The plants I transplanted last fall (very widely spaced) when I thinned have huge berries just starting to show color and haven't runnered. The ones I left in the old bed and thought I'd thinned sufficiently (I also went back through a couple of months ago when I took the mulch off and pulled out any that looked diseased) have filled in again, I can't believe how much, and starting to get small berries none tunring yet and lots of flowers. Is it too late to thin for size, will I lose more in production than I make up in size? I was going to thin again if necessary checking for disease just to let in some air and light but don't know how many to take out.

Once the first berry on a plant has formed, will it grow bigger if I remove neighboring plants, or not? I have to check to see how many plants even have berries but I did see some.

How often and how severely are you supposed to thin strawberries? I planted these in 2012, very sparsely, was glad to see they were vigorous in 2013 and got berries though they seemed small compared to storebought (they were about a foot apart), thinned them in the fall as they spread after harvest but OMG they spread over winter, thinned again but once they got new leaves these past 2 months they seem to have spread again and i know I'm going to have to be brutal thinning them next month. But are you supposed to thin 2-3 times per year? I thought it was once!