An expert gardener has shared his top tip for ensuring that strawberry plants yield tastier berries and also thrive during the summer months
A gardening guru has revealed an unexpected tip for those growing strawberries – snip off the first blooms to encourage fuller berries and a stronger plant. It may seem counterintuitive, but there’s sound reasoning behind this advice.
As May and the spring season draw to a close, it’s essential to plant your strawberry seedlings in preparation for the forthcoming berry season. To help gardeners produce the finest strawberries and foster a healthy plant, gardening fan Ish, known as Gardening with Ish on social media, imparted his top tip for achieving the best berries and robust plant health – and it’s likely not what you’d expect.
Ish took to TikTok to showcase the technique using two pots of strawberry plants, instructing his audience to pluck the first strawberry flowers of the year.
“Today in the garden, if you’re looking for amazing strawberries this year then get rid of… strawberries,” he declared at the beginning of his TikTok video.
He went on to detail the rationale behind the tip: “Now it may sound a little bit mad to cut away the one thing you’re trying to grow, but there is a little bit of science behind it. If you’re starting to get your first flower on your strawberries, that’s great, but it’s not focusing the energy on the leaves and root development.”
He further explained that removing the early strawberry flowers can actually be advantageous. But how should one go about trimming these blossoms?
“When it comes to pinching out the flower, that’s not rocket science either,” Ish clarified. “Simply take your two fingers and just push firmly on the stem and off it comes. You can also use secateurs as well. I like to do it at the base of the stem, not to waste any energy.
“And by doing that at the start of the growth, you focus more energy on root development on your plant, and the leaves too, which is particularly great for things like Everbearers because they produce fruit all the way from June ’til September. So the more it can get, the happier the fruit will be.”
But strawberries aren’t the only plants you can use this technique on.
“Pineberries, the white strawberries, will also do really well by getting that first flower gone,”Ish shared. “And as a result, from June onwards, expect a much more happier, healthier, bushier plant and also better fruit too.”
However, some viewers were skeptical that removing flowers could result in a bigger berry yield and posed their questions in the comments section.
One viewer asked: “Sorry if this is dim but do you pinch the literal first flower and allow the others to develop or all of them when you see them coming out? how long do you need to get rid of them for?”.
Responding to this, Ish assured: “Not dim at all! Just the first set of flowers (sometimes they’re a bunch) and you’ll see buds when they’re there!”.
Another said: “First blossom appeared today – reluctant to pinch it off though! that particular plant has had very enthusiastic growth in just 5 weeks”.
But a different person complained: “I did this last year ended up with no strawberries,” to which Ish responded suggesting that the action might have been taken too late in the season.
