Strawberry protection

A couple of years ago as usual i put straw around my strawbeery plants but after a prolonged wet spell the slugs got across the wet straw a caused havoc with the crop.

My wife works in a local coffee shop and has access to empty 5Ltr tubs, I obtained some cut off the bottoms and discarded the lids and handles and put them round the plants before flowering, with the result that the flower stalks then grow upwards and when the fruit forms it hangs over the side of the tubs. This keeps the berries clean and slug free. Also they have the advantage of holding in the water in dry weather instead of it running over the rest of the plot.

Silly question.... but will slug pellets work?

Hi Amy

 Thanks for the reply,not a sily question yes slug pellets work but i have found that this method also keeps the fruit clean and it seems to ripen quicker do to getting more light at the top of these tubs.

Sorry to but into this thread but I was about to start one with the same title.

For the first time I am growing strawberries in baskets and wondered how best to protect them from birds. Do I just hang mesh over the basket? It seems to me that the wind might just dislodge it. Are there any tips from those that have tiried?

i plant mine in tubs (i have a very small garden) and put one of the childrens windmills in each tub. it seems to keep the birds off, but the squirrel doesn't seem too bothered by it!

Thanks Froglet, ingenius!! I will give it a go.

You could always try suspending one of those shiny wind-spinner type things underneath the basket, or hang it somewhere on the bracket behind the basket.  Apparently birds don't like shiny things (unless they are magpies!), and this keeps them away.  You could also try strips of tinfoil, or old tinfoil tart cases suspended between the baskets.  This is what I'll be trying when my strawberry runners eventually arrive.

Amazing what you can learn by being forced to watch CBeebies by your despotic sproglets!

Hi Amy i Use a Green netting and seems to work well as last the birds had a field day with my strawberrys not this year dow i,m glad to say as my little boy as been eating them.... but do you much about the Alpine Mignonette variety strawberry plants as iv been bought on and dont really know much about them in regards to reproduceing.... i know how to grow them its just i,m asken if you know how trhey reproduce is via side shoots or seeds if it,s seed when do i get them from the plant Thanks. The Rocket  

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Any good?

Brilliant - seems just right.