Thanks for stopping by. As you know, I’m a passionate gardener who loves growing food, especially fruit, and especially home-grown strawberries. One of the questions I get asked a lot is ‘Do strawberry plants come back every year?’ If you’re planting a strawberry patch in your garden beds or containers, this is a very important question. Strawberry plants aren’t cheap, and it’s also a lot of hard work to keep planting new things every year, so let’s go through what I’ve seen in my own garden, pull together some of the expert tips about growing strawberries, year after year.
Do Strawberry Plants Come Back Every Year?
I planted a small strawberry bed a couple of years ago, mixing a few popular varieties, including some June-bearing strawberries and a few day-neutral varieties for continuous picking. I selected a sunny spot, gave them well-drained soil, added lots of organic matter, and mulched with pine needles. I wanted delicious berries in early summer and for the rest of the year.
Now that their first year is long gone, I look at my plants and wonder, are these going to come back this year? And beyond?
The short answer is, yes, strawberry plants can come back every year, but there are a few exceptions to that.
So let me take you through what’s, what to expect each time, and how you can maximise their crop each year.
What Happens in the Year
When you plant young plants, which are often bare-root plants or potted new plants, in early spring, the idea is to give them a strong start. You’ll want to give your plants the best chance.
So I suggest putting them in a place which gets full sun, I’d say around 6–8 hours, at least, per day. You’ll want well-draining soil which is rich in organic matter. You can prepare the soil beforehand by digging in some compost.
Strawberry plants tend to prefer a slightly acidic soil. A pH of around 5.5–6.5 is perfect.
When you place your plants, you’ll want to space them about 12-18 inches apart so they can settle and grow without crowding each other.
If you are planting bare-root plants, I would set the crown so it is at the soil surface level, neither buried nor exposed.
During your plant’s first growing season, the energy of the plant is largely going into establishing roots, forming a strong crown, producing leaves and runners (depending on variety). You may find that you get a small crop in year one, but it can be a good idea to remove or reduce the first set of flower buds so the plant builds strength for next year. That way, the following year gives you a bigger harvest.
So, essentially, in year one, you’re laying the foundation for the plant to thrive. The plant is alive, growing, and becoming established, but you shouldn’t expect lots of strawberries yet.
Late Summer into Dormancy
As the plants finish their fruiting cycle, for example, if you planted June-bearing strawberries, they will have produced their main crop in early summer, and they’ll switch gears after this.
After they have fruited, they may send out runners. Runners are those horizontal stems that root into new daughter plants. Later, as the days get shorter and the outside and soil temperatures drop, the plants begin to enter a kind of dormant state.
The crown of the plant has laid down flower buds for next spring, and the leaves may flatten. You’ll find that growth slows, the plant prepares for winter.
In colder climates, it may be a good idea to cover your strawberry plants with mulch. You could use straw, shredded leaves or pine needles. You can do this after the first frost or when the soil is frozen. This will protect them. I’m down in the South East of England, and our winters don’t tend to be too harsh. Our strawberry plants bounce back quite well each year.
Year Two
Year two is where the magic happens. You’ll find that in early spring of the following year, your plants will come back. The crown lifts new young leaves, flower buds begin to swell, and then you’ll get blossoms, followed by fruit in early summer. Or, if you’ve planted day-neutral varieties, you might find they fruit continuously most of the year. Because the roots and crown were established last year, the plant tends to do better in the second year.
Are Strawberry Plants Perennials?
This is actually how strawberry plants come back year after year. In fact, they are technically herbaceous perennial plants (non-woody plants that live more than two years), which means they are not for one year only.
So, answering the question ‘Are strawberry plants perennials?’ The answer is yes. They are herbaceous perennial plants.
So in my garden, when late winter comes and goes, I get excited. I know that if the crowns are healthy, I can look forward to a good fruiting season and lots of delicious strawberries.
How Many Years Can Strawberry Plants Last?
Here’s the thing: while they can come back, they don’t keep their top productivity forever. You’ll find that most of the expert gardeners out there agree that strawberry plants have a productive life of somewhere around 3-6 years. You’ll find that after a few years, the amount of berries you’ll get will reduce, and the size of the fruit will also get smaller. You may even find that your strawberry plants become more prone to disease and stress.
Although strawberry plants should spring back to life every single year, you should think of them as short-lived perennials because their fruit production decreases as they age. June-bearing varieties can produce well for up to six years, but for best results, everbearing or day-neutral types are usually replaced every couple of years.
