What's happening to my strawberries?

[frdnicholas]

I've been trying to grow strawberries for years and every time one starts to ripen, the tip does what's seen in this picture. Eventually whatever is happening, spreads to the rest of the fruit. How can I address this so that I might actually get a strawberry? Thank you. Oh, I'm in Southeast Coastal Georgia.

 

[YumYum]

The strawberries I grew great and looked great all year long up until the point of harvesting a berry then either they would get anthracnose or a bug would eat on them. Kept it de-weeded which was a ton of work. I even tried hanging containers and potting mix which stopped the bugs mostly but anthracnose still continued. I just quit trying to grow strawberries.

 

[Meadowlark]

I agree with @YumYum that growing strawberries isn't worth the effort required.

However, I wonder if your problem is somewhat akin to blossom end rot on tomatoes and other plants. I find the addition of Epsom salts cures this problem and wonder if it wouldn't do the same on your strawberries.

I would try it...if I was growing strawberries, which I'm not.

 

[Tetters]

When working in the strawberry fields many years ago, I learned that the strawberries had most damage from excess watering. At that time they were all grown in the ground on top of beds of straw (very often to our dismay along with stinging nettles) Wet summers often resulted in a washout for the crops. These days, the farmers who grow them plant them on beds on top of trestles with huge poly tunnel covers just over the trestles to keep the rain off. Fruit is just about the main kind of crop in our corner of the UK. Kent boasts hops, apples, pears, cherries and currants, gooseberries and of course strawberries.