Wondering how to take care of strawberry plants after harvest? Fall is the season when your plants prepare for next year’s crop, and the steps you take now can make all the difference. Read on to learn about caring for strawberries in fall so your next harvest is the best one yet.
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When growing strawberries, most of the attention goes to spring planting and summer picking, but fall is just as important for the long-term health of your plants. Once fruiting has finished, strawberries need to recover, store energy, and prepare for winter. Without a little seasonal maintenance, plants can become weak, diseased, or far less productive next year.
Following these simple steps for fall strawberry care is a surefire way to make next year's harvest better than ever. Continue reading to learn exactly how to rejuvenate, feed, and protect strawberry plants throughout the colder months, including a simple reference chart to help you time your tasks by USDA hardiness zone.
Watch exactly how I rejuvenate my strawberry plants in the video below:
Step 1: Clean Up After Fruiting
Strawberries put a lot of energy into producing fruit. After harvest, the plants are often crowded with runners, weeds, and old leaves. This may seem obvious, but clearing out debris is an important step. The spent strawberry plants need room to send out their runners and daughter plants.
Pulling weeds also helps you see where plants may be crowded or weakened. Also clear away old mulch, dead leaves, and old runners - plant debris tends to compact over time, especially with rain or snow over the winter months, suffocating the crowns and leading to rot.
Step 2: Renovate June-Bearing Strawberry Plants
Renovation - cutting back the current season's growth after fruiting -tidies up the bed, reduces disease and pest pressure, keeps the crowns healthy, and prepares them for fruiting next year. Strawberry plants form their fruiting buds in the fall (typically September to October). Pruning away this year's growth encourages the crowns to send out not only new growth, but runners and new daughter plants.
Renovation only applies to June-bearing strawberries. These varieties bear one flush of berries in the late spring or early summer, then they're done for the year. Everbearing and day-neutral strawberries fruit over a longer period of time. They still require some fall maintenance (we'll discuss this later in the article), but not as much as June bearers.
Begin this process about two weeks after the last fruit harvest. Depending on your location, this could be any time from mid June to August. "June-bearing strawberries" is a bit of a misnomer, as they can fruit as early as March in warm climates (such as where I live in zone 8B East Texas) or as late as July.
Curious about any garden-related terms? Click on a highlighted word in the text, or visit The Fruit Grove Glossary to find out more.
Trim foliage:
Mow or clip leaves to about 2 inches above the crown, being careful not to damage it. For most home gardeners, this is best done by hand with clippers. If you have longer rows of strawberries, run them over with a lawn mower set to the highest setting.
Thin plants:
Look for where there is crowding, and remove weaker plants. Thin out remaining crowns so they are about 4 to 6 inches apart. If you see signs of disease, don’t compost the foliage or old plants—bag and discard it instead.
Neaten rows:
If needed, pull or mow plants that are outside of the row or bed. This is less of an issue if you're growing in raised beds, but keeping in-ground beds narrow (about 2 feet) makes harvesting easier and simplifies irrigation and fertilizing/amending.
Step 3: Fertilize for Next Year’s Growth
By the time the harvest is over, your plants have used up a lot of nutrients. Fertilizing in fall replenishes the soil and helps crowns and roots strengthen before dormancy, setting the stage for a healthy crop next spring.
Feed the Soil First
Before reaching for the bag of fertilizer, address the soil first. One of the best things you can do for fewer disease and pest problems, a better harvest, and easier maintenance is to keep the plants strong. Refreshing the soil provides a nourishing growing environment for your strawberries.
Every fall, add about an inch of good-quality compost around your newly renovated crowns. If you have time, I highly recommend doing a soil test to determine exactly what nutrients your soil is lacking. Use a simple test kit like this one (less accurate, but still helpful), or use a mail-in soil testing service such as MySoil (this is what I use - simply send in a sample get customized recommendations for amending your soil).
I also amend my strawberry bed with blood meal for a source of organic nitrogen, and bone meal for phosphorus and calcium.
When & How to Fertilize
- Fertilize immediately after renovation pruning to encourage new growth and better fruiting next spring.
- If you have sandy soil, split the fertilizer application in half. Apply half now, and half in 4 to 6 weeks. I typically add compost, blood meal, and bone meal right after cutting back the plants, then I use a slow-release organic fertilizer about a month later.
