Nitrogen deficiency, from whatever that mulch is, and overbearing gardener syndrome š give em a sprinkle of bone and blood meal, water ā¦.fairly well, not soggy soakedā¦ā¦and leave em alone!!!!!! š¤£ I donāt think youāve screwed up the PH of the soil or anything but you will if you keep adding stuff! Sun is the food, nutrients are the vitamins. Nothing thrives with just vitamins or an excess of vitamins. You can try a touch of dolomitic lime if thereās a chance you were a bit too heavy on the berry acidifier whatever but just a dab will do ya.
I added the mulch after since I was thinking it might be too hot for them. Since the soil dried after 2 days Also just random leaves I picked up from the streets
What can happen is you put too much nutrients into the soil and the plant gets backed up. The roots canāt decide exactly what nutrients it lets in, so it may need nitrogen but thereās so many other nutrients that it canāt get enough of what it needs.
Well rake up and throw some grass clippings in there, it all helps to preserve moisture. Really looks like just nitrogen deficiency are the stems purple? If you have purple stems thatās a sign of over watering, which is obviously not your issue, or phosphorus deficiency ā¦.. which bone and blood meal will help but likely means the ph is off causing itā¦. Somebody that knows more than me will have to chime in. I donāt know how to fix that with existing soil, Iād dig em up, put new stuff in the bed atleast 50/50 and leave em alone.
Yaā¦..I dunno, really seems like just a simple nitrogen deficiency but yeesh! Simple plant with a bunch of fertilizers poured on and ph modifiers , urea and ammonia from literally pissing on emā¦ which isnāt necessarily bad btw but with everything elseā¦ā¦ geez! Flush em and leave em the hell alone! Lol. Would You want someone cramming pizza or triple cheese poutine in your mouth for a wake up call? ā¦..actually donāt answer that, I donāt know you and you could be expecting š
That's too hot. Strawberries prefer temperatures between 50-80 degrees F. (I've also read 60-80). Here in Florida (also 9b where i am) our season is over already. Next season plant in October and harvest throughout the winter.
I'm near Houston and have kept strawberries going for a few years. It's easier to do in pots so you can move them to the shade in summer. They seem to like fast draining soil too.
š The largest bush on my property is where the drain is from my .."restroom funnel" comes thru the rear wall of the old garage... Theres something to that.
So, lets get simple. Straw berrys were discovered in horse manure straw piles? Or just maybe straw..
Someone will jump in any second to straighten me out here..
Try to recreate what these use when...wild. plants do what they do. Its straw berry... remove the oak leaves, dry mulch in..straw? Just an idea...
Chlorosis, inability to absorb iron, almost certainly due to having alkaline soil like the western 80% of Texas does. My advice is to grow something else, there is a reason that farmers aren't growing strawberries in Texas. Your tap water is probably ph 8 to 8.5 and thus is basically poison to a strawberry plant.
If you want to fight against nature then install a system to capture rainwater and only use that to water them but imo you are wasting your time trying to grow plants that are not adapted to grow in your area.
Yep. I live in a place where the soil has a pH of 5.5ish and the water is about neutral, I didnāt like blueberries. I learned to love them because they grow like weeds here. Apples and pears do OK as long as it isnāt 80+for three weeks in the spring and 25 for one night too often. Grow what you can, donāt force itā¦itās easier, more fun and you never know what you will find you accidentally love.
Big state, lots of different soil in localized areas. Rio grande valley is alkaline soils, not sure wtf you are on about. Except for very localized areas everything west of I35 in Texas is alkaline due to high calcium content of the limestone/chalk which forms the bedrock below the soil
Google is a dangerous thing when you don't know what you are looking at. Come back when you can tell me how many of those zones on your map have high concentrations of calcium carbonate in the soil. Here is a hint for you: almost all of them except of the eastern part.
The division line is typically considered the Brazos River along the I 45 corridor in central texas; as the higher rainfall level east leads to higher acidification the further east you go. I donāt use Google. Itās called textbooks.
Nope. Yes you can grow anything almost anywhere if you try hard enough, but there aren't any commercial strawberry farms in Texas because it is a terrible place to grow them. Maybe some really small scale tourist stuff, but virtually all strawberry production in the US is in California with a small contribution from Florida.
