How are your strawberries doing?

Ruth_10 · April 27, 2009

Anyone picking strawberries yet? What variety do you grow?

My Earliglow's have berries the size of a fingertip. It'll be a few weeks yet before they ripen up. My second variety (old family variety) is about a week behind.

Blossom set was excellent this year. Last year I was able to freeze quite a few. I mash them up with a tiny bit of sugar and put them in plastic freezer tubs in the freezer. I think strawberries freeze better than just about any other fruit.

garnetmoth · April 28, 2009

woo! jealous. Weve got scads of mock/wild strawberries, and 1-2 actual plants. I got one berry last year. havent even flowered yet this year.

good luck with them (my fiance is allergic, so I am not too driven to grow them myself)

karpes · April 28, 2009

Ruth
I haven’t grown strawberries in a long time but it’s at the top of my to do list. You grow them in the ground or containers?
karpes

lefty_logan · April 28, 2009

i have about 6 strawberries on a single sequoia strawberry plant in a container

Logan

Ruth_10 · April 29, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by karpes

Ruth
I haven’t grown strawberries in a long time but it’s at the top of my to do list. You grow them in the ground or containers?
karpes

I grow them in the ground. They're in a strip of garden that's about seven feet wide. Mostly the plants just cover the section of the bed they're in, but I force myself to make a narrow bare strip down the middle. I have several 3x8' cages I put over the plants once they start to ripen. If I don't cover them, the birds will eat them ALL.

Ruth_10 · May 12, 2009

I picked the first quart of Earliglow strawberries yesterday and picked another tonight. I would have waited until tomorrow night to pick again, but rain and thunderstorms are supposed to be coming through in the next 24 hours.

rxkeith · May 13, 2009

mine should be doing a lot better now that i finally got them planted. i got 25 cabot and 25 jewel from jungs may 5th. the ground was too wet to plant. long time farmers here say this has been the wettest spring in years. i ripped out some sod, put in several wheel barrows of topsoil mix with compost, and horse manure to create a raised bed, and finished planting them just before it started to rain. my wife planted half of them a different way. we will compare results.

keith

TZ-OH6 · May 14, 2009

I bought two bags of dormant "roots" from Lowes, and about half of them sprouted, and those are stunted. I finally got them big enough to get in the ground and they are starting to do Ok. They went in an out-of-the-way location. Then I bought a flat of 18 established plants, but could not get them in the newly dug strawberry garden because of rain and clay clods, so they sat around and fruited. I ended up planting them in another area. Next year I should have alot of strawberries, but none in my shiney new strawberry garden.

Andrey_BY · May 14, 2009

As usual we grow several West European varieties of small fruited Alpine strawberries like Baron von Solemacher, White Solemacher, Regina, Alexandria and Ali Baba plus some Russian varieties like Belosnezhka (I listed it in SSE 2009 Yearbook).
But we pay much more attention to large fruited strawberries strawberries mainly of Russian and Dutch origin and grow at least 10 times more of them than Alpine varieites.
Usually strawberries are very fruitful within 3-4 years. Then you should take them away.

TZ-OH6 · May 14, 2009

Andrey,
How is the flavor on those large fruited varieties. While trying to decide on what to buy here I ran into the problem that these things are being bred in America for size, color, resistance, and shipping (sound familiar?). You know you are in trouble when the advertizement says "very popular variety...best seller... large, dark red fruits... acidic flavor (or mild flavor)."

Andrey_BY · May 14, 2009

Never had such problems with flavor on large fruited strawberries here. Try Senga Sengana if this variety is available in USA. This is a German masterpiece and a standard for a great flavor and production proved during the last 50 years so far.

But of course there is a certain difference in flavor and aroma between these Alpine strawberries we started from seed packets and those small fruited strawberries we can pick up in the forest near our dacha. Real wild strawberries are the best but their production is much lower from one plant, of course.

More info about well-known European strawberry varieties: http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Strawb...ok/boksevt.htm

Ruth_10 · May 17, 2009

My patch of Earliglow strawberries is going strong now. I'm picking every day or every other day. We're getting enough to eat our fill and have enough left over to chop into a rough sauce with some added sugar and freeze. I find the quality of the frozen sauce excellent--frozen strawberries seem to retain their flavor and color very well, but I wouldn't care to try to freeze the strawberries whole. The texture just wouldn't be appealing to me.

I don't remove my plants after several years and start a fresh bed, but I do let it "creep" along the strip of tilled garden bed it's in. I also do a severe clipping of the plants just as soon as fruiting is done and thin out a few plants here and there.

