Overwintering green-leaved potted strawberry plants

Question

I have a healthy, fruit-producing 'Elan' strawberry plant that created six runner plants this year. It's now November and I want to overwinter all seven pots. I plan to put them in the cellar (we live in a flat in Bavaria, Germany). I have read online that I should wait until the temperature has dropped to around freezing for several nights in a row before I move them to the cellar. However, nowhere can I find out if the leaves should still be green or not.

It's now about 0°C outside, but my plant still has mostly green leaves and even some fruit buds, and I don't want to kill it by moving it to somewhere with no light.

So, my question is, when overwintering potted strawberries in a cellar/garage, is it OK to move them when the leaves are still mostly green?

Answer 1

Here in Canada where strawberries overwinter completely frozen for months between fall and spring the leaves left at the end of the year are stripped off before the mulch of straw is applied. The reason for this is that as some of the most vulnerable tissues on the plant they are susceptible to fungal infection and if left on the crown they can carry over disease from one year to the next. If your storage is above zero for an extended period the leaves, if left on, might just rot off anyway in the dark.

The main goal is to produce a sturdy crown with a deep and healthy root system capable of producing new green leaves early in the following spring. It may seem like you are helping the plant get started the following year by leaving leaves attached but they are best snipped off and disposed of. Keep the plants in storage as consistently cool, as cold, as you can; I have heard of people storing pots in a deep box of dry peat but cannot speak to its effectiveness, but it seems like good insulation that would even out fluctuations in temperature.