Too late to plant strawberries in So. California?

TheWaterbug · Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:49 pm

The ads at the bottom of these pages are starting to get to me! I failed miserably at strawberries last year, but I'm willing to give them another shot.

Is there any point in planting strawberries in June? I'd choose an everbearing variety, obviously.

Or am I better off waiting until fall?

These would be going into the ground and getting drip-watered, and I'd want a row of ~10-12 feet of them.

Any suggestions on a variety suited for warm summers and mild winters? What are the main things to do properly for successful strawberries?

applestar · Wed Jun 05, 2013 3:44 pm

If you mean for them to fruit, I suppose you may have to wait until the weather cools down for them to bloom well and provide a decent harvest, but as far as planting, I don't see why you can't plant them at any time during the growing season since the strawberries naturally grow runners and daughter plants that set down roots until frost.

Obviously you know that June bearers won't fruit until next year.

TheWaterbug · Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:14 pm

Hmmm. I have 25 bareroot Evie Everbearing strawberry plants sitting in my amazon cart right now:

Even with shipping that's only $0.82/plant.

I can get 50 plants for about $0.63/plant.

These are in stock, and most online retailers are out of strawberry plants by now.

Home Depot has Quinalts for $3/plant.

Has anyone here grown Evie Everbearing before? How do they compare with other varieties?

Will I have time to actually get these planted before the next business trip/life crisis/eucalyptus disaster strikes?

TheWaterbug · Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:43 am

I bought 50 plants, and they came earlier than I had planned for them, so I put them in the fridge (as instructed) for a week.

Yesterday I prepped a 6' x 12' bed by tilling in 6 cu ft of manure and about 12 cu ft of municipal mulch, then mounding it up into two raised rows (the "hill/mound" system).

This morning I got up early and put in all 52 (they gave me some extras):

I put in a drip line (not shown) and watered them as much as I could. I always worry about watering any kind of raised anything, because the water seems to just run off the top, but the drip system should take care of that in the long run.

It's going to be in low 80s this week, so wish them luck!

jemsister · Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:07 pm

I hope everything goes well with the strawberries! I'd like to give them a try sometime.

Northernfox · Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:54 pm

You should be fine. You may want to cover the bed to help prevent some of the pests you have down there. I recomend taking a look a this youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia6TaY_YS10

I am trying seascape straberries that were developed in California. I bet they would do well for you. I have a little more information on what I am doing below

applestar · Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:27 pm

You may also want to mulch with loose staw to keep the soil cooler and help keep from drying out.

TheWaterbug · Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:40 pm

Northernfox wrote:You should be fine. You may want to cover the bed to help prevent some of the pests you have down there. I recomend taking a look a this youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia6TaY_YS10

I am trying seascape straberries that were developed in California. I bet they would do well for you. I have a little more information on what I am doing below

Thanks! I've been using plastic mesh or row cover for my pests.

I think I'd prefer the plastic mesh for my berries, so I can see what's happening underneath. I still need to come up with a lower-cost way of securing the mesh, since I don't have a raised bed border like you have in your video.

I've been using these hoops and string for row cover, with rebar at the ends of the rows to anchor them, but they're expensive, at nearly $3.00 apiece, plus shipping.

I might try the hoops anyway, since I already have a bunch, and I'm not using them for other crops right this moment.

Yeah, I Seascape looked like a great variety, but I couldn't find it in stock anywhere. The Evies were the only thing I could find, online, in-stock, at a reasonable price.

I'd definitely look into other varieties if these grow well and I want to expand.

TheWaterbug · Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:41 pm

applestar wrote:You may also want to mulch with loose staw to keep the soil cooler and help keep from drying out.

It's on the to-do list!

Northernfox · Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:51 pm

Waterbug,

talk to DoubleDogFarms. I got my dormant root balls from him. They even went 2 weeks in the mail and about 50% of them made it!!!

I am going to put up some sort of Bird Mesh around my strawberries. Ill make a nice little video for it

Feel free to subscribe I am trying to post one video a week and would love feedback!

