strawberry Plants Grow?

Cheese asked:

how tall do strawberry plants grow?

Answer to: How Tall Do Strawberry Plants Grow?

Wilting Strawberry Plants

More and more people are growing their own strawberries as a hobby or as ornamentals or for production in their home gardens. Few things are as frustrating as eagerly anticipating years of bountiful strawberry harvests and then watching the plants go from apparently healthy to wilted. Wilting strawberry plants can make even the most stolid gardener attempt to forcibly remove his own follicles in a fit of perplexity. This post is a review of what causes strawberries to wilt.

Sometimes wilting strawberries can be salvaged if the underlying cause is discovered and remedied. Oftentimes, however, once the wilt sets in, there is little that can be done if it is caused by a pathogen.

Nitrogen Deficiency in Strawberry Plants

Nitrogen deficiency in strawberry plants can cause rather significant problems for the longevity and vitality of strawberry patch. If your soil is low in nitrogen, you can expect consequences. This post will cover the basics of what to look for to determine whether or not your strawberries lack sufficient nitrogen-containing soil for optimal health and vigor.

What Indicates Nitrogen Deficiency in Strawberries?

In order to confirm nitrogen deficiency in strawberry plants, one ultimately must take a few tissue samples from affected leaflets that are “middle aged.” The leaflets that must be sampled cannot be the old ones toward the bottom of the plant or the new, bright green ones emerging from the crown.

Strawberry Seedlings

Most people who raise strawberries do not start them from seed. They buy strawberry plants from a local nursery or a mail-order nursery. They then receive, most often, dormant strawberry crowns that they quickly plant in their prepared beds, water them, and watch as the dormant strawberries spring forth into new life.

However, there are brave souls out there that want to begin the life cycle of their strawberries by germinating strawberry seeds and then coaxing the tiny seedlings to grow until they are ready to transplant. With all the TLC given to the tiny plants, it would be a shame to make a mortal mistake for them when they are finally sturdy enough to make the transition to the outside.

Topsy Turvy Strawberry Planter

With the number of chemicals, pesticides, and other unnatural residues found on and in our food these days, many people are turning to growing their own edibles. Since there are often significant quality improvements gained from home-growing food, this is often a great thing for both sustainability and the health of the growers (see this link for Reasons You Should Grow Your Own Strawberries). With the trend being toward more gardening, even those with less space are beginning to venture into the realm of produce production.

One of the challenges of growing food for the freshly-minted green thumb is deciding on space. Most rural or semi-rural folks simply dig a hole, put seeds or strawberry plants into the hole, and let the plants do their thing. Even city slickers often will have a usable section of their yard or space to build a raised-bed garden. Urban dwellers can often find an area for a community garden. But, particularly for those living in urban areas, space-utilizing tools are often employed to grow food in areas of contained soil. Usually, pots on a window sill or porch are used.

A Look at the Nutritional Value and Benefits of Strawberries

If you were stranded on a desert island, one of the things you should hope washed up on the shore is a crate of strawberries. To put in a way more of us find relatable, when the supermarket shelves are nearly bare, one of the things you should look for is strawberries.

Fresh strawberries, dried strawberries, strawberry juice, frozen strawberries, and even strawberries in jams and preserves have outstanding nutritional value. This article will tell you all the ways strawberries can fill your gaps in good nutrition and make a real difference in maintaining good health.

Strawberry Allergy

Millions of people have allergies. The range of allergic reactions to different allergens varies depending on the magnitude of the sensitivity and the type of reaction elicited. Unfortunately, many people are allergic to strawberries. I know what you are thinking: having strawberry allergies might just be a fate worse than death. Of course, that is an exaggeration, but just think of a life devoid of the wonders of strawberries.

This post discusses the main aspects of strawberry allergies. These include what causes the strawberry allergy, the different types of common reactions, and a possible method of getting around a strawberry allergy so that the delicious morsels can be enjoyed!

How Many Strawberry Species Are There?

If you have ventured over to the Strawberry Varieties page and seen the extensive list of strawberry cultivars presented there, you may have thought to yourself, “Just how many strawberry species are there out there?” Good question. When it comes to identifying strawberries, strawberry plant taxonomy comes into play (for introductory information, view the Strawberry Plant page). And, to identify strawberry plant species diversity these days, genetics plays a big role.

One important consideration to keep in mind is that there is a fairly big difference between species and cultivars. Species have a degree of genetic variation that sets them apart from their counterparts while cultivars are identifiable plants expressing genetic diversity within a species (or hybridization). So, how many strawberry species are there?

Genetics of Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants have a very unique diversity when it comes to their genetic makeup. The genetics of most things are relatively complex, but the genetics of strawberry plants throw an additional twist into the mix. Strawberry plant species have varying numbers of chromosomes (see the Strawberry Plant page for introductory information).

