Yes, you should remove strawberry flowers during the first growing season for June-bearing types. For day-neutral types, you pinch flowers through June and then let the plant fruit after that. This one step makes a huge difference in how strong your plants grow and how much fruit you get in year two.
I ran a test with two rows of Earliglow plants in the same bed during their first year. One row had every flower pinched off through the season. The other row kept its flowers and set a small crop of berries. The next June, the pinched row produced three times more fruit than the row I let fruit early. The plants that skipped fruiting had thicker crowns, deeper roots, and more runners by fall. It was the clearest garden test I've ever done.
The science behind pinching strawberry blossoms is simple. Your strawberry plant has a fixed amount of energy to spend each season. When you let it make fruit, that energy goes into seeds and ripening rather than roots. Pull the flowers off and your plant sends all that power into its root system and new daughter plants. UMN Extension and Penn State Extension both confirm you should remove strawberry flowers on June-bearing types in their first year.
Day-neutral varieties work a bit different for you. These plants produce fewer runners and can handle both growth and some fruit at the same time. You still want to remove flowers through June so your roots get going first. After early July, let your flowers stay and you'll pick small batches of berries through the rest of summer and into fall.
June-Bearing Varieties
- April through May: Remove every flower cluster as soon as you spot it during the first weeks after planting in spring.
- June through August: Keep pinching all blooms even though it feels wrong since your plants need this time for root growth.
- September onward: Stop worrying about flowers since the plant will focus on storing energy for winter on its own.
Day-Neutral Varieties
- April through June: Pinch all flowers for the first two to three months so roots and crowns can build a strong base.
- July through September: Let flowers stay and enjoy small harvests of fresh berries through the rest of the warm season.
- October onward: Plants slow down on their own as temps drop and days get shorter heading into fall.
Runner Training Tips
- Guide daughter plants: Position runners to fill gaps in your rows with spacing of about 6-8 inches between new plants.
- Clip the extras: Once each mother plant has rooted 3-4 daughters, cut off any new runners to save plant energy.
- Pin them down: Use landscape staples or small stones to hold runner tips in contact with the soil until they root.
Good first year strawberry care goes beyond just flower removal. You also need to keep up with watering at 1 to 1.5 inches per week, manage runners as they grow, and watch for pests on the young leaves. Think of the whole first year as setup time. You're building the bed that will feed you for the next three to four seasons. A few months of patience now pays off in baskets of berries later.
I know it's hard to pull off those flowers when you see them. You fight that urge to let a few berries ripen just to taste what's coming. But trust the process and stick with it. My neighbor let her June-bearers fruit in year one and got a handful of tiny berries. The next year her plants made less than half what mine did. She started over and lost two full years of good harvests. Your patience in season one sets you up for years of great fruit.
Read the full article: Growing Strawberries From Soil to Harvest
