Strawberries During the Winter

Straberry Varieties

• Although strawberry plants survive through winters, they don't produce fruit then. Strawberries enter dormancy throughout the winter season and only grow and produce new foliage and fruit in the spring. June-bearing strawberry plants bloom only once per season for three or fewer weeks, while day-neutral strawberry plants and everbearing plants produce fruit from spring through fall. For strawberries into the fall, choose a day-neutral or everbearing variety.

Cold Winters

• Strawberry plants not to survive the winter outdoors in the northern U.S., as temperature colder than 15 degrees damage strawberry plants. Mulching in regions where average temperatures dip below 40 degrees in the winter is beneficial. If strawberry plants fail to come back to life in the spring, treat the strawberry plants as annuals. They need replacing each year in spring when you plant the rest of your summer garden. Another option is growing strawberry plants in outdoor planters, which are moved inside during the winter months.

Indoors

• Grow the strawberry plants indoors. Choose an indoor location receiving at least six hours of daily sunlight, or the plants won't produce. A sunroom or indoor garden space is ideal. In the absence of six hours of sunlight, provide grow lamps.

Greenhouse

• If you have a greenhouse, it is the best place for strawberry plants. As long as the greenhouse stays at temperatures above 15 degrees throughout the winter, strawberry plants survive. In greenhouses in the northern U.S., heating may be required.