Where are you planning on storing them? They need to be kept cool, but above freezing. You can't just stick them in a corner somewhere in your house - unless you keep your house at about 45F, LOL!

What kind of containers did you have them in?

Honestly I've given up on growing strawberries in containers. The only ones that ever seemed to do well were alpines anyway.

"They need to be kept cool, but above freezing."

That's not actually true -- while chill hours only accumulate when temps are between freezing and 45 or so, strawberries are more than hardy enough to handle sub-freezing temperatures. That being said, potted plants will benefit from some type of insulation around the pots (autumn leaves, straw, etc.), and a row cover is a great way to give your plants a jump start on spring and to protect them from late frosts.

"...when is the proper time to take them and put them away for them to go dormant?"

They'll do that on their own in response to shorter days and lower temps.

"Next year do I pinch the flowers off of my new runner plants or since they came off a mother plant are they okay to flower? "

If you're talking about runners that the mother plants have produced this year, then, if they're well rooted and healthy at this point, I'd allow them to fruit next spring. Generally speaking, pinching flowers is something that you'd do for spring planted strawberries that haven't had a chance to establish strong root systems.

I suppose I should have posted a picture as well as to what I have my strawberries in. There are 2 plants in each of the big containers. One of which I'm starting new plants for that I started yesterday. The other 2 have been growing for about a month and a half now.

I have seen I can cover the plants with straw on the top, but that was more in ground and I'm wondering if maybe putting them in a larger box with straw or leaves around them would be sufficient enough in them lasting through the winter?

I'm really not even sure what kind of strawberries they are..

I've read a few things about making a "bin" out of chicken wire to put the plants in and surround with either leaves or straw.. Does anyone recommend this method for my plants??

@shazaam - That's somewhat true (within limits) of plants in the ground outdoors. Not so much for plants in containers. They are MUCH more susceptible to freezing damage. I've heard of them being overwintered in refrigerators - but if you put them in the freezer, as I've seen suggested from time to time, you can pretty much kiss them goodbye.

I had the impression that the OP wants someplace indoors to keep them, given he/she said it's an apartment situation.

@Smitten - actually that's a much better situation than most people have for their container strawberries. ONE plant in a 5 gallon container will be much stronger than 20 stuffed into holes all around the same container. Even the strawberry pots are not that great. What they really expect you to do with those is discard them at the end of the season and start over again with bare root plants. Strawberries grown that close together usually aren't very strong.

How cold does it get there? There is another problem with overwintering strawberries, and that's if you don't get sufficient days below 45F (for outdoor overwintering). If it gets warm enough long enough to break their dormancy - and I don't remember what those conditions are, but it can happen - the chances for damage are just as high as if they freeze for long periods, or freeze/thaw multiple times (which is actually worse than freezing and staying that way).

You could try overwintering them outdoors wrapped in burlap with straw or shredded paper stuffed around them (and the burlap wrapped around all to keep it in place).

I live more south in Georgia, so the coldest it gets really is about 40 degrees. Sometimes a little cooler. We'll only be here in Georgia for a month or 2 longer considering we'll be moving to El Paso, TX.

I don't mind where the plants go, whether it be in the attic or stay outside. I'm just more confused about the overwintering of them considering I've never done something like that before. I wish I could plant them in ground, but unfortunately with my husband in the military, that really isn't an option for me at this point. I would love to be able to keep my plants for next year. But if what I'm reading from your response is it best to throw them out and start over next year? Or am I mis-reading what was written?

In south GA, you should have no trouble overwintering containerized strawberries outdoors. Even the varieties commonly grown in the south are usually hardy to at least zone 5*. However, as I noted above, it would be worthwhile to pack an insulating material around the pots (leaves, soil, etc.). The roots can definitely withstand freezing temperatures (after all, they're routinely grown in parts of the country where the ground freezes solid for weeks or months at a time), but you do need to protect them from extremes and from wide temperature fluctuations (both of which can spell trouble). If you anticipate temps below 20 (which sounds unlikely), temporarily covering the pots with straw, a blanket, etc. would be a good idea, as well -- unprotected crowns can suffer damage in the low teens. Finally, be sure to keep the soil moist (but not waterlogged).

*For containerized plants, a frequently cited rule of thumb is to subtract two from your USDA hardiness zone when selecting plants that will be overwintered outdoors. For example, if you're in zone 8, you should be able to successfully overwinter plants that are rated to zone 6 or colder.

Smitten, the problem you MIGHT have is that you might not get ENOUGH cold weather. But at least you won't need to worry much about freezing!

If you can put it in a place that is shaded and cool all day, you should be good to go. You want to avoid having them come out of dormancy prematurely.

If you're going to get a freeze, you can always just bring the buckets in overnight, keeping them in the coolest part of the house. I'm guessing that won't happen very often.

You could also just wrap them up before a freeze and put them up against the house in a sheltered spot.

You will need to water them lightly from time to time - just to keep the soil a little moist, otherwise you could rot the crowns. It might be better to leave them unwrapped and only wrap them if the temp is going to drop below freezing so you can better monitor the soil.

Just to go into the idea of covering your crowns. The idea is to keep them uniform in temperature. It's the getting warm to cold, and cold to warm that is the problem. Here in the mid-west we don't want them freezing and thawing multiple times. So once frozen we cover them with straw. I use pine straw. That way they stay frozen and the morning sun will not thaw them. We got down to -14 degrees last winter. I didn't lose even one plant. If they were in the freezer, they would have been a lot warmer! In pots you don't want them getting too wet. Overhead protection would be ideal. And covered so temps don't fluctuate that much around crown. Even in the south the constant change from 40 to 60 degrees could hurt them if not protected. They need to be covered. Keep moist not wet. Overhead protection, and in the shade would be perfect.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 7:53