April 27, 2009	#1
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	How are your strawberries doing? Anyone picking strawberries yet? What variety do you grow? My Earliglow's have berries the size of a fingertip. It'll be a few weeks yet before they ripen up. My second variety (old family variety) is about a week behind. Blossom set was excellent this year. Last year I was able to freeze quite a few. I mash them up with a tiny bit of sugar and put them in plastic freezer tubs in the freezer. I think strawberries freeze better than just about any other fruit. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

May 12, 2009	#6
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	I picked the first quart of Earliglow strawberries yesterday and picked another tonight. I would have waited until tomorrow night to pick again, but rain and thunderstorms are supposed to be coming through in the next 24 hours. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

May 14, 2009	#9
Andrey_BY Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Minsk, Belarus, Eastern Europe (Zone 4a) Posts: 2,278	As usual we grow several West European varieties of small fruited Alpine strawberries like Baron von Solemacher, White Solemacher, Regina, Alexandria and Ali Baba plus some Russian varieties like Belosnezhka (I listed it in SSE 2009 Yearbook). But we pay much more attention to large fruited strawberries strawberries mainly of Russian and Dutch origin and grow at least 10 times more of them than Alpine varieites. Usually strawberries are very fruitful within 3-4 years. Then you should take them away. __________________ 1 kg=2.2 lb , 1 m=39,37 in , 1 oz=28.35 g , 1 ft=30.48 cm , 1 lb= 0,4536 kg , 1 in=2.54 cm , 1 l = 0.26 gallon , 0 C=32 F Andrey a.k.a. TOMATODOR

May 14, 2009	#11
Andrey_BY Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Minsk, Belarus, Eastern Europe (Zone 4a) Posts: 2,278	Never had such problems with flavor on large fruited strawberries here. Try Senga Sengana if this variety is available in USA. This is a German masterpiece and a standard for a great flavor and production proved during the last 50 years so far. But of course there is a certain difference in flavor and aroma between these Alpine strawberries we started from seed packets and those small fruited strawberries we can pick up in the forest near our dacha. Real wild strawberries are the best but their production is much lower from one plant, of course. More info about well-known European strawberry varieties: http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Strawb...ok/boksevt.htm __________________ 1 kg=2.2 lb , 1 m=39,37 in , 1 oz=28.35 g , 1 ft=30.48 cm , 1 lb= 0,4536 kg , 1 in=2.54 cm , 1 l = 0.26 gallon , 0 C=32 F Andrey a.k.a. TOMATODOR Last edited by Andrey_BY; April 1, 2012 at 05:39 AM.

May 17, 2009	#12
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	My patch of Earliglow strawberries is going strong now. I'm picking every day or every other day. We're getting enough to eat our fill and have enough left over to chop into a rough sauce with some added sugar and freeze. I find the quality of the frozen sauce excellent--frozen strawberries seem to retain their flavor and color very well, but I wouldn't care to try to freeze the strawberries whole. The texture just wouldn't be appealing to me. I don't remove my plants after several years and start a fresh bed, but I do let it "creep" along the strip of tilled garden bed it's in. I also do a severe clipping of the plants just as soon as fruiting is done and thin out a few plants here and there. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

April 28, 2009	#2
garnetmoth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: cincinnati, oh Posts: 492	woo! jealous. Weve got scads of mock/wild strawberries, and 1-2 actual plants. I got one berry last year. havent even flowered yet this year. good luck with them (my fiance is allergic, so I am not too driven to grow them myself)

April 28, 2009	#3
karpes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: Louisiana Posts: 73	Ruth I haven’t grown strawberries in a long time but it’s at the top of my to do list. You grow them in the ground or containers? karpes

April 28, 2009	#4
lefty_logan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Southern California Posts: 111	i have about 6 strawberries on a single sequoia strawberry plant in a container Logan

May 13, 2009	#7
rxkeith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Back in da U.P. Posts: 1,848	mine should be doing a lot better now that i finally got them planted. i got 25 cabot and 25 jewel from jungs may 5th. the ground was too wet to plant. long time farmers here say this has been the wettest spring in years. i ripped out some sod, put in several wheel barrows of topsoil mix with compost, and horse manure to create a raised bed, and finished planting them just before it started to rain. my wife planted half of them a different way. we will compare results. keith

May 14, 2009	#8
TZ-OH6 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Mid-Ohio Posts: 850	I bought two bags of dormant "roots" from Lowes, and about half of them sprouted, and those are stunted. I finally got them big enough to get in the ground and they are starting to do Ok. They went in an out-of-the-way location. Then I bought a flat of 18 established plants, but could not get them in the newly dug strawberry garden because of rain and clay clods, so they sat around and fruited. I ended up planting them in another area. Next year I should have alot of strawberries, but none in my shiney new strawberry garden.