Why Are My Strawberries So Small?

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Growing your own strawberries is magical: tending the small strawberry plants or runners, watching your strawberry trees bloom, and eventually producing fruits. But what happens when the work you put into your strawberry garden doesn’t pay off?

Picture this: instead of getting the sweet, plump, juicy strawberry fruits similar to those at the grocery store, you’re left with tiny, underwhelming strawberries. This is understandably frustrating and can deter you from strawberry growing.

However, don’t give up just yet because this guide explores the potential causes and solutions for small strawberries.

Why Are My Strawberries So Small?

1. Insufficient watering

You should know that strawberry plants resent dry soil, so ensure the soil doesn’t completely dry out if you hope to harvest big, robust strawberries. Insufficient watering could be why your strawberries are shriveled, dry, and tiny.

Strawberries need a steady moisture supply, especially during fruiting. These fruits are about 90% water, so they cannot develop fully if the plants are deprived. In addition, water is essential for photosynthesis and nutrient absorption.

When your strawberry plants don’t get enough water, they will show signs of stress, like the leaves wilting or yellowing. The soil around the plants could also dry and crack.

Solution

If possible, set up a drip irrigation system or soaker hoses. This will ensure your strawberry plants are always hydrated. Alternatively, water your plants consistently, regularly, and deeply, aiming for about 1 to 1.5 inches of water.

Also, increase the frequency of watering during drought spells or in hotter climates. Moreover, help your strawberry plants retain moisture and minimize evaporation by applying leaf or straw mulch around them.

Note

Remember that overwatering can be as detrimental to your strawberry plants as underwatering. Excess water dilutes the sugars, leaving you with bland, watery fruits. It also limits nutrient uptake, making the fruits underdeveloped.

Therefore, ensure your garden has proper drainage. Also, do away with sprinklers in favor of a soaker hose or drip irrigation.

Read More:

• Can Dogs Eat Strawberries?
• How To Grow Strawberries In Containers
• Why Are My Strawberries Sour?

2. Overcrowding

Your strawberry plants will produce small fruits if other plants crowd their space. Weeds are typically the primary cause of overcrowding but not the only reason. Strawberry plants can overrun the space through their runners.

Overcrowding causes stiff competition among plants for vital resources, causing poor nutrient uptake in strawberry plants.

Solution

• When planting your strawberries, make sure each plant has sufficient space to grow and spread. Space out the plants around 10-12 inches apart.
• If your strawberry garden is already crowded, sacrifice some plants to accommodate others. You could remove less productive, weaker, and older plants. Strawberry plants’ peak fruiting years are the first 3-4 years.
• Trim runners regularly to ensure your strawberry patch doesn’t get too dense. In addition, remove dead leaves.
• Ensure your strawberry patch is free of weeds by regularly weeding the area. Consider using mulch as well since it suppresses weeds.

3. Pollination Issues

Although strawberry flowers are self-fertile and hence can pollinate themselves, they still need the help of external pollinators for optimal fruit production. If pollinators don’t visit your strawberry flowers enough times, it could lead to the production of tiny, mishappen berries.

So, poor pollination is an issue, but what causes it?

• Lack of flowering plants or safe environments for pollinators.
• Heavy rains, strong winds, and cold spells make pollinators less active.
• Use of pesticides.

Solution

• Surround your strawberry patch with flowering plants that attract pollinators. These include wildflowers, marigolds, yarrow, lavender, nasturtium, and sunflowers.
• Use pesticides judiciously and consider safer alternatives to protect pollinators and subsequently encourage optimum pollination.
• You can also buy native bees and release them into your garden.
• In severe cases, hand-pollinate the strawberry flowers. Brush the inside of every flower with a tiny paintbrush to transfer pollen from one open flower to another. Do this every 2 to 3 days.

4. Improper Fertilization

Balance is key when fertilizing strawberry plants. You must avoid overfertilizing, underfertilizing, or using the wrong fertilizer on them, as that could lead to low fruit production, poor plant performance, and small fruits.

If you fertilize your strawberry plants with too much nitrogen, you will likely end up with green, lush plants with many leaves and runners but fewer, smaller fruits. Also, the plants won’t have enough energy to produce healthy, big strawberries if deprived of essential nutrients.

In addition, applying the wrong fertilizer inhibits growth and development.

Solution

Use balanced fertilizers on your strawberries to ensure even nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium distribution. If you prefer a natural approach, choose organic fertilizers such as bone meal, compost, and fish emulsion.

