I realized that all of my random slips of paper (that I usually lose) and notebook entries about the various veggies and fruits Belle Vie Farm is growing might actually help someone else who is asking the same sorts of questions I am researching. So, I decided to start a blog.
My first question about strawberries is a financial one: can I make money growing strawberries? This question led to: how many pounds of strawberries does each plant grow? In researching these questions, I learned a lot of cool stuff about strawberries, mostly from this website.
I learned the parts of a strawberry: leaf, crown, roots, stolon and runner plants. Here is a picture:
Most of the roots of a strawberry plant hang out in the top three inches of the soil, important information as you are prepping in late summer/early fall...because you ARE planting in the fall for spring harvest, right? (I also learned this from strawberryplants.org). Basic info for the varieties I want are 12-18" plant and 3-4' row spacing. Both Sweet Charlie and Chandler plants produce between 1-2 pints (one pint is about 3/4 pound) per plant. I'll have to come back and update that if experience shows otherwise.
I'll be ordering my strawberry plugs (200 of them!) in June for October delivery and planting. Based on the predicted production above, I will hopefully harvest 150-300 pounds of strawberries spring 2021. Look for these yummies at the Belle Vie Farm Stand spring 2021!.
Happy strawberrying!