Strawberry flowers but no fruit

carolinejwhitaker

For the second year running I have had loads of strawberry flowers but the fruits never develop. I cut all the plants back to the ground in autumn, to try to get rid of the issue, but the same thing has happened again this year. Can anyone tell me what the problem is and how to treat it? Thanks 

carolinejwhitaker

So the patch has been in for several years but I assumed that as it was still producing lots of flowers, it would still produce fruit? Is this not correct? The runners have been left to self-root, which is why I thought it was more likely to be a bug, rather than a new/old plant issue as a certain proportion each year would be new plants. 

Fairygirl

Do you feed them, or the soil? Are they being pollinated well?
All factors in fruit development.

carolinejwhitaker

They should be well pollinated as there are loads of bees around pollinating the other plants in the allotment. Haven't really fed them at all but assumed that if this was an issue there'd be only a few flowers or fruits, not absolutely no fruit development from all well-flowering plants. 

carolinejwhitaker

Got at least 2 different varieties. One is the white, pineapple strawberry, most are just some generic strawberries, not sure of actual variety.

Fairygirl

They do benefit from feeding. They can produce flowers, but if there aren't enough nutrients for them, it's hard for them to develop decent fruits.
A general feed in spring is usually enough, although you can also add tomato food or something similar to give them a boost, especially when they're not in the ground. Adding plenty of organic matter in autumn will benefit the soil though.

Liriodendron

Have you watered them?  Strawberry fruit contain a huge amount of water and I guess if the plant is stressed in a dry period, the fruit won't swell.

carolinejwhitaker

Yes we gave them loads of water from when the flowers appeared and it's been quite wet here the last couple of weeks 😥