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Gary350
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Strawberry Plants ?

What are good plants to grow?

Do I need plants that resistant to certain disease?

Neighbor last year said, buy plants with runners they make new plants to grow a year later.

Garden store said, we might have strawberry plants tomorrow.

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TomatoNut95
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I have NEVER had luck with strawberry plants. But I think it would be a good idea to find plants with certain disease resistance like to fungal issues; downy mildew.

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Gary350
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After watching several video Seascape strawberry plants are the best plants to grow. These are everbearing they produce berries from May until first frost about Nov for us. They are disease resistant but you need to spray for worms once a week. Plants don't like to dry out and they don't like a swamp but they need to stay wet. Give plants too much nitrogen you get big plants and no berries. Mulch soil to hold moisture and to keep out weeds. Remove runners you get larger berries but let runners grow roots then you have new plants to transplant. Best NPK fertilizer seems to be 5-15-15.

Watch this video. Strawberry plant might be too high maintenance for me especially sense our garden soil is dry as desert June to Sept we get very little rain all summer in 98°F hot sun. If plants are $5 each like last year I won't buy any. I can drive 5 miles to the strawberry patch pick my own strawberries $1 per lb.


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applestar
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It sounds like you’ve been doing some studying. But it’s true, you want to decide if you want everbearing / dayneutrals or june-bearers.

Junebearers fruit once a year all at once, but you can plant several varieties for early bearing, mid-season, and late season to have extended harvest.

Everbearers and day neutrals can be stingy — a dribble here, a dribble there.

Strawberries are also heat sensitive and some don’t do well where it’s hot during the summer or don’t experience any freeze in the winter — choose varieties suited to your climate.

Strawberries tend to be winter hardy, but because you plant the crown deeper or shallower based on soil conditions etc, plants that sit high with most of the crown exposed might be more susceptible to deep freeze. BUT you can’t bury the crown or they’ll die — so be sure to get ones suited / adapted to your USDA Zone.

I decided to renew my strawberry beds for this year, and am planting [ Earliglow ] Jewel and Annapolis junebearers (scheduled for delivery 1st week of April) and hope to plant Elan day neutral that were propagated in patio planters last year (I dropped the ball at the end so will have to see if they survived the deep freeze this winter).

I also have perpetual beds of virginia wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) — I originally bought a few plants at a native plant sale, then discovered I already had a bird-started patch in my garden. My children have always maintained that the wild strawberries taste the best even though they are tiny compared to cultivated varieties. Other varieties I’ve grown and liked in the past include Jewel and Sparkle. I’ve grown Seascape but that one died off (as did the others over the years) and I thought the size of the berries diminished quickly after the first flush.

You have to devise ways to protect the berries from birds (robins, catbirds, mockingbirds in particular) chipmunks, voles, and squirrels. Rabbits will eat the leaves.

I’ve had the best results from buying bareroot plants from reputable online sources that guarantee virus-free stock (about $20 to $30 for a bundle of 12 to 25, I think) and planting them about a month before last frost. Ones I see in big box stores are mostly a joke. Later you will see plants in 3~4 inch pots for planting after last frost, but their root systems are tiny compared to good bareroot crowns that come with 8~12 inch roots. Be sure to schedule shipment and delivery before weather gets too warm.

imafan26
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I don't have a choice. Seascape is all that is available. I like albion better, but it has not been around for years. Seascape is a good everbearing strawberry. I actually produces two crops for me. One in early summer and again in the fall. Because it gets hot here in the summer and because the snails love them, I keep them in hanging baskets so I can move them around. In summer, I have to put the baskets where they will only get morning sun. I had them in the ground once, I had to cover them with straw (which is hard to find around here) during the summer. They would make runners under the straw all summer long. Unfortunately, in the ground, the snails and birds got all the strawberries. I just got a new set of plants a few weeks ago and put them in a pot. The runners live, but I seem to lose the mother plants every year.

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applestar
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This is a source that was recommended by a member a while ago:

Nourse Farm Strawberry Plants
https://www.noursefarms.com/category/june-bearing/

It’s a great resource for reading up on different varieties and strawberry information, even if it seems more like they sell at market garden volumes. (I could followup with a review of how their plants arrived later if there is interest.)

@imafan, out of curiosity, I checked, and their shipping info page implies they ship to Hawaii. FYI

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You are right they do send to Hawaii. Walmart and Lowe's do bring in some strawberry crowns, but they have never survived.