TheWaterbug · Sat Jun 22, 2013 12:45 am

TheWaterbug wrote:Yeah, I Seascape looked like a great variety, but I couldn't find it in stock anywhere. The Evies were the only thing I could find, online, in-stock, at a reasonable price.

Of course soon after I posted that, I found Seascapes in stock, for $35/50 plus $11 shipping.

If I weren't leaving on an 11 day business trip tomorrow, I'd probably have ordered a bag.

Here are my 52 Evies after 4 days in the ground:

The pale yellow leaves have all greened up, and most of the plants are showing new growth:

Well, except for this guy:

100% yield is too much to expect, and 51/52 plants is pretty darn good, especially since I only paid for 50 plants!

So I've got the 1/4" dripline going down the middle of each raised row. I'm not 100% sure that it's enough water for them at this tender stage (the same timer runs a whole bunch of other crops, too, so I can't always optimize the run time), so I'll have to have someone monitor their health while I'm gone. I showered them the day I planted and the day after, then they went 72 hours on their own, and then I showered them again this morning.

I'd hope that after of week of being kept pretty wet that they'd get established, and that I'd be able to just let the dripline do its thing.

Northernfox · Sat Jun 22, 2013 1:18 am

If you can give them a light Organic fertilizer befor you go. That should help with their resilience. They are looking for easy to grab nutrients to push their root system out.

Does it frost wher you are in winter? I have always been curiouser about 12 month gardening.

TheWaterbug · Sat Jun 22, 2013 1:26 am

I had some fertilizer in the drip system the day I planted, so they got a shot the next morning at drip time.

And we never ever get hard frosts. I got some light frost on my grass this winter, but the ground never freezes, and the stuff on the grass burned off by 8:00 AM.

Yeah, we can garden year-round; it's just a matter of finding the right crop for the right season. I figured a perennial could be OK to plant any time since it's perennial. We'll find out soon!

Northernfox · Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:41 am

Perfect! I would love to invest in a drip irrigation system except I would have to take it apart every fall. I also don't have a huge garden

.

Seascape should produce all year if not frosted. They are fairly hardy as well. I wonder if you got a day neutral variety like them if they would produce all year for you. They have to live through 6 months of deep winter here so I wont be able to experiment.

TheWaterbug · Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:11 pm

Evie is an everbearer, so it should produce along the same calendar as Seascape. Jury's still out on flavor and productivity between the two, with various studies and online reviews differing, so it could be a function of cultural practices or of climate matching to each variety.

TheWaterbug · Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:15 pm

TheWaterbug wrote:It's going to be in low 80s this week, so wish them luck!

Bleah. The single dripline down the middle wasn't quite enough water for both rows, and the person who was supposed to be watching them while I was gone didn't watch them very closely, so half have died now

I am going to add two more driplines, and meantime I am hand-sprinkling in an attempt to revive the ones that have browned out, but I'm not sure whether they can be resurrected twice.

I suppose I might have to buy another set of plants and backfill the empty spots.

Northernfox · Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:17 pm

Why don't you let yours go to runner. I only had 10 plants that made it an now I have at least 100 with more runners coming.

save some cash!

Hope they survive

TheWaterbug · Sat Jul 13, 2013 12:34 am

Northernfox wrote:Why don't you let yours go to runner. I only had 10 plants that made it an now I have at least 100 with more runners coming.

Because I'm horribly impatient! And a little bit OCD. I planted them in these perfectly spaced rows, and now there are empty spaces everywhere!!

I put the 3rd and 4th driplines in this morning. I'll give the browns a week to revive, and if they don't I'll pull and replant. I've got plenty of time before spring.

Northernfox · Sat Jul 13, 2013 12:39 am

I know what you mean!! I ended up loving the chaos of last years garden! by the end of July my plants had taken over

.

I had my first seascape strawberry the other day.... it was GREAT!!!

my Tri-star was not the best and the alpine I am not crazy about.

still waiting on Sierra