What Your Strawberries Need in August – 5 Quick Tasks For Bonus Fruit and Free New Plants

Two different plant events are underway in the strawberry bed this month. June-bearers like Jewel or Sparkle wrapped up weeks back and have now shifted into leaf and runner production. Meanwhile, Everbearing varieties like Fort Laramie and day-neutral stars like Seascape or Albion are actively ripening and setting a second heavy flush of sweet berries.

Whichever type of plant you are growing, this is a pivotal month in the strawberry lifecycle. Your strawbs need care and attention in August (just not all necessarily the exact same attention). Fortunately, none of this is tricky or time consuming: the tasks that matter for growing strawberry plants in late summer are very short ones. And they will help you to seize a bonus late-summer crop, as well as a generous extra harvest next year.

Several things you do now will reward you twice: once with fruit this season, and once in crown size for plants that will come back next spring (as well as new plants you can start for free). Containers run on a tighter schedule, as they dry out faster. They also run short of nutrients sooner, so a couple of these jobs matter more for strawbs in pots than in open ground. So take steps now to safeguard this year’s plants, and you will reap the benefits many times over.

Boost Your Strawberries in August

Depending on plant type, next spring's crop is being decided right now, out of sight underground. June-bearers are short-day plants. Once daylength slips under roughly 14 hours, they start laying down the flower buds that open next spring. Soil moisture matters enormously through that stretch, and so does a steady nutrient supply. Drought stress in late August can result in a thin crop the following spring. Nothing about the process is visible from above, either. The leaves look much the same in September as they did in July, and the difference only registers the following year.

Soil temperature is the other complication. Strawberry roots occupy the top 6 inches (15cm) of soil, which happens to be the layer that swings the hardest in August. Bare ground dries out fast up near the surface. Container-based strawberries also struggle. With a black plastic pot in the afternoon sun, fine feeder roots could cook against the sides. This month’s essential strawberry care is about buffering that top layer and keeping plants nourished while they build up new buds.

Strawberry roots tend to develop in the top 6 inches (15cm) of soil. In USDA hardiness zones 3-10, late summer heat can bake this layer. If soil temperatures soar above 85°F (29°C), it can halt nutrient uptake, so moisture and mulching are vital. That said, things might be moist an inch or so down, and you can’t always tell by looking at the top. So before jumping into these tasks, check soil moisture at the root levels. Use a reliable moisture probe like the easy XLUX Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon, which gives instant results and will prevent unnecessary mistakes.

If you suspect your container mix has settled or compacted under heavy summer irrigation, it’s also worth giving it a light topdressing or repotting with some fresh, well-draining potting mix, like Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix, which is currently 30% off at Walmart. Then you’re ready to get stuck into these quick tasks. All of this adds up to one unhurried afternoon of work, and the return lands twice: in the berries still ripening now, and in the crops developing underground for next year.

1. Pin Down or Trim Runners

The future of your strawberry runners is one of the big decision points of the month. Every long stem snaking out from a mother plant carries a daughter at its node. Each one of these either becomes free stock or a drain on the parent. For June-bearing varieties, propagating strawberry plants from healthy mothers is the premier way to renovate an aging bed without spending a dime. To securely anchor the plantlets, press the node against the soil with landscape staples or clips. Supports like the Noraling Strawberry Support Clips from Amazon are firm, without damaging fragile runners, and encourage independent roots to form quickly.

Give these runners 4-6 weeks still attached to the mother. Roots should form in this window, and you can then transplant the babies into new rows or pots. After that the connection can be cut. However, for everbearing and day-neutral varieties actively producing fruit right now, allowing runners to grow unrestricted can strip sugars away from developing berries, reducing your late-summer yield. It’s best to just remove these now, using clean cuts with snips or scissors.