Fertilize your strawberries in early spring. This will ensure your plants have sufficient nutrients to grow strong roots and healthy foliage.

5. Pests and Diseases

Despite being resilient, strawberry plants aren’t immune to pests as well as fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases. Diseases and pest invasion could stunt your strawberries’ growth and make the fruits small since the plants will focus their energy on warding off these invaders.

Strawberry plants plagued by diseases and pests are often weak and produce poor, unhealthy yields. Bacterial or fungal diseases that damage roots and stems result in tiny or deformed fruits. Also, any parasitic infection that damages foliage or stems, sucks sap, or feeds on the fruits result in tiny strawberries.

Strawberry plants attract various pests, including aphids, spider mites, root weevils, spittlebugs, and slugs. The lygus bug is a major enemy that feeds on strawberry flowers’ pistils. An infestation by these pests causes small, undeveloped strawberry fruits with hard tips.

As for diseases, common culprits include leaf spot, mildew, verticillium wilt, botrytis fruit rot, and red stele.

Solution

You can eradicate diseases and pests if you catch them early. Therefore, keep a close eye on your strawberry patches (inspect them regularly, looking out for tell-tale signs of visible pests, wilted and yellowing leaves, poor fruit development, and stunted growth).

Solutions for pest infestations include handpicking, natural predators, neem oil, sticky traps, diatomaceous earth, companion planting, and insecticidal soaps.

On the other hand, the appropriate treatments for diseases depend on the type. For instance, you can combat fungal infections with organic or chemical fungicides.

You should also trim the infected parts to stop the disease from spreading. In addition, minimize soil-borne diseases by practicing crop rotation (don’t plant your strawberries in the same spot year after year).

Note

Destroy strawberry plants with viral diseases because most of these infections can’t be treated.

6. Not Pruning Your Strawberry Plants

Letting your strawberry plants grow wild can significantly impact your plants’ health and the fruits’ size and quality. While seeing your strawberry plants develop runners may be nice, the downside is that they take away from the parent plant.

Pruning ensures your strawberry plants focus their energy on developing strong, healthy fruiting stems and leaves.

Solution

Prune your strawberry plants regularly (remove runners and old leaves). You can remove runners altogether or keep 2-3 per plant.

Prune June-bearing strawberries after the last harvest. As for everbearing and day-neutral strawberries, you can remove the older leaves anytime. Aside from after a harvest, you should prune your strawberry trees in spring.

7. Inadequate Sunlight

The more sunlight your strawberry plants get, the better for fruit production and overall health. A daily sunlight exposure lasting at least 6 hours is vital. When deprived of adequate sunlight, these sun-loving plants struggle to develop large, delicious fruits; instead, they produce small, less flavorful fruits.

Solution

• Plant your strawberries in sunny spots. Avoid shady areas, even partially shaded ones.
• Prune shrubs and trees that are blocking your plants from getting sunlight.
• Grow your strawberries in containers and place them in places exposed to most sun. This way, moving them around will be easier.

8. Aging

As your strawberry plants age, their productivity declines, especially if you let them retain their runners. Old strawberry plants have fewer, smaller, less flavorful fruits. Aging also renders these plants more vulnerable to diseases.

Solution

Replace your strawberry plants every 3-4 years to maintain excellent fruit production. Rotate where you plant your strawberries to avoid disease buildup and soil depletion. Moreover, add organic matter to the soil before planting.

Consider growing your strawberries as annual or biennial plants.

9. Strawberry Variety

Perhaps your strawberries are small because of the variety you planted. Some strawberry varieties are genetically wired to produce small fruits. For instance, Alpine strawberries produce small but intensely flavorful berries, which is why these varieties are usually grown for their ornamental appeal and unique taste instead of fruit size.

Also, if you grow June-bearing strawberries, expect smaller fruits during their first-year flush. Plucking the flowers of your first-year June-Bearing strawberries is advisable to encourage bigger, more abundant fruiting in the second year.

Solution

Grow strawberry varieties that produce large fruits. Examples include Honeoye, Ozark Beauty, Sweet Charlie, Earliglow, Sweet Kiss, and Seascape.

Furthermore, ensure the variety you pick suits your region’s climate. For example, June-bearing strawberries thrive in warmer areas, while day-neutral strawberries do better in cooler temperatures.

Final Remarks

With a little investigating, tending, and strategies, you will get your strawberry patch thriving and yielding large, tasty berries. Always plan before planting strawberries. This will ensure you do it correctly and under the right conditions. Remember, you can still enjoy your small strawberries; just ensure they are disease-free.

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