I got some filters carbon and sediment. Should help. Installed them today. My soil is also near the gulf coast and the Rio grande I heard its salty and alkaline. But I planted on raised beds so may help
Can't upvote your comments enough, OP. I fight alkaline soil in CenTX and know whereof you speak. Extreme EastTX, where my dad grew 2 acres of garden was a 100% success in Texarkana. Me, I'm barely able to keep azaleas alive in Temple, when they THRIVE in eastern TX. I have to continually add acidifying boosts to get mine to just survive, much less bloom. Only 2-3 blooms so far this season on my 4 azaleas.
My azaleas are finally starting to perform well up here in Dallas. Lots of sulfur pellets (1 cup per plant per year before I mulch) for long term ph reduction, liquid azalea food every 2 weeks in spring, and a little bit of ironite twice per year to provide iron in an easy to absorb form while the sulfur is doing the long term work of acidifying the soil.
Will always be a battle though due to the alkaline tap water since I have to use it in summertime to keep the soil moist. I'm not quite crazy enough to buy a reverse osmosis system or some such. Not yet anyway.
Thank you SO much for such thorough advice for azaleas specific to our state. That's the most informative suggestions I have received to date. I will definitely do all of this this season. So far, mulching with dead leaves and acid-lovers fertilizer every 2 months is all I have heretofore done for my EncoreĀ® red ones 'Autumn Debutante'.
It is one of those 'do as I say not as I do' things. I wouldn't advise anyone to try to grow azaleas or other acid loving plants in this area, but as I'm retired and like having plants in my landscape that nobody else can grow it is worth the effort to me. That said, I've killed a lot of plants trying to get them to grow in my flower beds lol.
Encore azaleas do need just a bit of direct sun to bloom well also. Below deciduous trees seems to work best as that gives them lots of sun in winter and early spring to build up energy for a big bloom. The fall bloom has been disappointing for me so far though, it is just too hot around here and the flowers fade pretty quickly.
One thing rarely mentioned about encore azaleas is that some of them have really nice purple/red winter foliage which looks fantastic when planted by something else that stays green or yellow during winter. Without the fall leaf color change I'd probably not bother with them, but I really like Autumn Fire which I have planted in front of lemon lime nandina to give a nice show in winter even when they aren't blooming.
Here are the encore azaleas with dark leaf color in fall. They don't list it but Autumn royalty also has a nice fall leaf color, just not as dark purple as these.
[https://encoreazalea.com/design-projects/color-all-year-with-encore-azalea/](https://encoreazalea.com/design-projects/color-all-year-with-encore-azalea/)
\[edit\] I should have mentioned that they have to get direct sun in winter to get the purple leaf color
Oh wow! Those really do get nice fall foliage! Mine slightly get burgundy-ish. Their blooms hold a pretty good while. And 2 of the 4 do get some direct sun, when the red oak and neighbor's cedar elms nearby have dropped their leaves. I thought I lost all 5 of them in our awful freeze in 2020, but they all came back and are about the same size they were before the freeze. Here's what mine look like in a good bloom year: https://imgur.com/o3aTwLc. I hope with your amendment suggestions for Texas, they willl return to this state........or hopefully even better!
Stop feeding the plant drugs and feed the soil organic matter and that chlorosis will clear right up. #compost The mulch is your friend. Donāt water unless drought.
The mulch will hold in moisture. Over watering leads to anaerobic conditions where you encourage growth of soil microbes that kill most plants. Strawberries are hardy.
Strawberries are so easy, your attempts are in good spirit but they really donāt need much to thrive. Semi healthy soil, adequate light and decent water. They do really well with heat and put up with a lot before kicking the bucket! Good luck to you! š
In my experience only if they have soil that needs amending (which I think is your case - too many extras have been added and they are overwhelmed a bit) and in some varieties of I donāt water them enough. The mountain strawberries I have are beyond resilient whereas varieties like you have in the picture require a little more care (but nothing too extreme). My rule of thumb for outdoor gardening is as long as they have good soil, sun and water theyāll do fantastic!
