Have they been planted in the containers for awhile? Have they been used to this location? Have your temps changed much in the past week?

I don't have any answers but these questions come to mind. I just planted strawberries myself. I'm going to keep watching your post for advice from others too.

This actually happened to one pot of my strawberries today over the course of an hour. Maybe Phytophthora Crown Rot (see guide below)?

Mine were pots of Ozark Beauties from Gurney's that I planted last year and they lots their leaves suddenly before fruiting. The pots came back to life this spring and started bearing fruit (maybe a leaf disease, and not a crown disease, then?). I guess I probably need to throw them away. I'm glad the pots aren't near my strawberry beds (and that all my plants came from Nourse this year).

Here is a link that might be useful: 2006 Florida Plant Disease Management Guide: Strawberry

gardeningwithlcgrace: I only just planted them this season when they came into the nursery (so they've been in since late March, about. They've been in the same location the entire time. The temps have been about the same all week, although about a week and a half ago they were much cooler (about a 20 degree difference). But they have been fine up until today, when this happened. Hmm....

djofnelson: Thanks for the link... I will check it out. Mine are just starting to set fruit, so I hope I don't have something similar to what got your berries... yikes! Mine are Quinalt Everbearing strawberries- don't know if that variety has any different qualities to it.

Since I am new to gardening, I have been doing a lot of research to make sure I am doing things right... trying to use reputable sources, reading a lot, etc. etc. I knew strawberries were susceptible to some kinds of rot and wilt, but it just hit so suddenly that I was really surprised.

I hope someone can help. They were doing so well... =(

They are doing a lot worse this morning. Last night they seemed to perk up a bit, but I came outside- it's overcast a bit and about 68 this morning and they are almost all entirely drooping.

Based on the pics, something similar happened to me last fall.

I had planted these strawberry plants, I got from Jellyman, last summer. They did fine all through the heat of last year and threw out lots of runners. Then Fall came.

Everything was still fine then one day, I noticed the plants start to wilt. By then end of the week, it looked as if I was going to lose the patch and only a few of the plants were left. The ones that were left were in sorry condition. Then a week or so later, I started getting new growth from most all the roots.

I'd say about 80% of them came back, and came back strong. As of now, it looks like I'm going to get a bumper crop from those plants.

Back to your issue... I really don't know what to tell you, but to keep your head up and fingers crossed.

ilikewinter:

I'm not an expert on strawberries but since I empathize with you because of the care you've given your container plants, I'm going to hazard a GUESS.

Strawberries do not like sun and heat. Both strawberries and spinach like coolish weather rather than blazing sun. These are the very same two plants of yours that suffered in the heat which tends to corroborate that sun and/or heat may be the problem.

Spinach is known to bolt to seed when the weather heats up. It is considered to be a cool weather crop.

The fact that the damage happened during high 80s temperatures also tends to corroborate heat as the problem. If your weather cools down and the strawberry plants come back, this would also tend to corroborate heat as the culprit.

Also, your south facing balcony gets the hottest sun of all - the blazing afternoon shake and bake without the shake.

I'm in the L.A. area in Southern California. About 50 miles north of here the coastal communities of Oxnard and Camarillo are prime strawberry growing areas. Miles of strawberry fields. The reason is that the weather never gets too much above 85 F because the Pacific Ocean moderates the climate. Most of the spring time temperatures, which is the time of year when strawberries are grown there, are in the 60s and 70s. Fog and overcasty type weather fosters the strawberries. Other coastal areas that get hotter don't have the large strawberry operations. Oxnard and Camarillo are unique in this respect.

So some kind of simple shading device might help. 30% shade cloth simply fastened to and draped over your balcony railing would be simple and economic. You don't need much material. Old window screening (double layer) or muslin scraps might also work. You just want to tone down the direct sunlight.

On overcast or rainy days, you could just flip the half of the, say, shade cloth that covers the pot over to the other side (the outside) of the railing.

Also, from the wide shot picture, the direct sunlight hits the pots. This heats the pots and, in turn, the soil inside them which can burn the roots. There's a big difference between roots in the ground and roots in a container. Some of my black nursery pots got so hot in the summer that I could not touch them. Terra cotta color will heat up whether it is terra cotta clay or plastic.

After I discovered this the hard way, I spray painted my pots white. I used a spray can paint formulated for plastic from Home Depot. Haven't lost a plant since.

In lieu of painting the pots, you could just put skirts around the sides which receive direct sun rays in order to totally shade the pot itself.

I mention again that the foregoing is a guess.

Tony

=) Thanks Tony-- I was thinking it was the heat, but I had read so much that strawberries love sun, etc. etc. and they had done so well for a week in those high temps, that I was just really surprised when all of a sudden, in 3 hours, they were limp and dying. I think though, intuitively, that you are correct about the heat issue.

Anyway, I posted up in the Pests & Diseases forum just in case, and someone there (jean001) wrote up a list of things to check for. It turns out I have root rot which is something I am a little ticked off about. I bought potting soil that was supposed to be well-draining (which I guess can be one of the culprits), but it could have been present in the soil already (the root rot- disease?) or within the plants.

I have trimmed the roots and plants back and
re-planted in an organic soil amended with sand to help it drain better. A few of them seem to be coming back.

If it was only the heat, though (which I know now it wasn't just that, but it probably contributed a lot!), will the shade cloths help keep them cool, or just help them stay out of direct sunlight?

I don't think it's the heat. I have a strawberry patch that gets ZERO shade and they do just fine all year long.

Hmmm... now I'm confused! ha ha...

So crabjoe, sun all day, but how hot is it? Mine were doing great in full sun all day, esp. when temps were cooler, even good for a week in 80's (which felt more like 90's on my balcony), then they keeled over on a particularly hot day. I suppose it's just the root rot was exacerbated from the high temps and perhaps not that the plant itself was affected, if it had been healthy?

Also, what do you guys use for your soil mix for strawberries (or, if you plant them in the ground, do you amend your soils)?

Temps and full sun? Well, last summer temps were in the upper 80's and 90's for weeks on end. I didn't have a single problem with my strawberry plants. In fact, I planted them in the heat of the summer.

Soil mix... One patch is in clay, another is sandy loam and another is clay mixed with tons of compost.

I hate to say it, but my strawberry plants grow like weeds! I don't even fertilize them.

not a strawberry expert, but the heat aborted by a something planted in a hot on a flat surface might be much more than something planted in the field.

crabjoe- Don't rub it in! Ha ha- but true- when I was doing research, they said they loved heat and sun. I am from FL originally, and we grow tons of them down there (and goodness knows we have lots of heat and sun there). Do you know anything about root rot? Perhaps you could share some wisdom if you do.

phase0001 might have a point- since a lot of soil (like groundsoil) isn't there to insulate the roots, perhaps the container itself got too hot (terracotta plastic)? Hmmm. Anyhow- the one I planted back in some sandier soil a few days ago seemed to perk up. I cut back its roots and leaves (I may have mentioned this already). It looked better, so I decided to go ahead and do the same with the rest of the plants, except two, which have perked up on their own yesterday (overcast and rainy, 25-40 degrees cooler).

I have since repotted them in their own individual (but smaller) pots. I got new soil (MiracleGro organic) and amended with sand to help drainage. I trimmed the roots back to where they looked healthiest and also trimmed the leaves to compensate, so there are only a few leaves left on the plant (the healthiest and strongest). So far they seem to like this situation, although--- the weather is cool again, so who knows what is really going on here. It seems to be a mix between root rot and hot weather that did them in the first time. I did leave two in the original pot and did not trim at all, and they have perked right back up. I'll update -if I can remember- about their progress with these changes.