Bare Root Strawberries: When and How to Plant Them

By the Garden Voila editorial team · Updated October 28, 2026 · How we verify

Bare-root strawberry plants look like a bundle of dead sticks, and that is exactly how they should arrive. They are dormant, cheap, available in large numbers and, planted correctly, they establish quickly and fruit well. This guide covers when to plant bare-root strawberries, how to prepare and plant them, the single mistake that kills most of them, which planting system suits each type, and how to care for, renovate and protect the bed through the seasons so it keeps producing for years.

Choose the right type

University of Maryland Extension’s guide to growing strawberries in the home garden lists Annapolis, Allstar, Earliglow and Jewel as June-bearing choices (noting Jewel is prone to verticillium wilt) and Seascape, Tribute and Tristar as day-neutral choices. Ask your local nursery or extension office which varieties do best in your region, because disease resistance and winter hardiness vary a lot.

When to plant bare-root strawberries

Plant bare-root strawberries in spring as soon as the soil can be worked, usually a few weeks before your last frost. The University of Illinois Extension advises planting once the ground can be prepared and avoiding wet soil, with March or April best in Illinois, and it recommends setting plants in cloudy weather or in late afternoon or evening to reduce stress. University of Maryland Extension says to plant outdoors in March or early April once the soil starts to warm, and notes bare-root plants can be ordered in January for March delivery. In mild climates, fall planting also works. Use frost dates by ZIP code to time it for your area.

Handling plants when they arrive

Open the package right away. Keep plants cool and slightly moist until planting, and never let the roots dry out. If you cannot plant within a day or two, store them in the refrigerator, wrapped in damp paper, or heel them into a trench of moist soil. Plants that are kept too warm in the box can start growing, which weakens them. Discard any plants with rotten, mushy crowns or a sour smell.

Site and soil

• Sun: at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sun a day.
• Soil: well-drained and rich in organic matter, with a pH of about 5.5 to 6.8. Strawberry roots are shallow and dislike soggy soil.
• Raised beds are ideal in heavy soil. University of Maryland Extension suggests a raised bed at least 12 inches high if drainage is slow. Estimate fill with our guide on how much soil for a raised bed.
• Avoid crop history: do not plant where tomatoes, peppers, potatoes or eggplant grew recently, because they share verticillium wilt and other soil diseases. Illinois Extension gives the same advice.
• Weed first: remove perennial weeds and grass before planting, because they are very hard to remove from an established strawberry bed.

How to plant bare-root strawberries

1. Soak the roots in water for 20 to 60 minutes before planting.
2. Trim long roots to about 4 to 6 inches if needed.
3. Dig a hole deep enough for the roots to hang straight down, not bent or curled.
4. Set the crown at the soil surface. This is the key step. The crown is the thick part where roots meet leaves. Planted too deep, it rots, and planted too shallow, the roots dry out. The crown should be level with the soil.
5. Firm the soil, then water well. Illinois Extension suggests about a pint of water per plant at planting.
6. Mulch lightly with clean straw once plants are growing.

Spacing and planting systems

The best spacing depends on the type and on the system you choose. Both extension services describe the same basic systems:

• Matted row (June-bearing): space plants 18 to 30 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart, and let runners fill in, keeping the row no wider than about 2 feet. This is the easiest system, and it gives the biggest total crop.
• Spaced row: keep daughter plants at least 4 inches apart, or limit runners to a few per mother plant. This takes more care but can give larger berries.
• Hill system: remove all runners and set plants about 1 foot apart in groups of rows with walkways between. Maryland suggests June-bearers 1 foot apart in all directions in this system, and day-neutral plants only 5 to 9 inches apart.

The plant spacing calculator can plan the layout for your bed.

First-year care

The first season is for roots and runners, not berries. Pinch off all flower stems from newly set June-bearing plants during the first summer so they put energy into roots and runners. Day-neutral and everbearing plants need flowers removed only for the first month or so. Water about an inch a week during the growing season, using the garden watering calculator, and cultivate shallowly every week or ten days to keep weeds down without damaging shallow roots. Runners and daughter plants typically appear within four to five weeks, and you can guide them into place with a bit of soil or a bent wire pin.

Feeding strawberries

Strawberries need modest fertilizer. Maryland Extension suggests fertilizing lightly at planting with a complete N-P-K fertilizer, then feeding June-bearers after harvest and day-neutral plants monthly from May through September. Illinois Extension warns against over-fertilizing and against feeding in the spring of a fruiting year, because too much nitrogen gives soft berries and leafy plants. Always follow the label rate and the advice of a local soil test.