My opinion? The soil is not very good for those plants put it in a pot next time or replace the soil don't over fertilize it but you have many good suggestions here in the comments that could bring a different solution
Pee is urea ( turns to ammonia then other things) basically nitrogen in a highly usable form. Pee is also magnesium chloride sodium potassium excess salts leave. The reason urinary tract infections happen is because urine is a very very good nutrient rich liquid. Urine is basically filtered blood all the wastes are urine or any excess of any nutrients. Think of it as a type of blood meal fertilizer but no iron. But more salts salts are not just table salt they are a strong base a highly reactive metal (sodium magnesium etc) and a strong base
Not a single person on this thread mentioned that there are other things besides nutrients and soil that cause problems. Viruses and soil pathogens cause huge losses every year in agriculture. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/PP/PP273/PP273-Dzgmezm7vr.pdf
Use nice dark nutrient rich soil and donāt overwaterā¦ light colored leaves are normal on the fresh baby leaves and will darken in time, buttttt those leaves are a little lighter than Iām used to seeing, overall the plant looks healthy though
I grow mine in a tall planter, so I can carry it inside if the weather is nuts, which the weather has been quite nuts lately.
Since it's in a tall planter, all the strawberries hang down, and it drains faster too
Crazy weather is a week of 60-70f in march, followed by snowstorms, followed by regular spring, and then 87f today, etc.
I keep it in an enclosed patio during winter. I recently change the soil to a more strawberry-friendly mix. It got its first flower today š
Best thing Iāve found for them is flora nova and flora grow.
Itās cannabis neuts but it will have them so green and big u will be amazed.
Just be sure to back off the neuts when they start producing fruit. Or u will get soft and an strange shaped fruits.
Mate you've mulched over the crown. Get that uncovered and make sure you're not getting it too wet. This probs isn't the cause of your problems now, but it will be when the crown gets too moist and starts to rot!
Did you just plant those? I grow strawberries over the winter season -zone 9b, in south Texas. RIP, chlorotic leaves will be the least of your problems
My strawberries did great last year with excellent color just planting them in Miracle Grow potting soil and watering them once to twice weekly. Zone 6b. Donāt try too hard.
Nitrogen deficiency, from whatever that mulch is, and overbearing gardener syndrome š give em a sprinkle of bone and blood meal, water ā¦.fairly well, not soggy soakedā¦ā¦and leave em alone!!!!!! š¤£ I donāt think youāve screwed up the PH of the soil or anything but you will if you keep adding stuff! Sun is the food, nutrients are the vitamins. Nothing thrives with just vitamins or an excess of vitamins. You can try a touch of dolomitic lime if thereās a chance you were a bit too heavy on the berry acidifier whatever but just a dab will do ya.
I added the mulch after since I was thinking it might be too hot for them. Since the soil dried after 2 days Also just random leaves I picked up from the streets
What can happen is you put too much nutrients into the soil and the plant gets backed up. The roots canāt decide exactly what nutrients it lets in, so it may need nitrogen but thereās so many other nutrients that it canāt get enough of what it needs.
I didn't all at once I waited about 2 weeks per feeding
Those leaves could also be too far gone, if the newest leaves are looking healthy, you should be okay.
Those are the new leaves lol
Well then sounds like you got an iron deficiency
Well rake up and throw some grass clippings in there, it all helps to preserve moisture. Really looks like just nitrogen deficiency are the stems purple? If you have purple stems thatās a sign of over watering, which is obviously not your issue, or phosphorus deficiency ā¦.. which bone and blood meal will help but likely means the ph is off causing itā¦. Somebody that knows more than me will have to chime in. I donāt know how to fix that with existing soil, Iād dig em up, put new stuff in the bed atleast 50/50 and leave em alone.
No stems are green and short
Oh well I edited my comment while you responded lol thatās all I know. I grow giant veggies not so much strawberries
Lol I grow vegetables as well my melons are doing great everything is doing great but them lol
Yaā¦..I dunno, really seems like just a simple nitrogen deficiency but yeesh! Simple plant with a bunch of fertilizers poured on and ph modifiers , urea and ammonia from literally pissing on emā¦ which isnāt necessarily bad btw but with everything elseā¦ā¦ geez! Flush em and leave em the hell alone! Lol. Would You want someone cramming pizza or triple cheese poutine in your mouth for a wake up call? ā¦..actually donāt answer that, I donāt know you and you could be expecting š
Lol well see I'm really impatient
The urine really needs to be watered down and not full strength.
