Strawberry
Fragaria × ananassa
Rosaceae · rose family
Origin · North America · Andes
- Matures
- 2–3 months
- Harvest
- Continuous · Perennial
- Sun
- 6–8+ hrs
- Spacing
- 10–15 in
Planting window
When to sow, by microclimate — foggier blocks run a different calendar than sunnier ones.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foggy | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Sunny | ● | ● | ● |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foggy | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |
| Sunny | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Sunlight
How well it does at each level of direct sun per day.
Soil depth
Root room it needs — useful for sizing raised beds and containers.
Soil pH
The soil acidity it grows best in — most crops sit just below neutral, so this mostly matters for heavily amended or long-reused beds.
- Preferred range
- pH 5.8–6.2
Spacing
Room each plant needs — along the row and between rows — for sizing beds.
- In-row
- 10–15 in
- Between rows
- 12–15 in
Growth habit
The shape it makes in the bed and how tall it gets — what tells you whether to give it a trellis, a stake, or just room.
- Habit
- Low mound
- Mature height
- 6–12 in
Low and self-supporting — no staking needed.
Growing in containers
Whether it does well in a pot, planter, or window box — the SF balcony-and-deck question, weighing its footprint, form, and staying power, not just root depth.
Happy in a pot, planter, or window box — no garden bed required.
How to start it
Sow it where it grows, or raise it under cover and set it out — and how far ahead to start the seedlings if it's the latter.
- Usually
- Direct-sow
Sown straight into the bed it will grow in.
Getting started
How it goes in the ground — how deep to sow or set it, and the soil temperature it needs to wake up. The cold-soil floor is the real limiter for direct-sowing in a foggy SF spring.
- Started from
- From crowns
- Ideal soil temp
- 60–75°F
- Set depth
- 0 in
Sprouts between 40–85°F; happiest around 60–75°F.
Watering & feeding
How thirsty and how hungry it is — the water it wants and how much feeding the bed needs to keep it producing. In the fog belt even a thirsty crop drinks less than it would inland.
- Water need
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Wants steady, even moisture — roughly an inch a week, a little more in a heat spell.
A balanced feed worked into the bed at planting usually carries it through the season.
Shallow-rooted, so it wants steady, even moisture — most of its roots sit in the top foot of soil and dry out fast, but standing wet invites root rot, so water regularly and let the surface drain. A moderate feeder: work compost in at planting, then feed lightly through the season.
Pests & diseases
What tends to trouble this crop — what it is, what you'll see, and what to do about it, least-toxic first.
In the fog belt the damp-lovers lead: snails and slugs rasp holes in ripening berries, and gray mold (Botrytis) rots fruit in cool, wet weather — mulch to keep berries off the soil, give plants room to dry, and pick ripe fruit promptly. Spotted-wing drosophila stings soft ripe fruit, so harvest often and clear fallen berries; spider mites and aphids build up in warm, dry spells.
Pests4
Aphids
- What it is
- Aphids have soft pear-shaped bodies with long legs and antennae and may be green, yellow, brown, red, or black depending on the species and the plants they feed on. A few species appear waxy or woolly due to the secretion of a waxy white or gray substance over their body surface.
- What you'll see
- Low to moderate numbers of leaf-feeding aphids aren't usually damaging in gardens or on trees. However, large populations can turn leaves yellow and stunt shoots; aphids can also produce large quantities of a sticky exudate known as honeydew, which often turns black with the growth of a sooty mold fungus.
- What to do
- Before planting vegetables, check surrounding areas for sources of aphids and remove these sources. On the other hand, these aphid-infested weeds can sometimes provide an early source of aphid natural enemies.
Snails and Slugs
- What you'll see
- Snails and slugs feed on a variety of living plants and on decaying plant matter. They create irregular holes with smooth edges on leaves and flowers by scraping with their rasp-like tongues.
- What to do
- It will not be possible to eliminate some shelters, such as low ledges on fences, the undersides of wooden decks, and water meter boxes, so make a regular practice of trapping and removing snails and slugs from these areas. The survivors congregate in the remaining shelters, where you can more easily locate and remove them.
Spider Mites
- What it is
- To the naked eye, spider mites look like tiny, moving dots; however, you can see them easily with a 10X hand lens. Adult females, the largest forms, are less than 1/20 inch long.
- What you'll see
- Mites cause damage by sucking cell contents from leaves. A small number of mites usually isn’t reason for concern, but very high populations—levels high enough to show visible damage to leaves—can damage plants, especially herbaceous ones.
- What to do
- Cultural practices can have a significant impact on spider mites. Midseason washing of trees and vines with water to remove dust may help prevent serious late-season mite infestations.
Spotted-Wing Drosophila
- What it is
- Adults are small flies about 1/16 to 1/8 inch long with red eyes and a pale brown thorax and abdomen with black stripes; males have a black spot near the tip of each wing, and females a sawlike ovipositor. Larvae are tiny, white, cylindrical maggots a little longer than 1/8 inch when full grown.
- What you'll see
- Unlike most vinegar flies, the female cuts the skin of soft-skinned, ripening fruit with her sawlike ovipositor and lays eggs just under the surface, leaving a small puncture or 'sting'. The maggots then feed inside, causing the flesh to turn brown, soft, and sunken.
- What to do
- Remove and dispose of fallen and infested fruit in sealed bags, and harvest ripening fruit frequently and promptly. Fine mesh netting (about 1 mm) placed over plants before fruit begins to ripen keeps the flies out; monitor with vinegar or bait traps to time control.
Diseases1
Botrytis Rot (Gray Mold) on Strawberries
- What you'll see
- Gray mold begins as soft, discolored lesions on the fruit, which then becomes covered with a velvety gray growth as the fungus produces spores; under high humidity infected fruit may turn cottony white, and flower parts turn brown. Decayed fruit stays fairly firm and does not leak.
- What to do
- The fungus is favored by cool, damp weather. Space plants for good air circulation, use raised beds and mulch to keep fruit off wet soil, and use drip or furrow irrigation — or water early in the day — to keep fruit and foliage dry. Remove and dispose of diseased fruit promptly.
Harvest & storage
How to tell it's ready to pick, and how to keep it once it's in.
- Keeps
- DaysBest eaten within a few days of picking.
- Ready to harvest
- Pick when the berry is fully colored and mostly red, with the green cap and a bit of stem still on; harvest in the morning while the fruit is cool.
- Storing
- Highly perishable — refrigerate unwashed in a partly open container and eat within a few days; wash only just before use.
Culinary use & nutrition
What it's for in the kitchen, and the nutrients a 100 g raw serving is a notable source of.
In the kitchen
- Raw
- Baked & sweet
Nutrition highlights
- Excellent source
- Vitamin C
- Good source
- Manganese
Share of the Daily Value in a 100 g raw serving (USDA FoodData Central).
Pollinators & wildlife
What this crop offers the garden's wildlife once it flowers — often the payoff for letting a bolting plant stand.
- Bees
- Honeybees and natives — bumble, mason, and sweat bees — working the flowers for pollen and nectar.
Unlike the vegetables that only feed pollinators once you let them bolt, the strawberry flowers as part of cropping, so the white blossoms draw honey bees and native bees through the whole fruiting season — and better bee visits mean plumper, better-shaped berries.
Sources
Growing data on this page is drawn from USDA GRIN Taxonomy, UC Master Gardeners, Marin County, and the other references on our sources page.