Most species are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, one set of chromosomes is normally inherited from each parent. Polyploidy, a condition more common in plants, occurs when multiple pairs of chromosomes are present in the genetic component of an organism. Strawberry species and hybrids can be diploid, tetraploid, pentaploid, hexaploid, heptaploid, octoploid, or decaploid (having 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 sets of the seven strawberry chromosomes, respectively).

Life Cycle of Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants are a wonderful forb. Their life cycle is much more complicated than the simple appearance of the humble strawberry plant implies. The growth cycle of strawberry plants spans the entire year and repeats annually. The life cycle of strawberry plants begins either from seed or from runner plants, and continues until senescence. This post is an overview of the life of a strawberry plant from germination until withered, brown leaves signify the passage from life unto death.

The Growth Cycle of Strawberry Plants

As with any cyclical scenario, it is difficult to choose a starting point (which came first, the chicken or the egg?). For the purposes of describing the life cycle of strawberry plants, a dual starting point will be considered as a sprouted strawberry seedling and a new strawberry runner. While both of these starting points require the existence prior life, a discussion of the origins of life is outside the purview of this article.

Deformed Strawberries

Have you ever seen those hideous, misshaped strawberries? If so, you might have wondered what causes deformed strawberries to be that way. Well, Strawberry Plants .org is dedicated to bringing light to all things related to the strawberry plant. And, unfortunately, deformed strawberries are a fact of life.

Hopefully, with the information contained within this post, you will never have to deal with your own mutant strawberries. Who wants to eat hideous fruit when nice, red, symmetrical fruit can be had? But, if you find yourself out in the strawberry bed picking your own deformed strawberries, here is what you need to know:

Medicinal Uses of Strawberry Plants

The various parts of strawberry plants have long been used in various herbal remedies or traditional medicines. From tinctures to strawberry tea, the medicinal uses of strawberry plants and strawberries have quite a history (see the Strawberry Plant page for more strawberry history and folklore). What is not known by most strawberry enthusiasts is just how extensive the potential uses of stawberry plants are.

In the Compounds in Strawberry Plants post, all of the known strawberry plant compounds are listed. Each one is accompanied by a notation of the part of the strawberry plant in which it is found. Many also have minimum and maximum expected concentrations. Here you find a listing of the chemical activities of strawberry plants. The table below provides a list of all 721 known biological activities of the various strawberry plant chemicals and compounds.

Compounds in Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants are relatively small: usually around a foot tall, give or take a few inches. Yet, within this small package, numerous compounds in strawberry plants have been discovered and cataloged. With an increased interest in herbal remedies using strawberry plant parts this sortable list can be of use to a researcher.

I do not advocate self-diagnosis or self-treatment of medical conditions. However, this table may help you discover compounds in strawberry plants that may have positive health benefits. So, use and peruse the table at your own risk. The first column has the scientific name of each compound, the second lists the part of the plant where the compound is located, the third lists the lowest measured concentration in parts per million of the compound that was discovered in testing, the fourth lists the highest measured concentration, and the fifth lists the reference source.

Strawberry Plants Producing Runners but no Strawberries?

A common complaint of new strawberry growers is that their strawberry plants aren’t producing strawberries. They have planted them, provided them tender loving care, and waited expectantly for them to return the “love” by setting a harvest of nice, plump, juicy strawberries.

And then no strawberries come. You may have lots of leafy greens and too many strawberry runners shooting out to count, but the strawberries themselves are sadly absent.

Here are the top 10 reasons your strawberry plants aren’t producing strawberries. It is likely that your situation will fall into one of these:

Strawberry Flowers

Strawberry flowers are the means by which strawberry plants ultimately produce fruit. But, they are tremendously intricate. The basics of strawberry flowers will be briefly discussed here, including how they grow from strawberry plants and what to do with them (and when).

Origins of Strawberry Flowers

Strawberry flowers have an interesting life. Different types of strawberry plants produce them at different times. But, since the June-bearing strawberry has captured the hearts and minds of most gardeners who plant strawberry plants, its flowers will be the focus of this post.

Strawberry Plant: The Complete Guide

Introduction to the Strawberry Plant Page

Do you want to learn about the strawberry plant? If you are seeking knowledge or information about the strawberry fruit or strawberry plant, you’ve landed in the right spot! This site (Strawberry Plants .org) will provide as much information as possible to help you understand the intricacies of strawberry plants.

We are passionate about everything related to the strawberry plant here. We hope that passion shines through. We are glad that you have found us and hope to be able to serve your informational needs. We want to see more people gain a respect for and interest in strawberry plants. If you have a question about the strawberry plant or the delicious fruit they produce, feel free to ask!

What Are Strawberry Runners? (Stolons)

Most of the commonly cultivated varieties of strawberry plants (Fragaria x ananassa) will produce “runners” as a means of propagating themselves. Anyone who grows strawberries is probably familiar with the term and, at some point, probably experienced at least a twinge of curiosity regarding them. You may have even asked yourself, “Exactly what are strawberry runners ?” Be curious no longer, for you are about to find out!