Hi Tui, years ago there was a gardening program on the TV with a chap called James Stirling. He advised picking the flowers off of strawberry plants up until Labour Weekend to improve the health of the plant and to improve yields. Is there any logic in this? My Dad did it for years and we got a lot of small strawberries, bearing in mind I don't think we had the hybrid cultivars available today that give better crops.

Hi Ian

Yes there is logic in this, especially for fruit that is misshapen and has not been pollinated well enough by the bees. With strawberries, it is best to plant new plants from runners each season to ensure you get large juicy fruit. The second or consecutive years of fruiting are never as good with regard to fruit size as the first. If fruit starts to set early the plants energies go into producing the fruit rather than establishing their root system to sustain their growth over summer. Regularly feed your strawberries throughout the season as they are gross feeders and produce a lot in a very short space of time, if you are lucky you might even get a small autumn crop as well

Thanks, Tui Team