2. Shift to Deep Morning Soakings

How and when you water strawberries can catch people out this month. Strawberries need 1-1.5 inches (2.5-4cm) of water a week. But two long soakings are better than a daily splash. Shallow watering holds roots near the surface. In August that top layer is the hottest, driest part of the whole bed. So water deeply to push moisture down into the cooler root zone. Water at the base, not over the top. Wet foliage in warm still air can leave plants vulnerable to diseases like leaf spot and gray mold. Morning beats evening for the same reason.

However, plants in containers and hanging baskets need something more frequent. To check if plants need a drink, either use your soil moisture probe or push a finger around 2 inches (5cm) into the potting mix. For container planters and tier baskets that require elevated airflow and root drainage, use simple pot risers to ensure that plants don’t end up sitting in water, as drainage is still important. Budget-friendly Dedara Plant Pot Risers from Walmart slide under and keep them healthy.Deep morning watering prevents leaf scorch and keeps any berries disease-free.

3. Switch to a High Potassium Feed

Feeding splits by strawberry type this month, so you need to adjust your fertilizing method accordingly. Plants still cropping do best on a potassium-heavy liquid feed every week or two. That covers day-neutrals and everbearers, plus anything growing in a pot. To deliver a potassium boost to fruiting everbearers on a budget, try a gentle boost of seaweed tonic such as Bloom City’s Organic Liquid Seaweed and Kelp Fertilizer from Walmart. You can also add a diluted tomato feed, but use sparingly.

June-bearing plants wrapping up their season require a different approach. They are building next year's buds instead of berries. A balanced, gentle organic feed can help them to build sturdy crowns, without pushing sappy, soft foliage that might succumb to early autumn frosts. Topdress around these plants with some bone meal. Down to Earth Organic Fish Bone Meal from Amazon is a reliable source of calcium and phosphorus, and a little goes a long way. Whichever feed you choose, add to soil that has been watered well.

4. Refresh Mulch to Protect Roots

Whatever mulch you laid in spring has probably either broken down or blown away. A fresh 2-3 inch (5-8cm) layer of wheat straw mulch can work wonders, as soil temperatures start to drop. Adding straw layers such as CleanStraw Natural Pure Straw Mulch from Walmart gives protection that still allows for natural airflow, without packing the way shredded bark can. Tuck clean, loose straw under ripening berry trusses, keeping the mulch pulled back an inch away from the central plant crown to prevent crown rot.

Clean straw can also help to elevate low-hanging berry clusters off damp soil, eliminating rot and keeping fruit clean for harvesting. However, if you have berries developing in containers near the ground, you can also keep fruits safe by using elevated supports. Use Rooted Promise Store’s Strawberry Supports from Amazon which have an easy snap-on design and help fruits ripen away from pests and other problems.

5. Thin Out Crowded Plants

Crowding can turn a productive strawberry bed into a disappointing one. Plants sitting closer than 4-6 inches (10-15cm) will start to compete for light and water. This is a good time to thin out strawberries by pulling out the weakest ones. Any mother plant that has held its spot for 3-4 years can go, too. Older crowns lose productivity sharply. Old leaves can come off at the same time. Anything yellowed or spotted belongs in the bin instead of the compost heap. Aim for rows no wider than 18 inches (45cm), which puts every plant within reach from one side. A June-bearing bed thinned this way will develop noticeably better fruit the following season.

Once you have made your final harvests of the season, renovation is another option. This means mowing old foliage down to roughly an inch (2.5cm) above the crowns, then narrowing the rows. The window for this is the couple of weeks right after the final picking. Handled at this point, plants have time to rebuild a canopy before bud formation begins. Northern gardens where harvest ran into late July can still pull it off. Beds that are 3 or more years old get the clearest benefit. Where the last berries came off in June, you should thin by hand instead. Rake the cut foliage off the bed rather than leaving it down, as old leaves can carry disease.

Strawberry Care Essentials

Keeping your strawberry patch thriving, disease-free, and bursting with sweet berries requires only a few simple soil extras, organic feeds, and protective ingredients. This trio of top formulas can help you to round off your August strawberry care with confidence, building the foundations for next year’s growth and this year’s babies.

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