I have a few questions about wild strawberries, as they are just starting to flower in the forest around my property. The first is if there is any way to help them along. Is there anything that I can do in the more promising patches to help the fruit develop well? Is there a way to discourage deer and other animals from eating them all before I can get to them, or before they ripen? Secondly, I'd like to know how long it takes for the fruit to develop after the initial appearance of the flower. In several patches I am seeing more flower development than ever before (we are having a very strange season so far in Maine). I'd like to have an idea of how often I should check on the plants, in various parts of the property, to make sure I don't miss ripe fruit. J.
Not too long after flowering, really - a couple weeks, maybe a touch more (provided you get a rain in there along with a fair bit of sunshine). The other factor is how heavy the forest cover is. I don't think there's too much you can do to encourage them. Hopefully, you aren't in an area where the bee decline is significant, otherwise you might get a lot of flowers, but no fruit.
