Shodorov:

Allstar is a Junebearing strawberry that bears early-midseason in most climates. Of course, we don't know anything about your climate, since you don't tell us where you live.

Please tell.

Junebearing strawberries bear only in the 2nd year after planting, so you would have had to plant in the spring or fall of '07 to produce strawberries this spring. Is that the case? If not, you will be producing only runners this season, and will have to winter over your pot to see some berries in the spring of '09. When I say some, I don't mean too many, since strawberries do not bear heavily in pots. When the heat of summer arrives, Junebearing strawberries become small, often misshapen, and finally stop blooming entirely.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Strawberries don't do well in a pot. If the pot is 6 ft in dia, you can have some berries.

I strongly disagree that strawberries don't do well in a pot. Mine are growing great...as you can see on my strawberry webcam at http://wulik.com/webcam.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Alaska Strawberry Webcam

Mongo:

Your definition of great may not be the same as mine. A lot of crowded, leafy growth is not great to me. I will be awaiting your webcam of a big bowl of fat strawberries. I am hopeful for you, but still believe your strawberries would be better off in the ground, even in Alaska.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I've got to agree with Don. The leaves look quite healthy, but I don't want to eat strawberry leaves. Perennial strawberries just aren't meant to be grown in pots given the nature of their growth.

Im in zone 5 (NYC) and after doing some reading (yes i know now i should done that BEFORE buying the plant) I realize I dont have space for producing strawberries - I read one needs 20-30 plants to produce fruit for a family of 4...

I may plant it in the yard just so the kids get to see some strawberries growing next yr :)

Planted three plants early spring. I pinched flowers and ate some small fruit. Now I have nice foliage with nice runners last month plus. When will I get fruit again? Anything I can do to cause energy to produce fruit? Thought about cutting runners close to mom plant because runners are rooting nicely but I wont until I get an OK from someone in the know. (Strawberry Fields Forever) Dave.

Dave:

Do you know if the variety you planted is Junebearing or everbearing? There is quite a difference in the timing of their production. What variety did you plant? It is fairly important to know these apparently unimportant details.

Whatever kind of strawberries you are growing, whether Junebearing or everbearing, they will not bear well during the summer months in your Missouri climate. Strawberries like cool weather to bear.

You can cause energy to yourself by eating your Wheaties, but you cannot cause energy in a plant. In the case of strawberries, they need the right weather conditions to produce.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Am I mistaken or isn't it typical for everbearing varieties NOT to produce runners? If that's the case, he has June bearing. I have my first batch of everbearing this year, but I'm not impressed. LOL. Before I put in my new beds, I did strictly alpines and they didn't runner either. But my June bearing have produce enough runners already since planting to double my bed size.

Once the runners are rooted in well, they may be cut.

Thank you both for your responses. Not sure but I think they are June bearing. They are Bonnie Plants. I checked the tag and it says to "Pick blossoms in the first year. (Live and learn) next year I'll see if I can find a variety that produce sooner.

Anyway I think I will cut runners in about a week to make sure rooted well.

I have been told to pick blossoms earlier this year by someone here to provide energy towards foliage so I thought if I cut the runners it would provide energy back to produceing fruit. But maybe strawberries dont logic like me. lol

How close to mom plant should I cut?

I picked the berries off my newly planted June bearing after they got established in their beds, and they are still runnering like crazy and look like dinner plates in their bed. No harm done. In fact I picked a quart of them over the last couple days and both the June and everbearing are in flower and producing fruit. But, we have had hot days and very cool nights. They "love" that combination. I do not normally water in established plants, but I have been since they're wanting to produce and we have not had rain for a month or two to speak of. Do not trim off your runners to bring on fruit. They'll either fruit or not regardless of what you do to the runners. Like Don says, they're weather responding. A factoid you might not know......commercial producers treat them like annuals. They plant them new each year, and don't carry them over the winter. I didn't know that until I ordered my last slew of plants from one of my wholesale brokers.

My gosh, the runners look like foot long umbilical cords, you can cut them off wherever convenient, after the starts have rooted well. When you order in new June bearing strawberry plants, you can see the stubs of the old runners attached where they'd just been whacked.

An article at Strawberry Plants .org was posted that deals with this. The article covers the top 10 reasons why strawberry plants don't produce strawberries. The article is here: Strawberry Plants Producing Runners but no Strawberries?