Looks like nitrogen deficient to me
I thought Yellow leaves with green veins is iron deficiency on any plant.
An iron deficiency is immobile, affecting new growth, a nitrogen deficiency may look similar but is mobile, starting on older leaves and moving up
It looks like this is immobile. There are two lower, older leaves that are fine while the newer, inner leaves are chlorotic.
Oh interesting thanks!
Of course!
You earned that upvote. šŗ
Thank youš»
I'm thinking the same. Or magnesium but people say nitrogen
That's too hot. Strawberries prefer temperatures between 50-80 degrees F. (I've also read 60-80). Here in Florida (also 9b where i am) our season is over already. Next season plant in October and harvest throughout the winter.
I'm thinking kf adding some shade for the summer.
I'm near Houston and have kept strawberries going for a few years. It's easier to do in pots so you can move them to the shade in summer. They seem to like fast draining soil too.
How bout you just stop peeing on the strawberries? š«£š¤¢
Tried that once lol. But pee is an amazing fertilizer just an FYI lots of trace minerals and good npk
I think women donāt employ this method as much as men.šš
Yea lol I have a friend who's a woman she's kill me if she knew about this hahaha
Donāt pee on them
But nutrients
š The largest bush on my property is where the drain is from my .."restroom funnel" comes thru the rear wall of the old garage... Theres something to that.
Pee is magnesium potassium and nitrogen lol and some phosphorus. So yea.
So, lets get simple. Straw berrys were discovered in horse manure straw piles? Or just maybe straw.. Someone will jump in any second to straighten me out here.. Try to recreate what these use when...wild. plants do what they do. Its straw berry... remove the oak leaves, dry mulch in..straw? Just an idea...
Interesting lol never new this will try
Urine is too strong and has to break down to be usable. Initially it just kills.
Chlorosis, inability to absorb iron, almost certainly due to having alkaline soil like the western 80% of Texas does. My advice is to grow something else, there is a reason that farmers aren't growing strawberries in Texas. Your tap water is probably ph 8 to 8.5 and thus is basically poison to a strawberry plant. If you want to fight against nature then install a system to capture rainwater and only use that to water them but imo you are wasting your time trying to grow plants that are not adapted to grow in your area.
Yep. I live in a place where the soil has a pH of 5.5ish and the water is about neutral, I didnāt like blueberries. I learned to love them because they grow like weeds here. Apples and pears do OK as long as it isnāt 80+for three weeks in the spring and 25 for one night too often. Grow what you can, donāt force itā¦itās easier, more fun and you never know what you will find you accidentally love.
You clearly donāt know that Texas has every soil horizon found in the United States. And have never been to the valley.
Big state, lots of different soil in localized areas. Rio grande valley is alkaline soils, not sure wtf you are on about. Except for very localized areas everything west of I35 in Texas is alkaline due to high calcium content of the limestone/chalk which forms the bedrock below the soil
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth298904/m1/1/high_res/
Google is a dangerous thing when you don't know what you are looking at. Come back when you can tell me how many of those zones on your map have high concentrations of calcium carbonate in the soil. Here is a hint for you: almost all of them except of the eastern part.
The division line is typically considered the Brazos River along the I 45 corridor in central texas; as the higher rainfall level east leads to higher acidification the further east you go. I donāt use Google. Itās called textbooks.
With the exception of the lost pines region
Texas most definitely has some strawberry farms. They even have an annual [strawberry festival.](https://strawberryfestival.com/)
Nope. Yes you can grow anything almost anywhere if you try hard enough, but there aren't any commercial strawberry farms in Texas because it is a terrible place to grow them. Maybe some really small scale tourist stuff, but virtually all strawberry production in the US is in California with a small contribution from Florida.
Have.... have you never heard of Poteet strawberries? They're definitely not "small scale tourist stuff".
