I have some lovely alpine strawberries that are in their 2nd year. Last year, we got a few berries off of them, but because we were moving (these are in one of our containers), I'm pretty sure we missed most of the goodies until the birds had taken theirs.
This year, the two leftover from last year that I found all dessicated in the dirt, I took and rubbed and sprinkled the seeds around in the container, and we have TONS OF BABIES. (oh wait, that's the "how to propagate alpine strawberries thread. Sorry, I'll get back on topic now, but let me know if you want to know more about how to grow more of these beautiful and well-behaved plant--no runners, if you have the "real deal").
I have had berries and berries and more berries come up. They start to plump up. They're white, I'm thinking, any minute now, I'll see them begin to blush pink then red... then they shrivel and die. Right there on the vine. NOT slugs, I'm painfully familiar with slug damage on strawberry plants. Something is eating into them, something quite small (because the berries aren't any bigger than my thumbnail anyway) goes in at the top, near where the berry is attached to the vine. The hole that it leaves is maybe 2 mm wide? Really small. But goes in, eats enough to kill the entire berry, but doesn't even eat the rest of the berry. Kinda reminds me of what the hollyhock weevils do... Except that you can SEE the hollyhock weevils, and I can't see anything here. May be nocturnal. Earwig nymphs?
Any idea what is eating my berries or how to dissuade them? I haven't had a single strawberry yet! I prefer organic methods.