brown strawberry flowers

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vivienz
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My strawberries are growing in pots and troughs this year, at least until I can get them into open ground. I posted a while back about some of the flowers being blind, but I've also had a slight issue with some of the flowers turning brown, along with a few leaf tips. It's not mould, and oddly, a flower cluster will often have one flower that survives, but the others wilt and turn brown, almost as though the plant itself is aborting them.

I've been doing a bit of research and it seems that the two most likely culprits are too much sun or too much watering. I'm going with the latter as the most likely as I've never known strawberries to complain about too much sun in England! They probably get full sun from midday onwards. The ones affected, however, are in self watering troughs and get watered regularly by hubby, who is very dutiful with his watering tasks and adores strawberries, so he has been giving them particular attention. The top of the compost in the pot doesn't feel soggy but I suspect that their roots are in water much of the time.

I initially wondered if it was some of the local felines or wildlife marking territory, but as it's not the whole stalk or leaves being affected, I think the latter is more likely. Growing stuff in pots is a good temporary solution but it isn't half a lot of work!
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Geoff
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I mentioned virus last time you posted about strawberries, here are some notes.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=574
vivienz
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Thanks, Geoff, it looks like there is a bit of the 'clover phyllody photoplasma' going on. Just trips off the tongue, doesn't it? It is on some of the older plants, but I shall let them live for the moment until their now regular berries have been scoffed, then get rid of them. There's no point nursing a sickly plant only to chuck it away at the end of the season.
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