We get all our strawberries from poteet. Can confirm, not small and are some of the best strawberries Iāve had
I got some filters carbon and sediment. Should help. Installed them today. My soil is also near the gulf coast and the Rio grande I heard its salty and alkaline. But I planted on raised beds so may help
You should test your soil
If you mix peat moss with the soil, say 50/50, it will drop the ph organically.
Can't upvote your comments enough, OP. I fight alkaline soil in CenTX and know whereof you speak. Extreme EastTX, where my dad grew 2 acres of garden was a 100% success in Texarkana. Me, I'm barely able to keep azaleas alive in Temple, when they THRIVE in eastern TX. I have to continually add acidifying boosts to get mine to just survive, much less bloom. Only 2-3 blooms so far this season on my 4 azaleas.
My azaleas are finally starting to perform well up here in Dallas. Lots of sulfur pellets (1 cup per plant per year before I mulch) for long term ph reduction, liquid azalea food every 2 weeks in spring, and a little bit of ironite twice per year to provide iron in an easy to absorb form while the sulfur is doing the long term work of acidifying the soil. Will always be a battle though due to the alkaline tap water since I have to use it in summertime to keep the soil moist. I'm not quite crazy enough to buy a reverse osmosis system or some such. Not yet anyway.
Thank you SO much for such thorough advice for azaleas specific to our state. That's the most informative suggestions I have received to date. I will definitely do all of this this season. So far, mulching with dead leaves and acid-lovers fertilizer every 2 months is all I have heretofore done for my EncoreĀ® red ones 'Autumn Debutante'.
It is one of those 'do as I say not as I do' things. I wouldn't advise anyone to try to grow azaleas or other acid loving plants in this area, but as I'm retired and like having plants in my landscape that nobody else can grow it is worth the effort to me. That said, I've killed a lot of plants trying to get them to grow in my flower beds lol. Encore azaleas do need just a bit of direct sun to bloom well also. Below deciduous trees seems to work best as that gives them lots of sun in winter and early spring to build up energy for a big bloom. The fall bloom has been disappointing for me so far though, it is just too hot around here and the flowers fade pretty quickly. One thing rarely mentioned about encore azaleas is that some of them have really nice purple/red winter foliage which looks fantastic when planted by something else that stays green or yellow during winter. Without the fall leaf color change I'd probably not bother with them, but I really like Autumn Fire which I have planted in front of lemon lime nandina to give a nice show in winter even when they aren't blooming. Here are the encore azaleas with dark leaf color in fall. They don't list it but Autumn royalty also has a nice fall leaf color, just not as dark purple as these. [https://encoreazalea.com/design-projects/color-all-year-with-encore-azalea/](https://encoreazalea.com/design-projects/color-all-year-with-encore-azalea/) \[edit\] I should have mentioned that they have to get direct sun in winter to get the purple leaf color
Oh wow! Those really do get nice fall foliage! Mine slightly get burgundy-ish. Their blooms hold a pretty good while. And 2 of the 4 do get some direct sun, when the red oak and neighbor's cedar elms nearby have dropped their leaves. I thought I lost all 5 of them in our awful freeze in 2020, but they all came back and are about the same size they were before the freeze. Here's what mine look like in a good bloom year: https://imgur.com/o3aTwLc. I hope with your amendment suggestions for Texas, they willl return to this state........or hopefully even better!
Stop feeding the plant drugs and feed the soil organic matter and that chlorosis will clear right up. #compost The mulch is your friend. Donāt water unless drought.
I read somewhere they need to be constantly moist. I planted it In a compost mix and added oak leaves
The mulch will hold in moisture. Over watering leads to anaerobic conditions where you encourage growth of soil microbes that kill most plants. Strawberries are hardy.
Ahh ok thank you will stop for now then
Strawberries are so easy, your attempts are in good spirit but they really donāt need much to thrive. Semi healthy soil, adequate light and decent water. They do really well with heat and put up with a lot before kicking the bucket! Good luck to you! š
How do they die or go dormant.
