Strawberry plants with dainty flowers, lush green leaves, and vivid red stems do not remain pretty forever.
Even in our climate, there will be a season for fruiting and dormancy.
In dormancy, they rest but will not attain full dormancy as plants with winter.
Our observation regarding winter in tropical strawberries post.
What happened after the fruiting stage end?
We were very lucky in 2015.
Not only did we managed to germinate strawberry seeds and grow many plants to study them.
We also enjoyed the fruits of our labor.
Now an opportunity to study the full cycle of these plants in a tropical climate.
We have other questions as well.
For example, how many cycles of fruits can we harvest before the plants die in our tropical climate?
What we have observed from our plants –
The red strawberry variety was a large plant, measuring more than 30cm from top to roots.
The minimum soil depth is 6 inches.
More browning leaves after 4 months of harvest.
This window is dependent on the strawberry varieties as well.
The stems will lose its vivid red color.
More flowers will not turn into fruits.
In hot weather, plants will droop.
They suffered heat stress more often.
Check out for signs of stress in temperamental plants post.
Even with successful pollination, the fruits are of poor quality.
No color on the stem when they lose energy.
Some plants did not recover, including our first strawberry plant above.
A schedule of care and maintenance is needed to keep the plants well in dormancy to recover for the next fruiting window.
In addition, what were the challenges in our tropical weather for this stage?
Our workshop curriculum covers this system of care.
After resting for 3 to 4 months, strawberry plants will exit dormancy to flower again.
The size of fruits remained small.
The stem indicates its readiness with vivid red.
DISCLAIMER –
Please note, the above information is for seeds grown Alpine strawberries based on my own experience and observations.
They may not apply to nurseries bought strawberries.