Growing Strawberries- grrr!

Post by **mikepepler** » 08 Jun 2008, 08:45

Slugs? My friend's been using a solar-powered electric fence to keep them off - the first version burst them, but drained the battery, there's a toned-down version now. I've persuaded him to put it on a blog:
http://seacourt.blogspot.com/

I should introduce him to Vortex, they both seem to like the techno approach!

RevdTess · Post by **RevdTess** » 09 Jun 2008, 00:03

On the allotment that I share with some friends, slugs have been quite a problem recently, decimating the courgettes and squashes. Mostly the beans and brassicas have been okay though. One of my friends has become quite obsessed with the blighters; she was up there again at dusk for another assault. I think this time she's going for a biological approach, unleashing some nematode worms that invade the slug and stop it eating until it dies.

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/slug.htm

Totally_Baffled · Post by **Totally_Baffled** » 09 Jun 2008, 11:05

The pigeons ate a fair chunk of me brassicas, time to get out the netting (the reflective ribbon and old CD's doesnt seem to work too well!)

Eternal Sunshine · Post by **Eternal Sunshine** » 12 Jun 2008, 00:19

Slugs are the worst problem at our allotment. I'm putting off planting our beautiful squash & pumpkin plants out - last year they were shredded straight away, it was so disheartening.

Has anyone used the "organic" slug pellets? The active ingredient is ferric phosphate. I've bought some in desperation this year, but am worrying about the birds & other creatures.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 12 Jun 2008, 00:56

Well, having complained miserably about the size of my garden I can safely say I've defeated the bastard slugs. My garden is part of an area entirely surrounded by three-storey houses and I've spent the last five years relentlessly removing/killing slugs and snails. At first I could collect half of small bucketful on a bad night. These days I can go out there on a rainy evening and only have to kill three of them. I have rows of lettuces and strawberries with almost no slug damage at all, and I use no chemicals and no beer traps.

Cats, on the other hand...

In fact, I have more trouble with slugs inside the house crawling about the sink or the cat's bowl than I do with them eating my vegetables. They are leopard slugs. They don't even eat live plants. They eat cat food and sink slime.

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 12 Jun 2008, 01:00

I do love the electric fence thing....

I must admit I'm another one who goes out at night and cuts them with scissors - the chickens dash out when I open the coop in the morning and gobble the beak sized chunks up in minutes.

We've got millions of strawberries - but we have to go and get them in the woods in the rain and picking them takes ages.

Some of them even make it back to the kitchen and into the eau de vie, some we make tarts with...

The raspberries are great too - huge but a bit watery.

Keela · Post by **Keela** » 12 Jun 2008, 06:47

Hmmmm.... mouth watering.......

great ape · Post by **great ape** » 17 Jun 2008, 16:04

I think you need more straw. You really need to get under the fruit and have a good amount surrounding.

When I pick, I try and jostle things around so that less ripe fruits get more sun.

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 17 Jun 2008, 16:32

Eternal Sunshine wrote:Has anyone used the "organic" slug pellets? The active ingredient is ferric phosphate. I've bought some in desperation this year, but am worrying about the birds & other creatures.

Yes I have used the Growing Success 'organic' slug pellets. They do work and have protected my plants. I've tried only to use them where there are vulnerable young plants, and not used them in parts of the garden designated as 'wildlife areas'.

We have had a blackbird pair successfully raise a brood in our garden whilst I have been selectively using these pellets, a lot of their food they have dug up from the garden and they don't seem to have been affected at all by the slug pellets. We have smaller birds like sparrows too but I suppose they probably don't eat slugs.

They seem OK to use . . . fingers crossed. At the end of the day, it's your food supply, so I would say go for it!!

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 17 Jun 2008, 17:38

My daughter put down some organic slug pellets she got from Wisley. The next day I found a young crow dying on the adjacent drive. I'm not sure if the two were connected.

MaggieM · Post by **MaggieM** » 17 Jun 2008, 21:12

Original Poster

Aromel is a good tasting strawberry. It also has the advantage of fruiting over a longer period than the typical June fruiters. The fruits are somewhat irregular in shape, but who cares about that?

You could make yourself something along the lines of the lowest size of these
http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/Harr ... PS-200.htm
to raise the flowering stems, and therefore the fruit, above ground level. We used a load of wire coat hangers. An arrangement like this should also help with ripening too, although the original strawberries were a woodland plant so lots of direct sun is not essential.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 18 Jun 2008, 01:07

We've planted our strawberries through black perforated weed proof matting which seems to work quite well and they're delicious at the moment. We've also planted through black polythene, which didn't last as long as the weed proof mat. We thought we might have a problem with watering with the polythene but didn't, as the polythene seems to draw moisture to the surface and keep it there, even in dry spells.

We have had to net them, and a load of other stuff, because a local deer likes strawberry leaves for breakfast. It's quite partial to apple leaves, runner bean, carrot and parsnip tops as well. Thankfully, it doesn't like broad beans, raspberries or blackcurrents, which are both starting ripen now, or onions.

Blue Peter · Post by **Blue Peter** » 18 Jun 2008, 09:17

MaggieM wrote:An arrangement like this should also help with ripening too, although the original strawberries were a woodland plant so lots of direct sun is not essential.

This is what I don't understand with strawberries - "they were/are woodland plants, so don't require much sun". The ones which I've grown seem to do better (more and nicer) the more sun they have. I also suspect that this might be a/the factor which explains why the early, polytunnel ones, don't have much flavour,

Peter.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 18 Jun 2008, 09:41

Blue Peter wrote:
MaggieM wrote:An arrangement like this should also help with ripening too, although the original strawberries were a woodland plant so lots of direct sun is not essential.
This is what I don't understand with strawberries - "they were/are woodland plants, so don't require much sun". The ones which I've grown seem to do better (more and nicer) the more sun they have. I also suspect that this might be a/the factor which explains why the early, polytunnel ones, don't have much flavour,

Peter.

There are lots of plants which can cope with relatively low light levels but will thrive in full sunlight. The reason they don't live in full sunlight in the wild is because they can't compete with other species which are better adapted to take best advantage of full sun. In cultivation, you can eliminate the competition.