If you’re looking to start a new strawberry patch, bare-root plants are a great way to go. They’re cost-effective, easy to establish, and come in a much wider variety than potted strawberries do. You can also plant them earlier in the season, giving your garden a head start. Here’s your guide to planting bare-root strawberries for big yields.
How to plant bare-root strawberries
Step 1: Soak the roots.
Before planting, I like to separate the bundled bare-root plants and soak them in water to rehydrate them. This is an optional step, but I also use this time to add a little bit of liquid kelp (seaweed) to the water to give the plants a solid start in the garden.
Bare-root strawberry plants laid out on the soil in between drip tape
Strawberry bare roots soaking in a diluted kelp solution in a purple bucket
Kelp contains high levels of natural growth hormones (including cytokinins and auxins) that stimulate cell division for healthy root and shoot development. It also has an array of trace minerals (including, but not limited to, zinc, manganese, iron, and copper) that support photosynthesis and nutrient uptake. Kelp is fairly mild as far as supplements go, and it won’t burn the roots or overload your plants with too much of a good thing (when used at the proper dilution ratio)
All that to say: If you have access to liquid kelp (my favorite brands are below), it’s worth using it to give your bare-root plants a boost!
Soak the roots in a few inches of liquid kelp solution (following the recommended dilution on the bottle) for no more than 30 minutes. Try to keep the crowns above the solution so they’re less likely to rot. While the roots are soaking, prepare your planting site.
Step 2: Prepare the soil.
Select a spot in full sun—if grown in the shade, strawberries will produce little, if any, fruit.
They are fairly tolerant of most soil conditions as long as drainage is good. This is important!
When I purchased my strawberry bare roots, the farm recommended that the soil comprise:
60 percent topsoil
30 percent stone grit, such as coarse sand (not play sand), pumice, perlite, or pea gravel
10 percent compost
You’ll notice in this picture (with a newly planted crown) that my soil is pretty gritty. The top 6 inches of my raised strawberry bed is a loose mix consisting of topsoil, compost, pumice, and sand.
Close-up of a strawberry crown planted in gritty soil
Strawberry plants don’t like to sit in compacted soil that stays too wet, as it can lead to black root rot. So if your soil is on the heavier side, be sure to amend it with ingredients that’ll provide proper drainage.
Since you’ve already incorporated compost into the soil, there’s no need to add fertilizer at this point.
Step 3: Dig your holes at the right depth and spacing.
Your plant spacing will depend on the type of strawberry you have and what you want to get out of your garden. I’ve written about the ideal strawberry plant spacing, but in general:
Day-neutral strawberries should be planted 10 inches apart
Everbearers should be planted 12 inches apart
Junebearers should be planted 18 inches apart
You want to make the hole deep enough so that the roots hang straight, without bending one way or another. This prevents J-root, a condition in which the roots are too long for the planting hole and end up pointing upwards (looping into a “J”).
Some bare-root strawberries may have excessively long roots (up to 12 inches), but that doesn’t mean you have to dig a 12-inch-deep hole. You can trim the roots to about 6 inches to make them more manageable for planting.
It’s easiest to stick a trowel in the soil, then wiggle it back and forth to enlarge the hole. This creates a perfect narrow slot for the plant to slide into while its roots stay pointed down. Then, remove the trowel and backfill the hole with your hand.
Hand holding a bare-root strawberry as it's being planted in soil with a trowel
Step 4: Plant your strawberries.
Strawberries are fussy about being too deep or too shallow, so when planting, make sure that only the roots and the base of the crown (a short, brown, thickened stem above the root mass) are covered with soil.
Diagram showing the soil line where a strawberry crown should be planted
Pat the soil firmly to eliminate air pockets and ensure the roots have good contact with the soil, then water thoroughly. If the soil settles too much and the roots become exposed, cover them with more soil so they don’t dry out.
If needed, you can mulch the bed with a couple inches of clean straw to suppress weeds, though I usually wait until the plants start growing and I start watering more regularly.
If you planted your strawberries early and there’s still a chance of hard freezes, you can cover the bed with frost cloth or add a thin layer of straw over the crowns. (Just be sure to remove the straw once temperatures warm up and you see new leaves emerging from the crowns.)
Within two to three weeks, depending on weather, you should start to see new leaf growth. Continue watering as needed but be careful not to overwater during the season.
A newly planted strawberry crown with new spring growth
Once your plants are growing in nicely and starting to flower, add a thin layer of straw mulch (if you haven’t already) to keep strawberries off the soil.