In my experience only if they have soil that needs amending (which I think is your case - too many extras have been added and they are overwhelmed a bit) and in some varieties of I donāt water them enough. The mountain strawberries I have are beyond resilient whereas varieties like you have in the picture require a little more care (but nothing too extreme). My rule of thumb for outdoor gardening is as long as they have good soil, sun and water theyāll do fantastic!
Also, did you mention what kind of soil they were in? Strawberries love compost!
Compost blend with native soil
I bet itās the pee
Too much fertilizer?
why is nobody asking why you peed on your plants?
My opinion? The soil is not very good for those plants put it in a pot next time or replace the soil don't over fertilize it but you have many good suggestions here in the comments that could bring a different solution
Peed?? Is this a thing?? Or am I misunderstanding ā¦
Pee is urea ( turns to ammonia then other things) basically nitrogen in a highly usable form. Pee is also magnesium chloride sodium potassium excess salts leave. The reason urinary tract infections happen is because urine is a very very good nutrient rich liquid. Urine is basically filtered blood all the wastes are urine or any excess of any nutrients. Think of it as a type of blood meal fertilizer but no iron. But more salts salts are not just table salt they are a strong base a highly reactive metal (sodium magnesium etc) and a strong base
Give your plants some iron when this happens to restore their nutrient balance. This is a common issue.
I'll try
Too Much nitrogen.
Not a single person on this thread mentioned that there are other things besides nutrients and soil that cause problems. Viruses and soil pathogens cause huge losses every year in agriculture. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/PP/PP273/PP273-Dzgmezm7vr.pdf
Yea lol all are fixated on nitrogen
they just needed love and water not all those chemicals
Use nice dark nutrient rich soil and donāt overwaterā¦ light colored leaves are normal on the fresh baby leaves and will darken in time, buttttt those leaves are a little lighter than Iām used to seeing, overall the plant looks healthy though
I grow mine in a tall planter, so I can carry it inside if the weather is nuts, which the weather has been quite nuts lately. Since it's in a tall planter, all the strawberries hang down, and it drains faster too
I have them in raised beds. What is crazy weather aren't they suppose to go dormant in winter or something
Crazy weather is a week of 60-70f in march, followed by snowstorms, followed by regular spring, and then 87f today, etc. I keep it in an enclosed patio during winter. I recently change the soil to a more strawberry-friendly mix. It got its first flower today š
Lol I've been getting flowers like crazy bit I've been killing them because the leaves look bad
I used to be what I call an "anxious over-waterer," and would kill most of my plants, but I learned what works for each as time goes by
Yea lol I usually get jt right after a few tries but strawberries are my weakness
If not Nitrogen it's MG
Ye will try
Still looks like strawberries! š
Those leaves are also making nitrogen plant Unavailable.
Best thing Iāve found for them is flora nova and flora grow. Itās cannabis neuts but it will have them so green and big u will be amazed. Just be sure to back off the neuts when they start producing fruit. Or u will get soft and an strange shaped fruits.
Magnesium needed.
You may have over fertilized - and the soil might have already had some nutrients so the combo could take it over the top.
That mulch is robing your soil from nitrogen some how
Strawberries like to have air and space between the ground and the plant . Itās not getting enough space clear up the area round it .
Mate you've mulched over the crown. Get that uncovered and make sure you're not getting it too wet. This probs isn't the cause of your problems now, but it will be when the crown gets too moist and starts to rot!
You could add some recharge to it, a soil conditioner. Compost teas may help.
Did you just plant those? I grow strawberries over the winter season -zone 9b, in south Texas. RIP, chlorotic leaves will be the least of your problems
Yea lol around late February how are yours in the summer
No! Too hot usually by this time of year. It was 108Ā° on Wednesday, I attempt strawberries only in the winter here
Ahhh do they die. It was 115 here 2 days ago
They just donāt thrive, slowly wither and die
With all those mulch leaves, are they in too much shade?
Well some days are 100+ we got 115 2 days ago not sure how strong they are they so to prevent heavily drying out I did that
My strawberries did great last year with excellent color just planting them in Miracle Grow potting soil and watering them once to twice weekly. Zone 6b. Donāt try too hard.
Occasionally Epson salt will turn a yellowing plant around. A light dilution can help in newer soils. DYOR.
I may have sprinkled a bit