Why aren’t my strawberries flowering?

[seeyouinanotherlifewhenwearebothcats]

Hi all. Planted these new strawberry plants this year. We’ve had a good few weeks of sun and heat during which time they were well watered. Now we’re having a lot of rain and there is very little happening with them? I feed with tomato food once a week. Do I need to feed them more? Many thanks for any advice

I've never fed my strawberries.

I wonder if they are focusing on leaf growth at the moment.

They look very healthy! Some varieties fruit later, or they may need a year or two to mature.

It's best to not let them fruit in the first year so they can establish a good root system. They look quite close, should be at least 30cm apart.

It’s quite common for them not to fruit much (if at all) in the first year they are planted as they are getting roots established etc.

I would stop feeding them as they are obviously putting their energy into foliage - they look fantastic plants! They are also rather crowded, but some varieties don’t seem to mind that too much.

Like @DrJump , I never fertilise my strawberries. I do topdress the bed with a good layer of this year’s compost in the autumn when the foliage gets cut back, which seems to give them enough nutrients.

Thank you all! Yes I did worry they were a bit close together and wondered was that contributing to it. Hopefully they don’t mind 🙈 moving them now would surely not do them any good?

I planted new bare root strawberries last year in my strawberry pots and got no fruit despite looking very green and healthy. This year they're producing masses of flowers/fruits so hopefully next year yours will as well.

Mine produced nothing but leaves and runners after I planted them last year but this year we're getting loads of fruit. So you might just have to be patient!

Maybe if you get some runners you could guide them into a new pot and then thin out the old one?

I never feed anything with tomato feed until it’s actually fruiting. I do use it on strawberries, but only once the plants have flowered and the flowers are turning into fruit. I believe that feeding too early encourages the plant to put on foliage growth, but not to flower and fruit. Same for tomatoes. Traditionally you wait until the first truss has set before feeding.

Agree they don’t tend to fruit in their first year. And they are a bit close together, sorry!

Thanks everyone! I’ll just have to be patient and see.

Update! They did eventually start flowering and fruiting, we are enjoying them as we speak 🍓 I think I just needed to be more patient but I did stop the tomato food.

yaaay! 👏👏👏 They should hopefully be more prolific next year. They do fruit at different times. If you have space you could add a different variety (or two) next year to get a longer Strawberry season 🍓❤️🍓

Thanks @WildCherryBlossom, I’ll definitely look into other varieties!