Crisped Strawberry Leaves

I have two strawberry plants growing in a corner of the yard at work. Before planting, I amended our sandy loam with compost, steer manure, and some garden soil.

The strawberry on the north side of the bed (first picture) seems to be burning. The edges of the leaves are browning. The strawberry on the south side of the bed (second picture) doesn't appear to be having that issue, but neither is it really thriving. I blame our incredibly poor soil. These will only last through the season (until we get a nice hard frost) but I'd like them to look healthy until then.

Is it just getting too much sun? I don't think it's a problem of too-little nutrients because the leaves look nice and healthy when they emerge, they just... get crispy. I don't know if something's munching on them, or if I need to find a way to... stick a parasol in the yard to help mitigate the sun?

What do you guys think?

See if the soil is properly moist throughout the root zone.

It may not be - tricky to tell in this dirt. I have a moisture meter that tells me it's downright wet at a depth of 2 inches, but when I dig a finger in there that's not what I feel.

Would you suggest more water?

If you are sure you won't be over watering them.

When you water, does the water soak right in? Or does it puddle on the soil surface?

If it soaks right in, then it is probably also draining away from the plant pretty fast, so more water could help.
If the water is puddling, then it is also not draining away from the plant, so the moisture meter is probably right.

You can test the moisture meter by setting up several pots of soil that are 1) dry, 2) watered a few days ago and 3) just watered (wait an hour or two for the water to soak into the soil, then the excess to drain away.)

Good plan - I will definitely test my meter out. We're on sandy loam, so it's difficult to tell, but if it's NOT a water deficiency, what would be causing the browning?

I have the same problem with my strawberry plants. They are in a 3-tier tower, and I have to soak it daily. No insects, but I constantly remove leaves with brown dry edges. At this time they are putting lots of runners.

If the water is OK, but not great, then it could be salt burn.

The term 'salt' applies to any of quite a few things, not just sodium chloride. Many fertilizers are in the form of salts. Salts can accumulate in the soil and make it difficult for the plant to pick up water. So you see the crisped edges, just as if the plant is lacking water.
Many manures tend to have this affect, too. Most easily understood when you find out that steer manure comes from feed lots, and the feed is salty.

The solution is to flood irrigate the plants to wash the salts away from the root area. Depending on the quality of the irrigation water this may need to be done only once a month )moderate quality water, some salt) to once a week (poor quality water).

Thank you Diana,

I watered the heck out of them yesterday, and they seem to have perked up a bit since then - but it could be salty soil (wouldn't surprise me overmuch given Colorado's tendency towards alkalinity).

I'll keep an eye on them and keep you posted.

Thanks from me too, Diana- I will try that today. I have been using MG liquid weekly, and maybe it got built up.

Miracle Gro is exactly the sort of fertilizer that could cause a salt burn if the watering is not adequate to keep it moving through the root zone.
I am not picking on Miracle Gro- most fertilizers can do this.
The fast release fertilizers are quick to accumulate, but also easy to wash out of the soil.