Failed strawberry crop!

[ShirlOckholmes]

Has anyone else had little or no strawberries this year. I have literally had about 3 strawberries from 20 plants.
It can't be birds because the plants are covered with netting.
I wonder whether it could be mice but the odd thing is there don't seem to be any fruit forming at all. So now I'm wondering whether the plants were not pollinated but why shoudl that be? Anyone else had a similar problem?

[ragged]

Are they old plants? They don't produce much after 3yrs old.

[LaurieFairyCake]

I have had 3 different suppliers of strawberry plants - one lot has been amazing and weirdly I have one bed (with 24 plants in) that has put out dozens of runners, is really lush and verdant but has yet to get strawberry flowers on it

I am wondering (and hoping) they are going to be late fruiters.

[ShirlOckholmes]

ragged They are between 2 and 4 years old. I know you're supposed to replace them every 3 to 4 years the odd thing is there is no fruit at all.

laurie you should have flowers by now even if they are late fruiters.

[GnomeDePlume]

Sounds like there is a problem with the health of the plants. Mine hit their third season this year. Crop was noticably down on last year. I have destroyed the plants and will be buying in new ones in the autumn and putting them in a fresh bed.

[ouryve]

Even some of my very old long past their best plants have fruited well, this year - I've had a steady supply of breakfast toppings for over 2 weeks now and there's plenty more on the way. I lost a lot of the very first fruit because of the rain at the end of June, though.

Some new plants I got last year have been a dead loss, mind. I have them in planters though - I'll most likely dump them in the garden soil when I do a clearout of the really old plants at the end of the season.

[IWishIWasAFrog]

They might be too old... strawbs have a span of 3 years. you could try feeding them with a tomato feed such as tomorite. When you plant the new ones, add superphosphate to the soil at root level before you plant (small box, around £3 from garden centres), blood fish and bone top dressing. Enjoy!