Should You Plant Strawberries in the Ground or a Pot? Experts Settle the Debate

If you have a passion for strawberries, maybe you’ve daydreamed about cultivating your own berries right in your garden.

One of the fundamental queries for newcomers revolves around

where

To cultivate the plants. Cultivating strawberries in containers like whiskey barrels or hanging baskets is gaining popularity, yet how does this approach stack up against traditional ground-level cultivation? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques? Is there a decisive element that can guide your decision-making process when choosing between these methods?

This piece will address those queries and prepare you to cultivate your very own strawberries for the first time.

Meet the Experts

• 
  Amy Enfield
  
  , Ph.D., serves as a Senior Content Editor and horticulturist at Scotts Miracle-Gro.
• 
  Faith Redcay
  
  works as a horticulturist at Longwood Gardens.
• 
  Dylan Sedmak
  
  serves as the Vegetable Portfolio Manager for PanAmerican Seed.

Is It Preferable to Cultivate Strawberries in the Soil or in Containers?

It’s preferable to cultivate strawberries directly in the soil if your primary objective is harvesting plenty of tasty berries from your garden. Nonetheless, should you reside in an area that experiences excessively high or low temperatures which hinder effective strawberry growth, you may want to explore alternative options.
cultivating strawberries in pots
The advantage ofcontainer-grown plants lies in their portability, allowing you to rearrange them based on your requirements. For instance:

• If you live above
  USDA hardiness zone
  3, cultivating strawberries in containers lets you fight off the chill. If the temperature drops too low, move the pots inside to an unheated area within your home.
• If your area falls under zone 8 or lower, it might be too warm for cultivating strawberries. However, should you opt to cultivate them in pots, you can shift these containers to shadier areas during the hotter part of the day when heat waves occur.
• If you reside in the northern region, you might face an opposing issue: insufficient sunlight. Strawberries cultivated in containers can be relocated to ensure the plants receive adequate light for optimal growth. According to Dylan Sedmak, who serves as the Vegetable Portfolio Manager at PanAmerican Seed, “Strawberries thrive when exposed to ample sunshine and kept moderately moistened. When planted in shaded areas, these berries tend to yield less produce and become more susceptible to leaf ailments like powdery mildew.”

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Does It Really Matter?

Nevertheless, the substantial space available for cultivating berries when planting them directly in the soil typically leads to larger yields of strawberries. Thus, indeed, this distinction significantly impacts your harvesting outcomes.
cultivate the plants within a container
or in the ground.

Another alternative to think about is cultivating strawberries across multiple locations.
large raised beds
.

“Planting strawberries directly into the ground or using raised beds enables them to grow expansive root networks and propagate through runners, which ultimately results in increased harvests over time,” explains Amy Enfield, Ph.D., who serves as the Senior Content Editor at ScottsMiracle-Gro.

Getting enough planting area with raised beds might be too expensive. If you possess adequate gardening space, cultivating strawberries directly in the soil typically proves more economical.

Faith Redcay, a horticulturist from Longwood Gardens, states that strawberry plants cultivated directly in soil have the opportunity to achieve their maximum growth. She notes that most strawberries thrive as perennials in USDA Zones 3-8 and can cover extensive ground over just a few growing seasons due to rapid spread through runners known as stolons.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Containers Versus Ground Planting

Therefore, ideally, it’s preferable to cultivate strawberries directly in the soil. However, should you encounter suboptimal conditions and end up raising them in containers, remember this: both approaches come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages (aside from those previously mentioned). Here are some points to ponder.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cultivating Strawberries in Pots

Pros

:

1. As Redcay points out, one prominent advantage is the ability to cultivate a garden on a patio or balcony even when there isn’t an available plot of land for planting.
2. Enfield points out another advantage: “Using containers makes the harvest process significantly simpler (particularly for your back.)”

Cons

:

1. According to Redcay, container plants need more frequent watering compared to those planted in the ground.
2. Redcay mentioned that you might have to repot the growing strawberry plant into a bigger container as it gets larger.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cultivating Strawberries in the Soil

Pros

:

1. Strawberry plants planted directly into the ground will require less frequent fertilization compared to those grown in containers.
2. Redcay mentions that an in-ground strawberry patch can enhance the aesthetics of a property as well. She explains, “By trimming and directing the stolons several times throughout the year, you can neatly arrange strawberries into rows.” According to her, these plants form attractive edges and lines in residential gardens while yielding plentiful, tasty berries.

Cons

:

1. Wild animals can more easily access strawberries that are grown on the ground.
2. Tending to trained strawberries can occasionally be quite time-intensive, particularly when dealing with a sizable area, as noted by Redcay.

Read the original article on
The Spruce