Of course they are already sold out of Albion. Actually, I just checked the other day, a lot of catalogs are out of stock on many items. I did not need a lot this year and I did most of my shopping in November. I checked a few items in other catalogs and a lot of those are already sold out as well.

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Gary350
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I see, Albion, Sparkle, Jewel, in the seed catalog that came in the mail. It says, Albion is high yield, high producer, sweet, everbearing, Sparkle is highly recommended. Jewel bright red firm berries. We have lots of squirrels I did not know squirrels eat strawberries they never eat anything in my garden. We have 2 squirrel families they each have 4 babies April and Sept. There are usually 16 squirrels around here all the time. I will keep watch for plants at the Amish Garden Store and maybe I talk to neighbor up the road about his strawberries. It would be nice to walk out the back door and pick strawberries for several weeks, squirrels & birds could be a nightmare too, it is also easy to drive 5 miles pick 1 gallon in 20 minutes. I have never grown strawberries and I have extra garden space this year. I have a feeling chickweed will be a full time job keeping out of strawberries and when rain stops and soil is dry as desert 4 months that will be a problem too.

I grew grapes once sun came up at 5 am grapes were gone in 30 minutes 100s of birds ate them all. If strawberries have the same problem it will be much less work & easier to pick berries at the strawberry patch 5 miles up the road and be finished for the whole year.

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TomatoNut95
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I wonder how hard it is to start strawberry plants from SEED? I think Baker Creek had some strawberry seeds...or maybe I'm thinking of that other catalogue that I can't remember the name of.

imafan26
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The only strawberry seeds I could get here were for alpine strawberries. They never germinated for me, but since alpine is in the name, it probably had little chance to do anything here.

If you can get strawberries locally grown it is best, because it will probably be a variety that is at least adapted to your area.

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Gary350
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I tried to start strawberry seeds last summer they never germinated. YouTube video claims seeds take 3 weeks to germinate.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Mar 04, 2022 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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applestar
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Trying to grow strawberries from the seeds on the outside of store bought strawberry fruits is the kind of science experiment I might try, but know that must commercial strawberries are hybrids and not likely to grow true to type, and it’s far easier to propagate from runners (baby plants). That’s why there are always little plants for sale. even though, as stated above you should consider obtaining certified disease free plants from reputable sources rather than any random seller.

There are strawberry seeds that are specifically developed to be easier and to mature to fruiting size quicker (even same year), but they are usually not the same varieties as the ones that are sold as plants.

Some are meant to be more ornamental than for how they taste.

I believe strawberries are supposed to be started from seeds in early winter.

Here is the thread in which I described growing
Growing Alpine Strawberries from Seeds - HelpfulGardener.com

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Gary350
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Strawberries are just now starting to get ripe in 20 different locations 5 to 18 miles from our house. YOU pick prices are $12 to $15 per gallon. Prepicked $19. Last year I picked a heaping 1 gallon basket = 10 lbs of berries = $10. This year the same basket of berries $12 or $15 depending which field I pick in. I will go to Batey Farms only 5 mile drive from home. This year wife said we try to pick 30 or 40 lbs. Last year I picked 10 lbs in a distance of about 250 ft. but only about 50% of the berries were ripe. If all berries are ripe I should be able to pick 10 lbs in 125 ft.

Martins garden store has plants $4 each. If I grow my own I need 34 plants for 1 row = $136 + tax = $149.60 total. Judging by what I picked last year vs growing a 34 ft row this row should produce about 3 lbs of ripe strawberries.

Compare prices. Pick 10 lbs = $12 or grow 10 lbs = $450. Next year grow my own 3 lbs will be free for a 34 ft row. This is the best guess I can do with growing my own to see if my 34 ft row produces 3 lbs, or 10 lbs, or 2 lbs, or 5 lbs of strawberries. To get more accurate info I need to drive 5 miles pick a 34 ft length row to see how may ripe berries are there. I plants were not $4 each grow my own might be better.

Neighbor up the street said, buy 3 strawberry plants. Next year you will have about 15 runners to plant 3+15=18 plants. The 3th year you have 90 runners + 18 plants = 108 plants. :-D

I called Batey farmers they are open Monday 7am to 6 pm.

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applestar
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I was going to suggest basically the same as your neighbor — buy fewer plants than you think you need and plan to fill the bed in a couple of years — I estimate at least 6 baby plants. I recently read that it’s better to save grandchildren — runners produced by direct runner plants — for less chance of inherited diseases.

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You're right. There is a $45 upcharge for 2 day air shipping (no choice here) and $15 for the phyto certificate plus the cost of the plants. Now, how many strawberries can I get from Costco to eat instead?

