At least out here in the SW corner of the state they love a little shade. Mine do get full sun for about 6 or so hours a day. They are close enough to a shade tree to get almost full shade for part of the morning and then again for a couple hours just before sundown. They seem to like the break from the summer heat and still have plenty afternoon sun.

Robert

Mine produce better in full sun in good (meaning rainier and cooler) years. In 2011, though, all my strawberries died because I was gone to wildfires day and night and apparently didn't water them enough. I don't know if I could have watered them enough to get them through 3 months of temperatures of 100+ degree days with lots of high temps over 110. There is only so much heat that they can tolerate, particularly in an almost total absence of rainfall.

When I replanted strawberries, I planted them as a sort of groundcover in the asparagus bed where they are thriving and productive in the dappled shade of the asparagus. They do produce lots of berries, though not as much as the other plants produced in full sun.

In this state, the further east you are, the better they seem to do---likely because eastern OK tends to have great sandy loam soil in many areas and a lot more rainfall than those of us further to the west receive.

You do have to fight every living creature on your property for every ripe berry. Bird netting can help protect the berries from the wild birds, but you'll have to carefully monitor for crawling bugs that like to munch on the berries underneath the netting. Slug-Go Plus helps keep the sow bugs and pill bugs away from the strawberry fruit.

Perfect!

Robert, sounds very much like my own!

Excellent. I'll put them in my planter where the soil is sandier and they'll get about 6 hours of direct sun. I'll put down Sluggo Plus, first. I noticed an army worm in it the other day. I didn't even think about bugs. I can easily cast a net over this planter, too.

Thanks again.
bon

Strawberries have always seemed quite a struggle for me in Arkansas, Oklahoma. I have the impression they'd be much happier (and longer lived) in cooler climes.

I've never known anyone in Oklahoma to grow them except on this forum. Maybe I'm about to found out why. lol

I guess they grow in stilwell since this is the 67th yr for the strawberry festival

Here is a link that might be useful: strawberry festival

Our strawberries have been growing like weeds! Most of them are mulched and planted in beds with lots of amendments, though. Partial shade seems to be better and full sun and poorly mulched and poorly amended beds seem to restrict their growth a bit. This year, we're going to have strawberries coming out of our ears.

We have early and ever bearing. The ever bearing we have aren't as prolific, but they always have some strawberries on them.

No. Don't ask. I'd have to go out inna shed and look at my records. It might be a wasted trip, anyway, 'cause I don't remember recoding the varieties, anyway.

We have more than two hundred strawberries, in ten different beds in the front garden. They're not match for the mint under the cherry trees (of course), and for some reason, they aren't doing so well under the peach tree, but otherwise, on average, they all look like the strawberries in the pic.

This post was edited by wbonesteel on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 19:01

Lisa Baird told me that they frost protected their strawberry patch with sprinklers all night a week ago Tuesday, so Baird's market in Stilwell will have strawberries this year. Adair county growers have been producing strawberries for many years. The trick is to start a new patch every three years.

I should get out more. wbonsteel, those are gorgeous. Did you buy them all or is much of it self-propagated? I only bought one. I hope I can be successful. It became more urgent when I hate the tiny strawberry that dangled from the pot before planting them so they can concentrate on root growth.

I don't think I've ever eaten a strawberry that sweet. My mother being grandiose purchased those expensive chocolate covered strawberries and mailed them to me. They were so beautiful and huge. One bite and I had to spit it out from the bitterness! All I've ever known of strawberries.

We bought forty of them last year. They've been spreading like weeds, sending out hundreds of runners. Last falI we thinned some of them out and transplanted some of those runners to other beds. This spring, we transplanted more runners to more beds.

I waited until the runners had rooted and were well established before I transplanted them.

We'll do it all over again this fall. That way, we never have to worry about when the older plants stop producing.

There is a 'cheat', here of course. Some of the runners will take root on their own. Others need a bit of assistance, so I keep an eye on them and then bury the bottoms of the new plants under a bit of soil and weight the vine down with a small stick or a small bit of soil or mulch on either side of the 'node' on the runner.

There's nothing like fresh fruit and veggies from the garden. Always sweeter, tastier and full flavored.

Got our first berry today. So sweet.

My strawberries are much more crowded than Warren's and I did thin them last fall. These are Earliglow and this is third spring since we planted. I started another row last fall and will start another one after harvest.

Wow. Do you fight off the birds?

I remember Stillwell getting their berries shipped in for the festival, when I was living in Tahlequah.

I planted strawberries here and there, thinking of getting an edible ground cover.

Remember my aunt mowing the rows down, and rototilling them, and leaving the new plants that started on the sides. She would mow a row down after the second year, and thus, replenished her rows with new plants all the time.

Moni

An edible row-cover sounds dreamy, doesn't it? I could live with strawberries near my feet.