Wild Strawberries Not Thriving

Hi, I’m hoping someone can help me with my wild strawberries.

I seem to get flowers, then, a small berry starts to form… then nothing. The berry dries up and does not continue to grow or ripen.

I have been hand-pollinating by gently shaking the plant.

Can someone please help me figure out what I’m doing wrong? Do I need to do some pruning? Or pollinate a different way? Thank you!




Hey there
I took am experimenting with these strawberries. I had the same problem until I starting adding additional nutrients. I have tried a hydroponic grow mixture and additional fertilizer pellets under the pod. The berries did then go red but were so tiny. Not sure what stain of strawberry this is but I wish C&G would try something else to help with this

Hey @JessyChef ! :slight_smile:

First, it’s important to note the temperature and humidity around your garden. Wild Strawberries can tolerate 18 - 26 °C / 64 - 79 °F. Wild strawberries are meant to be small, but extra sweet and tasty once ready. Definitely try hand pollinating, for tomatoes it’s enough for a gentle shake but for strawberries try with a Q-tip or a make-up brush to gently transfer the pollen from flower to flower.

One thing that always helps is removing the older, longer leaves with stems. You can leave 5-10 leaves for one plant and it will grow more leaves from the middle part. This helps with better light conditions for all leaves and fruits. And you can boil tea from the leftover leaves, fresh or dried!

Also, check the float and water level, sometimes the float gets stuck and the water gets into the float and it doesn’t work correctly. This can lead to overwatering too, which strawberries don’t like at all.

If the plants are already grown too old the nutrients may be depleted and in this case adding nutrients will help them grow longer.