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Gary350
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We can't get good grocery store strawberries they are RED on the outside but White inside. Online says, strawberries are picked green then gassed to make them turn RED. Grocery store strawberries taste like cucumbers that are not ripe yet.

Blueberries will be ripe here June 15, I plan to pick 4 gallons. 20 acre Blueberry field is on Gum Rd about 10 mile drive 1 way.

imafan26
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So, true. Actually, I do have strawberries growing and they are Seascape because it is the only ones they are selling. I did buy albion from Walmart when they had the live plants shipped in. Unfortunately, if you don't get there very early a lot of those plants don't survive that well. Even strawberries plants I got before, did not always survive because if they are not acclimated they have a hard time getting past summer. I have the same issues with lavender and fuchsia. If I can get them to survive a year, then they are fully acclimated and they will do better. It is just getting them past that first year that is the problem.

I know what you mean by the stores having tasteless fruit because they are picked green. Not just strawberries, but peaches, pears, plums and all the other cold weather fruits. They are always shipped into the markets greener. Even papayas which we ship out have to be hot water treated and that can only be done if they are half ripe. A papaya on the mainland is never as sweet as one we grow here because of that.

I can grow the low chill apples and Bartlett pear, but they really don't taste that good because it just is not the right climate for them. Canned and frozen fruit taste better because they are picked and processed at a better stage.

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TheWaterbug
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applestar wrote:
Thu Mar 03, 2022 9:17 pm
You have to devise ways to protect the berries from birds (robins, catbirds, mockingbirds in particular) chipmunks, voles, and squirrels. Rabbits will eat the leaves.
This year I put together a DIY hoop-tunnel-ish thing, using U-posts that I already had, PVC that's dirt cheap (though less so these days), and bird netting from Lowe's that's half the price of the same thing from Home Depot.

You can see the enclosures in my corn prep time lapse. Strawberries on the left, and tomatoes on the right:


I’ve had the best results from buying bareroot plants from reputable online sources that guarantee virus-free stock (about $20 to $30 for a bundle of 12 to 25, I think) and planting them about a month before last frost. Ones I see in big box stores are mostly a joke. Later you will see plants in 3~4 inch pots for planting after last frost, but their root systems are tiny compared to good bareroot crowns that come with 8~12 inch roots. Be sure to schedule shipment and delivery before weather gets too warm.
I had a very good crop 2 years ago from Evie and Seascape bare-root plants planted in February.

Then those plants did almost nothing last year, so I thought I'd refresh the bed by pulling them up, adding fresh manure to my raised rows, and putting them back in. I was able to fill only one row with these leftover plants, so I also bought some live plants from Home Depot for the second row.

The new plants massively outperformed the old plants, and I just bought another pot of new plants to fill in the first row.

I talked to a friend of mine who leases farmland to commercial strawberry growers, and he says they plant new plants every single year. They start in greenhouses and then put them out late in our Southern CA "winters."

Both his and my experience directly contradict a lot of advice I've seen on the internet to prune all the fruit off of strawberry plants during the first year, with the intent of growing a "stronger" plant.

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Gary350
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Neighbor up the street has a 40 foot row of strawberries, he picked 7 gallons of strawberries in a month. Last week June 5th was the end of his strawberries, they started picking strawberries about first week of May. He had a white net over his strawberry row to keep birds from eating the berries. No raised beds. He has garden rows like mine.

His plant spacing is about 18" apart, he does not measure exactly 18" he guesses. A 40 long row might have 26 plants plus or minus a few plants.

His old plants grow runners that take root in the soil and grow new plants. I looked at the new plants growing from runners yesterday each old plant has about 3, 4 or 5 runners making new plants, that equals about, 26 x 4 = 104 new well rooted plants to be dug up and transplanted in 2 months. About Sept 1st he plants a new 40 ft row of strawberries in a different location. He cuts the runners then transplants well rooted new plants to the new row. He tills all the old plants into the soil. Every year he has new plants to transplant to another new row in a different location. His new strawberry row is always 3 ft from the old row. He said, fertilizes new plants with 6-12-12 fertilizer only in Sept. You will have a bushel basket of strawberries 8 months later in May.

He planted his original plants 35 years ago and does not remember what the name was. His plants have produced ripe strawberries the month of May for 35 years.

He said, he will give me strawberry plants for my row of strawberries in about 2 months.

That is all I know at the moment. The 2 videos say nothing useful about fertilizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H9iwzsK6wA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZRBqCySWy8



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