The miniature, sweet fruits of indigenous Fragaria virginiana are delicious, and all other parts of the wild strawberry plant also have served Americans well over the centuries. An ancient ancestor of modern cultivated strawberries, the plant frequently manifests itself to home gardeners as a hard and pernicious pestcontrol. Also called Virginia strawberry, this prolific, hard-to-kill plant is frequently regarded as a weed and thrives in most parts of North America. Although wild strawberry is a tough customer, it is possible to defeat it using persistence.
Pull up and destroy any wild strawberry crops you find. The younger the weed, the easier it is to pull and much less likely it is to have developed a strong system of runners. Underground stolons may be many feet long and root at the nodes. Use a hand trowel to eliminate as much root and stolon stuff as possible. You will probably have to repeat this again, possibly for quite a very long moment.
Spray individual wild strawberry plants using glyphosate or family white vinegar. Wet all surfaces of the weed generously. Assess for weed destruction two days afterwards. Reapply if necessary. The best time to take care of these weeds with postemergent herbicides is whether they are at the flowering stage or just before.
Dip a cloth into the herbicide in the event the wild strawberry is at close proximity to desirable plants. Wipe all the bud’s surfaces generously using the stuff. This approach allows you to take care of one bud one of your desirable plants.
Dig up desirable perennial plants at the strawberry-infested place, and relocate them to a temporary holding website. Choose a glyphosate product devised to be inactive in soil. Apply the material to the gardening place each of the packaging instructions. Wait at least a week, and then check to make certain the wild strawberry crops are dead. Re-treat if necessary.
Consult the packaging instructions for the duration of time to wait between chemical program and safe return of desirable plants to the area. This may be as few as 24 hours or as long as 10 days. Return the perennials to their original planting site.
Apply a 3- to 4-inch deep layer of mulch to desirable plants and ground covers to deter wild strawberry reinfestation.
Treat gardening places with a preemergent herbicide early in the spring immediately after the last predicted frost for your area. You have to do this before any weeds begin germinating.