Kitchen Garden Forum

This topic was considered here in 2010 and 2012. Did anyone find out what the cause was?

I've lost lots of new strawberry plants this year. (2013)
Established plants are OK.

I suffered vine weevil badly about 5 or 6 years ago, losing troughs of strawberries and various small fruit shrubs. Treated them with vine weevil nematode worms. They return every now and then as they have probably become endemic. I lost two crates of productive strawberries last back-end from them.

This die-off is different. The first lot were all from a local outlet, about 6 different varieties. Some I put in pots in the conservatory. Some in hanging baskets, others in troughs and soil beds. I also had plants from various internet suppliers, including Marshall's. Virtually all died as Beryl described.They can't have infected each other, as their source, location and timing have all been different. The odd one has survived, flourished and fruited.

In a trough which had a couple of different old sucker-grown strawberries, I planted one of a dozen Vibrant, and it died while its neighbours didn't.

I think it must be fungal: Black root rot, Verticillium Wilt, as oldherbaceous suggested, or red stele root rot (also known as Lanarkshire disease) although how it has simultaneously got into the stock of suppliers from all over the country is mysterious.

Perhaps research institutions at Rothamsted, Kew, Aberystwyth, John Innes Centre, Norwich, might know what's going on.

Must be a Phytophthora - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11593

I never found out why some of my new strawberries failed to grow, but the runners I took from the survivors produced excellent plants. I made sure I fed the plants and top dressed the whole bed with a thick layer of manure this spring and I've never had such a wonderful crop. I dug up the plants that looked sickly as soon as I realised there was something wrong with them.

I suspect that most of the strawberry plants that I have lost over the years have died due to lack of water.
Some have been individual plants that have been 'lifted' by moles, leaving their roots dangling in tunnels. Others have been on the ends of rows where the ground slopes slightly, meaning more likelihood of water running off rather than soaking into the ground.
Strawberries are quite shallow-rooted, so very susceptible to drought damage.

I had 2 large refillable grow bags side by side filled with Srawberries. Last year had an excellent crop, this year most of the strawberries in one container died. Both treated the same.

Vine weevils love Strawberries, could they have got into one bag and not the other?