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Home » Strawberries & Health

15 Things Your Strawberry Leaves Are Telling You

Modified: Sep 5, 2022 by Mr. Strawberry · This post may contain affiliate links · 19 Comments

How to Become a Strawberry Plant Whisperer or What Are My Strawberry Plant’s Leaves Telling Me?

Hand holding a strawberry leaves.

Are your strawberry plants talking to you? Yes! Strawberry leaves can tell you a lot about the health of the plants and how many berries you are likely to get from them.

Often when we search the internet to learn what different colors on strawberry leaves mean, it seems we have to already know what the problem is. Here you can find the leaf signs and their meanings, not the other way around.

Jump to:
  • Undersides of leaves
  • White fluffy patches
  • Red
  • Yellow
  • Purple or Black
  • Brown or Tan

Undersides of leaves

Watery lesions on the back of strawberry leaves are a result of angular leaf spot caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae. The bacteria is hiding in your plant’s vascular system and oozing out of these lesions. It spreads in wet or humid conditions and enters wounds or natural openings on nearby plants.

If you notice an infected plant at this stage, separate it from healthy plants in dry conditions. You can try treating the plant with an antibiotic called validamycin. For home growers, the best solution is to remove the plant at the end of the season and let the bacteria left in the soil die over winter. Angular leaf spot alone doesn’t have too much impact on berry production.

Hand holding strawberry leaf with dissease on.

Photo by Michael A. Ellis as found on Ohioline.edu

White fluffy patches

White fluffy patches on leaves are powdery mildew. Powdery mildew attacks young leaves, flowers, and fruit. Spray your plants once a week with a mixture of 1 part milk to 2 parts water. The milk kills the fungus while nourishing the plant, and won’t harm beneficial bugs.

Powdery mildew will survive in the soil over winter so consider treating the whole bed with potassium bicarbonate to prevent future problems.

Red

Red-green autumn strawberry leaves in garden.

Old leaves

Is it the end of the season? Are temperatures dropping a little early? Red strawberry leaves could simply be showing you that the season is changing. They should come back in spring green and happy. If not, check into these other possibilities.

Red-orange field with small purple spots

If your strawberry leaves are turning bright red-orange and have small solid purple spots, they have leaf scorch. Eventually, the edges will turn brown and dry, appearing scorched. Remove the infected leaves and weeds to increase airflow.

Yellow

Overwatering

Strawberry plants need about 1 inch of water a day. If your strawberry leaves are turning yellow, check the moisture just below the surface of the soil. If the soil is very wet just before watering, skip watering until the soil is only damp just below the surface.

Keep checking the soil around your plants to determine when to water again. The yellow leaves will return to green as the moisture level balances out.

Green veins on yellow background

If the leaves turn a uniform yellow-green but the leaves remain dark green, often the problem is an iron deficiency. This is more common in hydroponic gardens. Try a foliar fertilizer.

Iron deficiency strawberry plants on white background.

Yellow edges, green centers, no browning

This pattern of yellowing on young leaves may be the result of magnesium or manganese deficiency.

Small and yellow

Small yellowish leaves indicate a possible nitrogen deficiency. Use a soil test kit to make sure and address any other nutrient needs at the same time. Some leaves may also begin to turn purple.

Translucent lesions that appear yellow when held up to the light

This speckling is caused by angular leaf spot caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae. The bacteria hiding in your plant’s vascular system oozed out of lesions on the back of the leaves and may have now dried into a white powder. It spreads in wet or humid conditions and enters wounds or natural openings on nearby plants.

If you notice an infected plant at this stage, separate it from healthy plants in dry conditions. You can try treating the plant with an antibiotic called validamycin. For home growers, the best solution is to remove the plant at the end of the season and let the bacteria left in the soil die over winter. Angular leaf spot alone doesn’t have too much impact on berry production.

Hand holding strawberry leaf against sun with bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae.

Photo by Michael A. Ellis as found on Ohioline.edu

Purple or Black

Irregular purple-black splotches on top of leaves

These splotches are older lesions caused by the angular leaf spot bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae. At this stage, it can resemble leaf scorch but that disease is caused by a fungus.

If you notice an infected plant at this stage, separate it from healthy plants in dry conditions. You can try treating the plant with an antibiotic called validamycin. For home growers, the best solution is to remove the plant at the end of the season and let the bacteria left in the soil die over winter. Angular leaf spot alone doesn’t have too much impact on berry production.

Hands holding strawberry leaf with 
bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae.

Photo by Michael A. Ellis as found on Ohioline.edu

Dark purple to reddish spots with light-colored centers

Dark purple to reddish spots with white, tan, or gray centers on young tender leaves are a sign of strawberry leaf spot.

Solid dark purple spots

Leaves that have small, solid dark purple spots without light-colored centers are in the early stages of a leaf scorch infection. If left to spread, the leaves will turn red-orange and eventually develop brown scorched edges.

This is a fungal disease. Remove the affected leaves and increase airflow between plants.

Purple leaves in addition to yellow leaves

This combination indicates a possible nitrogen deficiency. Use a soil test kit to make sure nitrogen is the only missing nutrient and address any other nutrient needs at the same time.

Brown or Tan

Brown Leaf Tips

Burned leaf tips may indicate a boron deficiency. Try foliar feeding but be careful not over-apply to prevent boron toxicity.

