Are terracotta strawberry planters useful?

[Scott_R]

I have a surplus of strawberry seedlings (or whatever you call the young plants). I filled the rectangular planters I had and was going to go out for one or two more when I remembered I had one of those terracotta planters in the back of my basement--the ones that look like a vase with several levels of openings along the side.

I might not have set it up correctly, but I don't recall having much luck with one in the past. I'm not worried about aesthetics or saving space; how good are these things at growing strawberries compared to putting them into rectangular planters? (at a guesstimate mine are about 12"w x 36"L x 18"H )

 

[Kallie]

As long as you have a container I do not think it matters. A terra cotta planter? Never seed a hanging terra cotta basket - they are breakable after all. It sounds like it's a regular hanging basket - maybe plastic or metal - that you would put a coconut coir lining inside. You could give it a go - like I said as long as it has a home. Also remember that strawberries can be propagated to create new plants and they also send out runners to develp roots and new plants. I would suggest that you do some research on your strawberry variety so you can understand exactly what you are growing and the conditions required to grow.

 

[Greenhorn]

Preface..... mine never looked like the picture, more like the drawing. They were denser and neither the fruit stems nor leaf stems were as long. Maybe it was the kind I was using.

If it's something like below they work ok. Watering is not the best or easiest, the side pockets don't take water too well once the plant has a little size, same with the top and if only watering from the top then the top plant takes a lot of water disturbance, passes a lot of water. Some type of drip might help. The watering is one thing, if your going to fertilize it will have to be liquid also and it's tough to get granules or what ever in the pockets. Lastly the fruit does not like to get - be wet. It's not as attractive (as the top is empty and doesn't look nice and full) but what worked best was not planting in the top, only planting the sides. That makes watering and fertilizing easy. You got some extras starts and a pot, don't let them go to waste, go for it!

 

[Scott_R]

The tips I've seen for setting them up say to take a length of PVC pipe and drill multiple holes up an down the length, cap the bottom, then put this in the center of the planter before adding the soil; it should stick up out of the pot. You water by filling the pipe, which results in simple, even watering. Like this:

If I didn't already have the thing I'd just get a plain rectangular planter like I already have. But if the choice is to buy a rectangular planter or use the one I already have, the choice is less simple.

The following isn't my picture but it's more or less what I have (actually, I have two of them, small and large):

 

[Greenhorn]

That PVC idea looks really interesting. I guess others had the same issues I did. Cool