When to Pick Strawberries – You’ll know when strawberries are ripe to pick when they’re uniformly red and firm. Morgan says, “It’s best to look for bright red strawberries with their green cap (botanically called a calyx) still in place. The fruit should have a noticeable strawberry scent, a medium firmness, and no mold.
Contents
Do strawberries last longer if you don’t cut them?
Whole strawberries will resist spoilage longer than cut-up strawberry pieces. Keep the whole basket just like you found them at the grocery store or farmers’ market, and leave their green-leaf tops intact.
How do you store strawberries after you pick them?
Strawberry Care – Picking, Storing, Freezing & Preparing The best strawberries are the ones you pick yourself or buy from your local strawberry farm. These berries will be the freshest you can get, with little or no handling and travel. Nothing beats the flavor and fragrance of fresh-picked strawberries! Picking Pick by pinching the stem of the berry between your thumb and forefinger.
This will prevent damage to both the fruit and the strawberry plant. Leaving the caps on helps your strawberries last longer. When selecting berries look for the ones that are plump, firm, and well colored. These are the best for all your needs–freezing, preserving, or eating just the way they are. Storing Strawberries are best when prepared and eaten in the same day, but if you must keep them longer, store them in your refrigerator.
Arrange the berries in a shallow container, separating out any damaged berries. Cover them loosely, and keep at 35 degrees for best results. Do not remove the caps or wash the berries until you are ready to use them. When caps are removed before use, the berries lose some of their moisture.
Washing early tends to bruise them and the berries lose their freshness. Preparing When preparing (for whatever use), place the berries in a strainer and rinse with cool water. To remove the caps, give the caps a gentle twist or use the point of a sharp knife, trying not to remove any of the berry. The tip of an ordinary vegetable peeler makes a good tool for capping berries.
Freezing Whole berries: Place one layer of clean, capped berries on a cookie sheet and freeze until firm. Remove from cookie sheet, package in freezer bags, and seal. Packing with sugar: Slice berries in halves or thirds. Mix with sugar (six cups sliced fruit to one cup sugar).
- Allow to stand until sugar dissolves (about 10-15 minutes).
- Pack the fruit and juice into freezer bags or containers.
- Leave 1/4-inch head space for pint containers.
- Packing without sugar: Strawberries may also be packed whole or sliced without sugar or with minimal sugar, but the color and texture of the thawed fruit won’t be as good.
Good for kids: Let kids cap and pack their choice of berries into pint yogurt containers, put their names on them, and freeze. For a quick, nutritious snack, thaw container slightly in the microwave and let kids eat their partially frozen berries straight from the container.
How long can uncut strawberries sit out?
If they are left out for more than 2 hours, throw them away.
Do you wash strawberries before cutting?
First Why You Should Clean Strawberries – Unwashed berries, like many kinds of fresh produce, can have dirt, bacteria, and pesticides living on the surface. So, in order to not ingest said dirt, bacteria, and pesticides, it’s super important to wash them thoroughly before you eat them!
How long do strawberries last on the vine?
How to Plant Strawberries –
Provide adequate space for sprawling. Set plants out 18 inches (1-1/2 feet) apart to leave room for runners and leave 4 feet between rows. Strawberries are sprawling plants. Seedlings will send out runners, which in turn will send out their own runners.Make planting holes deep and wide enough to accommodate the entire root system without bending it. However, don’t plant too deep! The roots should be covered, but the crown should be right at the soil surface. It is very important that you do NOT bury the crown (central growing bud) of the plant, or it could rot. The leaves, flowers, and fruit must be exposed to light and fresh air. To settle their roots into the soil, water plants well at the time of planting.It is also possible to grow strawberries from last year’s runners.,
Keep strawberry beds mulched to reduce water needs and weed invasion. Any type of mulch—from black plastic to pine straw to shredded leaves—will keep the soil moist and the plants clean.,Be diligent about weeding. Weed by hand, especially in the first months after planting.Moisture is incredibly important to strawberries due to their shallow roots. Water adequately, about one inch per square foot per week. Strawberry plants need a lot of water when the runners and flowers are developing and again in the late summer, when the plants are fully mature and gearing up for winter dormancy.Fertilize with all-purpose granules for strong growth. In warm weather, berries ripen about 30 days after blossoms are fertilized.In the first year, pick off blossoms to discourage strawberry plants from fruiting. If not allowed to bear fruit, they will spend their food reserves on developing healthy roots instead, which is a good thing. The yields will be much greater in the second year.Eliminate runner plants as needed. First and second generations produce higher yields. Try to keep daughter plants spaced about 10 inches apart. are a good option for protecting blossoms and fruit from birds.
Photo by Yuriy S./Getty Images Strawberry plants are perennial. They are naturally cold hardy and will survive mildly freezing temperatures. So, if your area has mild winters, little care is needed. In regions where the temperature regularly drops into the low twenties (Fahrenheit), strawberries will be in their dormant stage. It’s best to provide some winter protection:
When the growing season is over, mow or cut foliage down to one inch. This can be done after the first couple of frosts, or when air temps reach 20°F (-6°C).Mulch plants about 4 inches deep with straw, pine needles, or other organic material.In even colder regions, more insulating mulch should be added. Natural precipitation should appropriately maintain sufficient soil moisture. Remove mulch in early spring, after the danger of frost has passed.
Try planting more than one variety. Each will respond differently to conditions, and you will have a range of different fruits to enjoy.
‘Northeaster’ is best suited for the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Fruit has strong flavor and aroma. ‘Sable’ is hardy to zone 3, early season, great flavor. ‘Primetime’ is a mild-flavored, disease-resistant variety, best adapted to the Mid-Atlantic. ‘Cardinal’ is a good variety to try in the South. ‘Camarosa’ is a good variety to try on the West Coast. ‘Tristar’ is a day-neutral variety that’s very well-suited for hanging baskets.
,
Fruit is typically ready for harvesting 4-6 weeks after blossoming.Harvest only fully red (ripe) berries, and pick every three days.Cut by the stem; do not pull the berry, or you could damage the plant.For June-bearer strawberries, the harvest will last up to 3 weeks. You should have an abundance of berries, depending on the variety.
Store unwashed berries in the refrigerator for 3–5 days.Strawberries can be frozen whole for about 2 months.Watch our video on !
Photo by Ben Shuchunke/Getty Images One theory is that woodland pickers strung them on pieces of straw to carry them to market. Others believe that the surface of the fruit looks as if it’s embedded with bits of straw. Others think that the name comes from the Old English word meaning “to strew,” because the plant’s runners stray in all directions and look as if they are strewn on the ground.
Spider Mites
Keeping beds weed-free and using a gritty mulch can deter slugs and bugs. Spread sand over the strawberry bed to deter slugs. (This also works well for,) Pine needles also foil slug and pill-bug damage.For bigger bugs such as Japanese beetles, spray your plants with puréed garlic and neem seed oil. When birds threaten your strawberries, position balloons with scare-eyes above the beds and use reflective Mylar bird tape to deter them.
BONUS : You’ll also receive our free Beginner Gardening Guide! : Strawberries