Help! My Strawberry Plant is going flat and idk why
#strawberry #newplantmom
I've been watering it about every week and checking the soil, i just took it inside because its supposed to get 80°f today. I put some coffee grounds and rainwater in its soil yesterday but today it looks even flatter... Idk what to do or whats wrong I'm pretty new to gardening.
I've been watering it about every week and checking the soil, i just took it inside because its supposed to get 80°f today. I put some coffee grounds and rainwater in its soil yesterday but today it looks even flatter... Idk what to do or whats wrong I'm pretty new to gardening.
12” pot with drainage
Last watered 2 years ago
9
@trinsky although coffee grounds has nitrogen that's good for strawberry plants, you need a balance of soil versus the coffee so it doesn't work as a suppressant.
Hi! The soil might be retaining too much water. Do you have a chopstick or a skewer you can push into the soil to the bottom? It won’t help today since you watered it yesterday, but for the future, you can use to to check before watering whether the soil it still wet. The roots don’t like to sit in wet soil and some soils hold more water than others, so while you’re watering on a reasonable schedule, the soil could just be over saturated. I would hold off on watering until it starts to perk up and make sure it’s in a location where it gets good light. If it continues to wilt, you may want to unpot to check the roots. If any are mushy you will need to treat for root rot, but that is fixable. I wouldn’t check yet, because strawberry plants don’t like to be disturbed too much, but if you don’t water for a week and it’s still looking flat, you might consider it. Use the chopstick test first, or you can even stick one up through the drainage hole to see how wet it comes out. It should only be damp if you watered yesterday. If it comes out really wet with soggy soil, it’s over saturated. If you have any questions please feel free to tag me 😊 and good luck!
Okay then, the opposite problem, give it a good, soaking watering. Water until it pours out of the bottom of the plant. It says you last watered 16 days ago? That may be too long depending where you are located and what the weather is like. Unfortunately over and under watering have similar symptoms! But if it’s not one, then it’s probably the other. Give it a good drink and it should perk up in a couple days.
It does look a little better. But we don’t want to encourage root rot by overwatering. Here’s a good article for general strawberry plant care. See if you’re missing anything that they are recommending. It could be a simple fix. https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-strawberry-plants-in-pots-1401968
If you have/did everything in the article, I would suggest just waiting it out a few more days. Sometimes, it takes plants a few days to bounce back. Once I repotted a rex begonia too soon, and it was limp and wilted for almost 2 weeks before it recovered! They can be dramatic lol. Some of your leaves are browning, I would cut those off so the plant can devote energy to new growth, but otherwise just wait a few more days and if it doesn’t perk up, lmk and I’ll troubleshoot with you 😊