Over a year ago I planted a healthy strawberry plant from a local market, into my vegetable garden where it grew for many months, only to suddenly die around early spring. This was my first attempt at growing strawberries in the tropics. When I pulled it up I found what I thought at the time to be fungus attached to its roots, so I assumed the wet climate to be the problem. I later had a lot of pot plants (various herbs) on the verandah suddenly wilt and die. Close examination identified root mealy bug to be the problem here. So I thought that may have been what happened to the strawberries.

A friend later gave me a heap of strawberries that she had divided. I planted these in various places around the garden, judiciously avoiding the vege patch to prevent a repeat performance whether it be fungus or root mealy bug. These too, struggled then died. I put this down to the hot climate as I was given the plants in the hotter months.

Around March this year my friend gave me another heap of her divided strawberries. I chose a protected aspect, prepared the soil, mulched them heavily, made sure they had good drainage and kept them sufficiently watered to assist them re-establish in their new environment. They all died in a matter of weeks.

I had just about given up on strawberries, then last Saturday I saw one small punnet in a local nursery and decided to give them one more try. The nursery attendant assured me that people do manage to grow strawberries here. I brought the punnet home and sat it on the kitchen window sill so I could carefully watch it until I had time to plant it. The plants were very healthy, a bright green with lots of new growth forming. The following day I gave them a little water as I noticed the soil was drying out. I was being careful not to overwater and cause fungal diseases or rot, nor to underwater and stress the plants. The punnet has been kept on the kitchen window sill since Saturday, away from all other plants. On Monday I noticed the outer edges of the leaves of one plant turning a dark brown. Yesterday (Wednesday) I noticed this plant withering at the growth centre. This morning it is just about dead. The leaves of another plant in the punnet are beginning to turn brown at the edges and I can see the warning signs of withering starting again. The only thing that ALL the strawberry plants have had in common is our water supply.

We are on bore water and on acid-sulphate soils. I know that our water supply is acidic and high in copper - it leaves a blue-green stain on just about everything. (Garlic turns blue in cooking if it comes in contact with our tap water! It can really put you off eating.) So I am wondering if this is the cause. Any advice would be appreciated.

If your water supply is acidic, you could be right about this affecting the strawberries. Maybe they are susceptible to changes in pH.

Perhaps a rainwater tank might be the way to go.

Its an interesting problem.

I have just put some strawberries in my vege garden, today, I hope I fair better. The only problems I have had with strawberries in the past, is a bluetongue lizard eating them all. But I didn't mind, I used to like seeing him in the garden.

Popi

I grow strawberries galore here! They grow in a patch which only sees 3-4 hours of sun a day, and in a heavy loam soil that doesn't drain well. They don't seem to mind though, and neither does the blue tongue! (yes, have one of those too, excellent snail and slug eradiacator). I also grow strawberries in a pot, which do very well with the added bonus that the fruit doesn't rot on the ground.

Mind you its been so dry here since we moved down from the north 8 years ago maybe that's why I have not spotted any.

I actually find it interesting that someone mentioned the water being an issue... I had to give up work about 8 months after moving in here due to ill health with my thyroid and other illnesses that I just can't seem to kick... my partner is also always generally unwell... We are in a flat so tanks are not possible... does anyone know of a way to get the drinking water tested???

Thanks so much for all your advice in advance...

I have a local irrigation company as I live in an agricultural district in north Queensland and we don't have town water. To get the water tested I provide a water sample to them and they have a local university perform the tests. There is a fee (of around $40 up here) for the service.

To find a service provider, check the yellow pages under irrigation, ask at a hardware and plumbing supply store, or call a university direct. If all else fails check with the Total Environment Centre in Sydney, they will be able to advise or have the water tested for you.

For the sample buy a sterile container from a chemist (the kind doctors use for urine samples). Collect the tap water sample in the morning after allowing the tap to flow for several minutes to clear any water that has settled in the house pipes overnight. Fill the container and deliver it for testing as soon as possible.

Incidentally, I tried one last attempt at strawberries a few weeks ago. I was with a friend who bought several strawberry punnets at the Mitre 10 store, so I thought I'd buy 1 only and see what happened. I decided not to put the plants in the ground, but keep them in a pot where I could carefully watch them and control their environment to a degree. I was going to buy potting mix to plant them in, to avoid using local soil or compost. All previous strawberry disasters had been planted in various locations in the garden. This was to be a controlled experiment in survival. I sat the strawberry punnet on my verandah it looked healthy for a couple of days, then when the soil dried I gave it 1 cup of tap water from my kitchen. The next morning the plants were shrivelled and brown. Within another day or so they were completely dead. The only variable between the shop and my verandah was the water supply. It was still in the pot and soil it had arrived in from the shop. I carefully inspected it. There were no insect or other pest attacks. My friend's strawberries, which we planted in her garden, are thriving, flowering and fruiting. (She lives in the township, 27kms north of where I live). I think my water supply is poisoned. A little research has identified that local crop dusters spray the cane with atrozine (a broadleaf herbicide - it kills the weeds growing among the cane). I have a close up photo of a crop duster flying over the roof of my house, and of spray drift wafting towards our houses after the plane emerged from the cane fields around us (there are 5 of us in the street). Consequently, my neighbour's pawpaw tree shrivelled up and died within a week or so. (Atrozine is lethal to pawpaws). Each year at around the same time (when they spray the cane before harvest) my brunsfelsia withers, leaves drop off, and flowers fall. I throw buckets of water over it in an attempt to dilute the herbicide, and by the wet season it has somehow managed to overcome this set back and survives yet another year. I still have to devise some contraption to detach the downpipe leading to the watertank to divert the first water from the roof so I'm not washing spray drift from the roof of my house into the water, otherwise I'm watering the vegepatch with herbicide!

So I have a choice of using the bore water or the rainwater tank. Isn't that what you call a catch 22 situation?