- Use a slow-release, preferably organic fertilizer formulated for berries (or one that has a balanced N-P-K ratio or has more nitrogen than the other nutrients). I recommend this True Organic Berry Food (5-4-4). The plants need nitrogen to encourage new leafy growth, and phosphorus and potassium will help with root development and overall plant health.
- Follow the package instructions to determine the right amount of fertilizer. One 4-pound bag of the True Organic Berry Food covers 58 square feet.
- Make sure fertilization is done at least four weeks before your first average frost date so the new growth can harden off without damage.
Step 3: Mulch and Protect Through Winter
Strawberry crowns are sensitive to cold and temperature swings. Without protection, winter freezes and thaws can heave them out of the soil or damage roots. Mulching is the best way to protect strawberry plants from cold damage.
What Mulch is Best for Strawberries?
Use a lightweight, natural mulch material that won't compact too much over the winter. My favorite strawberry mulch is pine straw, which is very breathable, doesn't compact too much, and is reusable because it's slow to break down. Plus, pine needles are free if you can collect it yourself (if you don't have pine trees, befriend someone who does). You can also get it here.
Another common option is straw. Be sure to get something that's free of weed seeds, or you'll spend all your time picking out rogue weeds. Straw is a great lightweight option, although it can compact or get waterlogged with heavy snow or rainfall.
Avoid mulching with fallen leaves or grass clippings, which will compact quickly, get slimy, and suffocate strawberry crowns.
When and How to Mulch
- Wait until the ground begins to freeze before mulching, usually when temperatures drop consistently into the 20s °F. Those in warmer climates can mulch strawberry plants when temperatures stay in the 30s or 40s, or may not need to mulch at all.
- Avoid mulching too soon, which can lead to rot, or can keep the plants from hardening off (leading to more cold damage). Mulching too late could damage the crowns.
- Apply 3–6 inches of mulch over the bed, leaving a little space right around each plant.
- In spring, remove the mulch after the danger of frost has passed, or when you start to notice new growth.
- For extra cold protection, cover strawberry beds with row covers. Just beware that keeping a row cover on too long could lead the plants to come out of dormancy early, leaving them susceptible to late frosts.
Fall Care for Different Strawberry Types
There are three categories of strawberries, with June-bearing being the most common. June-bearing strawberries bear fruit in one large wave in late spring or early summer. Everbearing strawberries fruit twice in one season, once in late spring, and again in late summer or early fall. Day-neutral strawberries are a variation of everbearing types, and they fruit more or less continuously throughout the summer (although they slow down in hotter weather).
Fall maintenance differs depending on what type you are growing:
June-Bearing Strawberries
- Require full renovation with mowing or trimming, followed by fertilization (see above).
- Fall is the best time to plant new June-bearing strawberry beds, as cooler temperatures allow the plants to establish strong roots before spring.
Everbearing and Day-Neutral Strawberries
- Don’t need heavy renovation in fall—just trim dead foliage and keep beds clean. In colder climates, wait to trim plants until late winter to protect the crowns from frost damage.
- Don't fertilize in the fall. Instead, fertilize a little at a time once a month, starting when spring growth appears. Continue through August (especially if you have sandy soil).
- Apply light mulch for winter protection.
Container Strawberries
- Move pots to sheltered spots once the plants are dormant (after first frost) or insulate them with straw, burlap, or frost blankets.
- Container plants dry out quickly, so check soil moisture even in winter.
Fall Strawberry Care by USDA Zone
Timing your fall strawberry care depends on your region. This chart is a starting point, although timing can vary depending on the strawberry varieties, individual microclimates, and even on that year's weather. Use it as a quick reference:
| ZONE | RENOVATE & FERTILIZE | MULCH/WINTER PROTECTION | NOTES |
| 3–4 (Upper Midwest, Northern Plains, New England) | Early August | Early–Mid November | Extra protection (row covers) may be needed |
| 5 (Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Northern Rockies) | Mid–August | Mid-Late November | Extra protection (row covers) may be needed |
| 6 (Mid-South, Lower Midwest, Mid-Atlantic) | Late August | Late November/Early December | Mulch 3-4", and beware of late freezes |
| 7 (Southwest, Southern Plains, Pacific Northwest) | Early September | December–January | Mulch 3-4", and beware of late freezes |
| 8 (Deep South, Coastal Pacific, North & East Texas) | Mid September | December-January, but rarely needed | Renovation is essential to reduce disease and pest pressure |
| 9-10 (Florida, Gulf Coast, Southern California) | September–October | Rarely needed | Often grown as annuals; focus on cleanup and replanting |