Mulching and winter protection

Straw keeps berries clean, suppresses weeds and protects the crowns. Illinois Extension recommends 3 to 4 inches of clean, seed-free straw applied after several fall frosts, before temperatures drop below 20°F. In spring, pull back part of the straw once the soil holds at about 40°F for several days, and tuck the rest between rows. A floating row cover helps protect flowers from frost, but remove it before bloom so bees can pollinate. Use our mulch calculator to work out how much material you need.

Renovating an established bed

A well-managed patch can crop for two to four years or more. After harvest, June-bearing beds are renovated. Illinois Extension recommends mowing the foliage to about an inch above the crowns, removing debris, narrowing rows to 6 to 12 inches, thinning plants that are closer than 4 to 6 inches and watering thoroughly. Maryland Extension notes that June-bearing beds decline after three or four years because of disease and crowding, so replace or renew the bed then, and replace container plantings about every three years.

Diseases and pests

• Gray mold: fuzzy gray rot on berries in wet weather. Space plants well, mulch with straw and pick often. See gray mold (Botrytis).
• Leaf spot and anthracnose fruit rot: remove old leaves at renovation and avoid overhead watering late in the day.
• Verticillium wilt: avoid sites where tomatoes or potatoes grew.
• Spotted-wing drosophila: tiny fruit flies that lay eggs in ripening berries. See spotted-wing drosophila.
• Slugs, birds and squirrels: net the bed, and use barriers for slugs. See garden snails and slugs.
• Tarnished plant bugs and sap beetles: cause misshapen or damaged fruit. Remove overripe fruit promptly.

Harvest

Harvest typically starts about five weeks after bloom and runs about three weeks for June-bearers. Leave berries on the plant for a day or two after they turn fully red so they develop full sweetness, then pick every other day. Pinch the stem above the berry rather than pulling the fruit. The first berries are the largest, and each later set is smaller. Low bee activity, frost, pests and disease all cause misshapen fruit, so welcome pollinators.

Protecting blossoms from spring frost

Strawberry flowers are very frost-sensitive, and an early bloom can be lost in a single cold night. Watch the forecast once plants begin to flower. Illinois Extension notes that spun-bonded fabric (floating row cover) protects to roughly 23 to 25°F, while commercial growers use overhead irrigation that starts when plant-level temperatures reach about 34°F and continues until all the ice has melted the next morning. For a home bed, the simplest approach is to keep a light row cover or a layer of loose straw ready, and to cover the plants in the evening when a frost is forecast. Remove the cover in the morning when temperatures rise so bees can reach the flowers. If you cannot cover the bed, picking open flowers and fruitlets that were frosted is a small price compared with losing the plants, since the crowns usually survive and produce a smaller second flush.

Growing strawberries in containers and towers

Day-neutral and everbearing types do well in containers, hanging baskets and strawberry towers. Use a pot at least 8 to 10 inches wide and deep per plant, with good drainage and a quality potting mix, and expect to water daily in hot weather because pots dry quickly. Feed with a diluted liquid fertilizer every few weeks during the season. Containers freeze more easily than ground beds, so in cold climates move pots into an unheated garage or bury them, or mulch them heavily, over winter. Replace container plants about every three years, and keep a second young batch coming along so the harvest does not stop.

A simple strawberry calendar

• Late winter: prepare the bed, order plants and test the soil pH.
• Early spring: plant bare-root crowns at soil level, water in and pinch off early flowers on new plants.
• Late spring: mulch with straw, water weekly and guide runners into place.
• Early summer: harvest established June-bearers every other day for about three weeks, and net the bed against birds.
• After harvest: renovate June-bearing beds by mowing, thinning and feeding.
• Late summer: allow runners to root to renew the bed, and keep watering.
• Fall: clean up leaves and weeds, and apply straw after several hard frosts.

Troubleshooting

• Plants arrive with no leaves: this is normal for dormant bare-root plants. Look for white, healthy roots.
• Plants rot after planting: the crown was probably buried or the soil is too wet.
• Few berries: first-year flower removal, frost at bloom, too much shade or too little pollination are the usual causes.
• Small, hard berries: crowded plants or not enough water.
• Berries rot before ripening: wet weather and gray mold. Mulch, space plants and pick promptly.
• Plants dwindle after a few years: the bed is overdue for renovation or replacement.

Want more fruit? Our guide to growing fruit trees at home compares options by climate and space.

Frequently asked questions

Reviewed October 2026. Timing varies by region.