Brown Edges

Brown edges that look like a fringe may be the result of a calcium deficiency.

Calcium deficiency in strawberry plant.

Brown edges with red field and purple spots

This is advanced leaf scorch. Remove affected leaves if possible to increase airflow. Clean up the strawberry bed at the end of the growing season since the fungus can overwinter on fallen leaves. Start new plants to replace severely infected older plants next year.

Gray to tan blotches

Gray to tan blotches on older leaves show your strawberry plants have leaf blotch. The fruit produced by plants with leaf blotch will be edible but ugly. There is no treatment for leaf blotch but you can prevent it by planting through plastic sheeting. The barrier prevents the fungus in the soil from splashing up onto the above-ground portions of the plant where it causes cosmetic damage.

Learn everything about growing strawberries from the Strawberry Master Manual, also don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Facebook to stay updated with everything I post. We also have a Strawberry gardening group on Facebook! Feel free to join.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ruan

    January 19, 2025 at 9:05 am

    Hi, hope you all are doing well. My strawberry leaves are turning black, they aren’t dying though. I am kind of afraid the plant will die because of it. Its not just black spots, the entire leave is turning black, just the top sides. Does anyone know what it could be? And how to fix it? Please and thank you.

    Reply
  2. Alex

    September 11, 2024 at 3:21 am

    Hi, greetings from sunny Cape Town, South Africa. I noticed that the leaves on some of my Strawberry plants are feels thicker than the others and are very course. Any advise on the reason for this and how to remedy/cure will be highly appreciated please. Thank you for the great site and advise and input from all the Strawberry experts posting here. Regards.

    Reply
  3. John

    June 23, 2024 at 8:47 am

    Hi, my Strawberry leave turned a really dark green after 4/5 intense midsummer days in the sun. I have another plant in a container next to it were the leaves are just normal green but the plant that has turned a dark green gets more full on sun in a South facing position. They have just started to flower too. is an intense Dark Green almost leathery appearance OK?

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      June 27, 2024 at 4:28 pm

      Yes this is okay. It may also be that they are darker green because they are in better soil.

      Reply
  4. Cecilie

    May 21, 2024 at 3:06 am

    Hi! Just bought my first strawberry plant but i have noticed that some of the stems seems to be chewed trough. Like they are breaking. Is this something attacking the plant? Should I remove the affected stems?

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      May 21, 2024 at 6:21 am

      Very hard to say without seeing the roots. It sounds like maybe they were dry? Were they potted or bare root plants?

      Reply
  5. Thomas B Allen

    May 03, 2024 at 2:04 pm

    hello. I transplanted strawberry bushes about a week ago and watered them. Now some of them look like they have a light brown spots on the leaves and one spot even had a hole quickly show itself on one of the bigger leaves. Some of the edges have this browning as well. What is this and how can I reverse it?

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      May 03, 2024 at 2:19 pm

      Hard to say without pictures but from your description, it sounds like they were too dry at some point. They’ll need frequent watering while they get established. The damage may have been done before they were planted, too. As long as they are growing and replacing the damage, they should be fine.

      Reply
  6. Marilyn Orders

    October 18, 2023 at 3:11 am

    My strawberry leaves are growing white but there is no fungus on them they are healthy and flowering apart from the colour, are they deficient in something, I have them in a mix of 1/2 home compost and a good vegetable soil .

    Reply
  7. nicky holmes

    September 30, 2023 at 2:32 am

    hi what causes blackish brown edges around the leaves of strawberries some of which have a brown v shaped patch from outside edge of leaves to the centre of the leaves. Thank you. It is mid spring here and the strawberry plants were recently transplanted to a different container.

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      January 03, 2024 at 2:49 pm

      It sounds like they got too dry. Plants usually need extra watering when transplanting and getting established. They should recover with adequate watering.

      Reply
  8. Eric

    August 26, 2023 at 10:57 pm

    How about healthy looking green leaves with just a tinge of white on the tips of the edges of some of the leaves?

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      September 05, 2023 at 10:33 am

      You may have powdery mildew. Check the underside of the leaves–it starts there and then spreads to the top but when it makes the leap to the top side of the leaves it can give them a white edged appearance. Neem oil would be a good product to use (organic) but you need to spray the underside of the leaves, too.

      Reply
  9. Wendy

    July 26, 2023 at 10:06 pm

    I put my plants in new soil this year and they died for the most part. The soil is a 50/50 mix of top soil and composted dairy manure.
    I tested the soil and found it was deficient on n potassium so I added bone meal.
    The soil is heavy and WET so I dug the plants up and mixed in peat moss.
    Nothing is helping.
    The plants continue to act as if they’re drowning. Limp, brown leaves and eventually the plant dies.
    I need help!

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      July 28, 2023 at 10:48 am

      It sounds like your soil is soaking and holding too much water. Instead of peat, I would mix in sand.

      Reply
  10. Roz

    July 17, 2023 at 4:49 am

    My strawberry leaves are sticky and lacey

    Reply
    • Mary Ward

      July 17, 2023 at 12:26 pm

      That sounds like a bug issue. Inspect them for insects.

      Reply
  11. Stu

    July 05, 2023 at 9:47 am

    What about blue leaves???

    Reply
  12. Elisha Doyle

    June 14, 2023 at 11:10 am

    Thanks for sharing your tips. Your advice will come in handy 😁😁

    Reply

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