In my own garden, I’ve seen that in the third year, some of the berries are smaller and fewer than in year two. So even though the plants are coming back, I plan to replace some of the plants this spring with newer ones, which will give me a better harvest in a couple of years.
Why Do Strawberry Plants Age?
If you’ve wondered why your plants get older and need replacing, here are some of the things that can age them.
The crown may rise over time above the soil surface, exposing it to cold or drying winds. This can often happen in winter, and it can damage your plants.
It’s also a problem with older plants that soil-borne diseases build up in the bed, for example, fungal diseases or viruses, which can reduce their likelihood of producing a big harvest. The longer plants remain in the same bed, the more likely they are to become infected.
Producing fruit and runners takes a lot of energy out of the plants. Once peak production is past, your plant may struggle to maintain large fruit size and many runners.
You’ll also find that extreme cold, starvation of nutrients, poor drainage, or excessive heat, particularly in warmer climates, can shorten your plants’ lives. If you live in a hot climate, you may wish to treat your strawberries like annuals rather than long-lived perennials.
So yes, you can have a strawberry patch that returns year after year, but you’ll likely need to intervene by replacing plants after a few years if you want the best fruit year in, year out.
My Top Tips
Since I’ve grown strawberries for a number of seasons now, let me share what I’ve found works to maximise the chances your plants will come back, and produce well for several years.
Choose The Right Variety
Know your types of strawberries. There are June-bearing strawberries, which have one large crop, typically in early summer. There are everbearing strawberries, which have two smaller crops, and day-neutral varieties which produce strawberries more continuously, generally over summer and into autumn.
If you want longevity, some June-bearing varieties may last more years than everbearing/day-neutral ones. But you’ll need to care for them to ensure a longer life span.
Planting and Establishing
You’ll want to plant in early spring, or in late winter if your soil is workable, so the roots of your plant can establish fully before the first fruiting. You’ll find that using bare-root plants will help. When you are planting your strawberries, you should incorporate plenty of organic matter, either compost or well-rotted manure, into your bed. This will help to improve your soil fertility, drainage and overall structure.
You’ll also want to ensure the crowns are at the soil surface, not buried, and the soil surface is free of heavy mulch until your plants are established.
You’ll find that mulching with a thin layer of straw, pine needles or shredded leaves once your plant is established will help retain moisture, suppress weeds and protect your precious fruit.
If you have the capacity, you could install drip irrigation, which will allow you to maintain a consistent water level without overwatering. This is great for early summer when fruit is getting bigger.
Year After Year Care
After your main harvest, for June-bearers, you should tend to your strawberry patch. Remove any weeds and cut back leaves without hurting the crown. You may wish to still fertilise after fruiting, as this will help your runners.
I’d suggest, in late winter, if you’ve mulched or covered, you should remove this so your new leaves can grow. This is a good time to remove dead leaves.
You could move your plants if they’ve become overcrowded. It’s important to keep good air circulation between plants and avoid crowding.
If you have had a problem with disease in your plants, you might want to move your plants to another bed, to give them a chance with new soil.
When To Replace Your Plants
Even with the best care, I expect my strawberry bed to give top yields for maybe 2-4 seasons. If in years 3-4 the fruit size has shrunk and your harvest drops, it might be time to get some new plants.
You may also find that the leaves look tired or that disease is creeping in. This is the time to plan to bring in new plants, or propagate young new daughter plants from your runners and retire older plants.
Also, if you’re growing in containers or very cold climates where winters are harsh, you may treat strawberries more like annuals and plant fresh plants every other year.
Do Strawberry Plants Come Back Every Year?
In short: Yes, strawberry plants can and often do come back every year. If you’ve planted them in the best growing conditions, cared for them through the dormant season, and looked after them throughout the whole year, they will come back every year. They are herbaceous perennial plants, meaning non-woody plants that live more than two years, and many home growers will enjoy at least two or three (or possibly even more) productive harvest seasons from a well-managed strawberry patch.
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You will find that they will not last forever like some woody shrubs or trees. Their greatest harvests will be achieved in years one and two after they have established themselves. It’s quite likely that by year three or beyond, you’ll see your yield declining. It’s a good idea after this period to either replace them altogether or supplement the bed by transplanting younger daughter plants.
So the phrase ‘come back every year’ is mostly true, but with the realistic fact that if you want them to produce bountiful harvests, it might be worth replacing them after a few years.
