Remontant strawberries produce throughout the summer, but not as abundantly as ordinary strawberry varieties. However, they can be enjoyed for a long time, from mid-June to late autumn, when no other strawberries are available. They flower simultaneously with white flowers (the first blossom in May), producing and ripening red berries, which makes them look quite beautiful. In Lithuania, the most common varieties are ‘Muir’, ‘Selva’, ‘Ostara’, ‘Hummi Gento’ and ‘Rapela’, with ‘Selva’ and ‘Hummi Gento’ being the highest-yielding.
Remontant strawberries are planted in May in a clean, loose, high- quality medium-fraction substrate made from certified organic Ekodurpeta peat (pH 5.5-6.5; EC 1.0-1.2 mS/cm). It contains certified organic additives which ensure proper plant growth for up to 6 weeks. Alternatively, strawberries can be planted in a universal peat substrate made from a specially-formulated, organic peat with a fine (0-20) or medium (0-40) fraction, enhanced with nutritional additives and trace elements.
Before planting strawberry seedlings, the substrate needs to be aerated and additionally moistened. Plant 1-3 seedlings per pot, container or hanging basket. After planting, water the seedlings. When the flower buds appear, they should be plucked out, in order to strengthen the plants. When runners begin to sprout, apply a 0.2% solution of Nutricomplex (18:18:18) complex fertiliser every 5-7 days. Do not forget to water, to keep the substrate consistently moist.
Remontant strawberries produce many runners, form sprouts, and produce berries in the first year, so they look beautiful when planted in a larger, freestanding pot or container or in a hanging basket. With nowhere to take root, the runners swing over the edges of the pot, producing new sprouts and garlands of blossoms and berries – both beautiful and useful, without the need for a long bed of strawberries. Several pots or containers are enough.
The plants need special preparation for winter: cut off the leaves (leave 2-3 near the core) and the berry clusters. Before the frost starts, the potted plants can be dug into the ground and covered with spruce branches, or they can be covered well on the balcony to prevent frost damage to the stems, because these are not prepared for overwintering the way ordinary varieties of strawberry are. Alternatively, it is advisable to plant the young strawberry plants in a bed in September and re-pot them in spring after overwintering.
Young plants grow and produce much better than overwintered second-year plants. Replace the potted plants with new ones every second year.
Pyramids of remontant strawberries in winter
Option I. When remontant strawberries can be removed from the pyramid.
If the runners of the strawberries are not very tangled and can be removed one by one, or at least in separate pyramidal bowls, the procedure should be as follows: first, the strawberry leaves should be cut off (leaving only 2 or 3 at the core), along with some of the longer runners and the clusters of berries, if there still are any. If the strawberries are only potted in a pyramid, they should be lifted out, dug slightly into the ground and covered with soil. Before frost, mulch with peat substrate and cover with spruce branches. The stems of remontant strawberries are not prepared for overwintering like ordinary strawberries and are therefore much more sensitive to frost. If the strawberries have been planted in pyramid bowls rather than in pots, the bowls should be removed from the stand, dug slightly into the ground and then follow the same procedure as described above. This is a reliable and simple way to prepare remontant strawberries for winter.
It is different if you grew strawberries on a terrace or balcony and there is no space outside to store them over the winter. In this case, put the removed strawberry pots into a plastic, wooden or cardboard box, cover with peat or sawdust and, when the weather cools down, take them to a cool cellar to store them over the winter. If you don’t have a cellar, you can place the prepared boxes of remontant strawberry plants on the balcony, and when the weather starts to get colder, you will need to be very careful to cover them with extra spruce branches, straw or thick blankets, old fur coats, etc.
The pyramid bowls, where the strawberries grew freely, should be treated similarly.
Option II: When remontant strawberries cannot be removed from the pyramid.
Sometimes, strawberries planted closely together get tangled up in their runners and it is simply too difficult to separate them. The first thing to do is to cut back the leaves of the strawberry clusters (leaving only 2-3 at the core), along with any runners that are too long or not intertwined (you don’t need to remove all of them) and the remaining berries. When the weather cools down (when the temperature drops between 0 and 3 °C), the pyramid should be covered on all sides with agro textile, but if it is covered too early, when the temperature is still around 5-8 °C, the strawberry plants will still be growing, and will lose colour in the absence of light. Lacking air, they will simply suffocate and may die off.
If the weather starts to get colder (-2 to -5 °C), it is advisable to tie the whole pyramid with extra spruce branches or straw, and to check from time to time throughout the winter to make sure that the ties are holding well, because the plants can freeze if the wind blows the protective cover away. This method requires less work at the beginning, but more care during the winter.
Therefore, our advice to growers of remontant strawberries would be to think carefully about how you will be able and willing to preserve them over the winter before you build a strawberry pyramid. The optimum protection for remontant strawberries from the cold in winter is snow, but it is unrealistic to expect that in our winter conditions the pyramid will be thickly covered with snow and only then the frost will come, which is why you need to take action to keep the strawberry plants from freezing.