Strawberries from bare roots

Hello everyone

I am new to growing strawberries and bought some bare roots online, with the thought of growing them in hanging baskets or other containers. They arrived this morning. I was expecting to see dead-looking dry roots (like the bare root roses that I've seen), but these actually look more like small plants -- they were wrapped in newspaper with a little soil, are moist and already have some foliage on them.

I have some questions:

I am having a bit of trouble distinguishing between roots and runners (!) when the plants are this size. But the roots look to be really long, even when the plants are very small. Does this mean I need to plant them into deep containers? Will they work in hanging baskets? Is it ok for the roots to spread horizontally rather than vertically? I am wondering now if they will even work in hanging baskets with such deep roots.

I realize these will need to be potted up immediately and cannot be left to dry out. But should I put them in the greenhouse or outside at this point? (my 'greenhouse' is really an unheated shed attached to the house, but it has good light, ventilation if necessary, and a translucent perspex roof, so works quite well).

 

Hi,

You are describing good quality plants and until you choose their final pot, keep then in a cool frost free place covered with soil or damp sacking / paper.

As you have seen apart from those few green leaves they are mostly roots, thats what you want.

As for them in a hanging basket, you would need a large one per plant ! as there is little real depth for the roots and you will need to water very regulalry when in fruit.

However, as you often see you can get a crop from even the smallest container , in the greenhouse or outside, but you will always get a better crop in the ground or when planted in large pots/ small tubs.

This pdf should help, partic the planting depth diagrams on page 4.
https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/image/data/pdf/Growing Guides/Strawberries.pdf

 

Thanks for replying. I just wanted to check if you sent me the right link -- the link takes me to the user profile of steviez-uk on the UK Aquatic Plants forum? I can't see anything about strawberry planting there...

 

Ooops, sorry about that, have corrected it, now correctly links to Ken Muirs PDF