Cut back the leaves shading the fruit. You should also be able to add a stick to upright the fruit stalks to get more sun.

I agree cut some of the foliage back.

Hi Dave,

I might be wrong, but I'm sure that removing leaves will have the opposite effect. I don't think that direct sun on the fruit causes ripening but the complicated process of the suns rays being absorbed by the leaves which is turned into energy to make the plant and fruit grow. So removing some of the "photo-receptors" will restrict the amount of sunlight that will be absorbed. Also I would think that the fruit being shaded from hot sun would be beneficial as it would stop the strawberries drying out on the plant.

However, I have heard that peach farmers in the tropics take nearly all the leaves off the trees to ripen the peaches earlier. Apparently this kids the tree into thinking that winters coming and they start to ripen quicker. I've also heard that fig growers in temperate zones do this to get the figs to ripen before the winter comes and ruins them.

I might try a bit of an experiment on this... Grow some strawberry plants, take varying amounts of leaves off some plants and leave some to grow "un-pruned". It will be interesting to see what happens.

Mmmm! You may be right there, wonder if anyone else will come back on that one Dave? :o))

I cut the leaves off mine every autumn, as it keeps the Strawberries youthful. The roots provide moisture to the fruits and the sun ripens the natural sugars. You do not cut off all the leaves in summer, just the 1-2 offending ones.