First time with strawberry plants

Beckybub1729

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for how to look after these better! I got these plants delivered to me as roots and they seem to have grown really well (the picture at the bottom is from one week ago when I first planted them), most seem to be doing fine but these 2 the leaves seem to be going a bit funny and I want to know what I might be doing wrong before I make them any worse! I read that they need a lot of water but after a quick google I'm not sure if I have now over watered, or if I have burnt them by watering in the day time. They are indoors as I dont have a garden and they get sun all day on my window ledge.
Any tips would be much appreciated as I really want to be a plant person but I've never had much luck in the past!

Fairygirl

They really should be outdoors, but as you can't do that, you'll need to find a cooler window ledge to prevent them being fried in the sun. 
Never water from overhead either- always water in at the base of the plant.
They need quite a lot of food and water, and if indoors, you'll need to take more care with them to see that they get that. They need good drainage too, so you'll have to have a tray of some kind under them or they'll get soggy and will rot.
They may not produce much fruit as they need to be pollinated, unless they're a self pollinating variety.
You'll have to do that by hand once flowers appear, unless you can encourage bees indoors too 

steephill

Are there any drainage holes in the container? Ideally there should be and the container would have a tray under it to allow excess water to drain away.

Fairygirl

That was my thought @steephill. It didn't look like there was anything for water to drain into

Beckybub1729

I've got a balcony but it's on the wrong side of the house so there they wouldnt get any sun at all, sounds like I'll have to move them around so they get sun but dont get too warm! When I water them I try to water the soil rather than the plant itself so the leaves dont get scorched, I think that's the only gardening tip I know.
They dont have any drainage these were the only pots I had so it sounds like I'd best get a tray and make some holes somehow or get new pots. Definitely wont be encouraging bees indoors my partner is allergic and wont be happy! I'll have to pollinate them myself if I can keep them alive long enough to flower haha.
In the meantime before I get new pots would it be best for me to let the soil dry out and water them slightly less? I read that the soil should be damp but obviously if they cant drain when they need to should I leave it a little on the drier side or would that also be bad? Thanks for your help guys

Fairygirl

Yes - drainage is vital, or the soil will just become stagnant, so let them dry out a little bit. 
You could use those pots as the 'tray' and put new pots [with holes] inside them, but it's probably easier to get some trays or saucers, and just makes some decent sized holes in the pots you have. You can tip the plants out onto plastic bags or similar while you do that 

PurpleRose

You need to make sure that the compost does not dry out. Before watering, just have a little feel of the compost. If it is wet, it is ok. If it is dry water and if damp just a bit of water.

I grow my Strawberries outside in the ground and haven't in pots so I am not sure how they are in pots but I do know that pots dry out a lot quicker than in the ground. I always water them at night once it has cooled down and around once a week to two weeks I give them a bit of tomato feed when they are flowering.

Hope that this helps 😁

Fairygirl

They're inside though @PurpleRose - with no drainage at the moment, so the OP has to rectify all of that first. 
I grow most of mine in pots, and they're very straightforward, but indoors is a totally different matter altogether.
They can cope quite easily with being dried out - they soon bounce back with a drink, but it's the excessive heat of the sun at a window which will be a factor. Some shading may be required during the hottest part of the day, although the extra stress will probably push them into earlier flowering 

mrtjforman

Strawberries do seem to benefit from being grown in some soil in the ground over compost in a pot. The Strawberries in the ground are maintence free and grow twice as big as pot grown but they do grow well in pots. The main issues is that the compost dries out fast when they are actively growingso needs to be kept moist regularly and they will need regular feeding, similar to a tomato plant since the compost will run out of food before the fruit sets in.

Beckybub1729

I think I made the compost a bit too wet to start with in my case, I think once it dries a bit I'll try watering a bit less but more often so I dont just drown them in one go but it doesnt dry out, perhaps a small water twice a day would work? Wish I had a garden to plant them outside in though! We were trying to buy a house before the lockdown so hopefully that will still go ahead and I'll be able to put them in the ground where they have lots of space. Definitely need to look for some fertiliser thought next time I go out to the shops, is there any that might be best? I usually shop in tescos so if I can get just a standard fertiliser from there would that be ok? I'm sure theyll have some they've got a big garden thing on in mine at the moment.

PurpleRose

I normally use tomato feed on them when they are flowering, once every one or two weeks