Growing strawberries at home can be a good way to cut grocery bills and enjoy fruit that often tastes sweeter than many store-bought options. But Kevin Espiritu, founder of Epic Gardening (@epicgardening), says getting bigger, juicier berries may actually start with removing parts of the plant before it begins producing fruit.
In a recent Instagram reel, Espiritu shared two pruning tips that he said can help strawberry plants direct more energy toward producing better berries later in the season.
What's happening?
The short clip highlighted a simple gardening tip: strawberry plants need plenty of leaves before they can grow lots of flowers and fruit.
According to Espiritu, the leaves do the work of capturing sunlight, providing the energy the plant later uses to make blossoms and then berries. However, when blooms show up before that leaf growth is established, the result can be undersized strawberries.
For that reason, the creator said they pinch off the first flowers of the season. They said they also cut away runners, the stems that can root and form new strawberry plants, so resources are not diverted from berry development.
Why does it matter?
Growing your own food can help lower produce costs, especially when grocery prices feel unpredictable, and many people say homegrown fruit tastes better than what they find in stores.
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Strawberries can be frustrating when a plant appears healthy but produces tiny, sour, or sparse berries.
By removing the first flowers and runners, growers may give the plant time to strengthen itself before it spends energy on fruit production or starting new plants.
Gardening can also support mental health by reducing stress and offering light physical activity that gets people outdoors and moving. Even a small garden patch or container setup can make fresh food more accessible at home.
What can I do?
For home growers, that means watching for blossoms that appear before the plant has filled out with enough leaves. Pinching off some of those early flowers may help the plant focus on becoming more established first.
Although runners can be used to start additional strawberry plants, cutting them off can keep the parent plant from shifting energy into spreading. That can make sense if your priority is getting better berries from the plants already in place.
As Espiritu put it, they've used these tips "to produce juicy strawberries year after year."
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