avidbowhunter
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Joined: Mon May 11, 2020 9:01 am

bland tasting strawberries

All... last year I bought 25 "jewel" strawberry plants and promptly planted them. There are now hundreds of plants covering the entire wide row and more! Last year after I planted them I pinched off any blossoms. This year there were thousands of blossoms, but when they were red, I picked some and they really had no taste at all. I tried different stages of maturity. No difference. I dipped some in sugar and they were better. I'm very disappointed and I'm just going to let the birds, chipmonks, and snails have them. Has anyone grown "Jewel" strawberries? I'm wondering if maybe our unusual winter(LONG) maybe had something to do with it. Perhaps it's just the variety. Any help would be appreciated!

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Jewel is supposed to be one of the higher ranked in flavor, so this is a puzzle.

I guess 1st consideration is has it been raining a lot or have you been watering a lot? They do get watered down, and taste better if picked after hot dry day.

Now. You said all stages, but strawberries do have learning curve to discerning prime harvest stage. Even just one day makes a difference. What is your personal criteria?

Finally, where did you obtain the plants? They should have been runner-grown clones of certified plants. If an unreliable gardener had grown them from self harvested Jewel seeds (not even sure there are such a thing as true Jewel seeds), most strawberry varieties are hybrids and would not have grown true.

avidbowhunter
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Posts: 10
Joined: Mon May 11, 2020 9:01 am

I';ve grown "surecrop,", "tri star", and other types of strawberries in the past and they were all very good tasting. I'm wondering if my plants are really indeed "jewel". I was just out in my garden and tasted yet more of them with the same conclusion.



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