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Post by daylilydude on Jan 23, 2011 9:15:33 GMT -5
Oooo... So many questions, OK, how big of an area would I need to plant these for a family of 4, now I'm not sure how much of these we eat as we only get them from the grocery store and they are sorta bland!
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Post by coppice on Jan 23, 2011 15:48:45 GMT -5
DLD your going back down to a 'heath' sized plant. Even in a raised bed these need liberal mulching and culling plants after their second year. Strawberry make daughters vigorouskly so the hard part will be to figure out whats old in the fall and to pull those. Start with two dozen plants. Your first crop will suggest how big is enough.
IMO err on thining out too many vs too few. Knee pads or a rolly seat may be welcome too for short plants like strawberry. I preffer June bearing vs everbearing strawberry. A big crop means you still get some, everbearers spread crop out nicely for birds & slugs.
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grapenut
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Posts: 146
Joined: December 2010
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Post by grapenut on Apr 29, 2011 3:29:29 GMT -5
I grow both ! spring and everbearing, why? because if the weather, slugs and birds decimate my spring crop, at least I can get a cup or two from my everbearing every other day, not a lot of fruit in August, but once the weather cools a bit then I really get my bonus...lot's of nice big juicy sweet berries.
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Post by izitmidnight on Apr 29, 2011 3:54:14 GMT -5
DLD, you need to start thinking about how many quarts of berries you need to eat fresh, make jams, freeze, can.
If you choose a great junebearing variety such as Surecrop, each plant will produce approxamately 1 quart a plant. Earliglow is another excellent producer (junebearing). I grow both. The Junebearing is for preserving, the everbearing is for fresh eating. Ozark beauty is a great everbearing. I am trying the Eversweet for the first time this year. (sorry too much info, my family raised 40+ acres of pick your own berries for 35 years.
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caesg
Pro Member
Posts: 152
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: Butternut Squash
Joined: April 2018
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Post by caesg on May 11, 2018 1:01:12 GMT -5
My strawberries attracted some buggy friends. I washed the leaves down with water and rubbed the leaves with my fingers to make sure they came off.
Little winged fellas on the top of the leaves, heavily infested on just one plant, pretty much. And then some even tinier green fellas (aphids?) on the undersides of the leaves. These were more evenly spread across my four strawberry plants, and the infestation was more minor.
Any thoughts?
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Post by carolyn on May 11, 2018 6:58:10 GMT -5
My strawberries attracted some buggy friends. I washed the leaves down with water and rubbed the leaves with my fingers to make sure they came off. Little winged fellas on the top of the leaves, heavily infested on just one plant, pretty much. And then some even tinier green fellas (aphids?) on the undersides of the leaves. These were more evenly spread across my four strawberry plants, and the infestation was more minor. Any thoughts? do you have a "dedicated to insecticide" sprayer? a 2 gallon or so hand held pump up pressure sprayer? not one that EVER EVER EVER had an herbicide in it... never repurpose or think you can rise one out that had an herbicide in it to multipurpose it around the yard. never do it. use soapy water or insecticidal soap toe spray the aphids off... or whatever they are. whatever the bugs are are a no good for nothing pestilence. OR scout for ladybugs and put them there if you can find a few. this is actually the best and easiest remedy. then if you see little aphid lions on the leaves leave those alone. they will become new ladybugs.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 11, 2018 8:53:04 GMT -5
That's an important tip, carolyn! Plastic absorbs chemicals and you can never be sure that the herbicide residue is gone. Always have one sprayer that is for herbicides and one for your insecticides/fungicides. LABEL them to be sure. It's so very sad to accidentally nuke your plants by using the wrong sprayer. If you use plastic measuring cups/spoons to measure concentrates into your garden sprayers, it's important to have separate measuring cups/spoons for the herbicides also.
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Post by carolyn on May 11, 2018 12:43:56 GMT -5
thanks Laura.. I didn't even think to mention about the measuring spoons/cups. good reminder.
I actually spent the money on a roundup brand sprayer just because it says ROUNDUP right on it. no mistakes on that. but you also need to dedicate herbicide sprayers in two groups... a round up sprayer if you use it and a broadleaf sprayer too. these are two different types of herbicides and you can accidentally kill your grass if you are spraying for broad leaf weeds... but seriously... grow clover or whatever for your lawn anyway... it hold up much better than grass during a drought.
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ponyexpress
Junior Member
Posts: 86
Zone:: 6b
Favorite Vegetable:: alliums
Joined: June 2020
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Post by ponyexpress on Jun 18, 2020 21:52:32 GMT -5
I figure I would use the existing thread for strawberries instead of creating a new one. Anyone else growing strawberries and harvesting them now? I got hooked on fresh strawberries last year so I planted free runners from my friends in 4 different 10x4 garden beds. 1 has Seascape, an everbearing strawberry. 2 have Jewel and the last 1 is Allstar.
Jewel is my favorite. Nice large red strawberries with a white cap. After cutting/freezing 2+ gallon of strawberries, I decided I don't want to deal with the small ones. My second favorite is Seascape. They produce nicely in late August until frost.
Ants decimated my Allstar bed. I lost half of my plants. Underneath the straw was a giant ant farm. I may sacrifice Allstar in favor of another variety next year.
I got some Gariguette strawberry seeds so I'm hoping to start growing this French variety. Currently there are 12 seed pots with seeds in my freezer. Freezing them for a month and then I'll see if they germinate.
For next year, I think I will try this new variety called Albion. It's an everbearer that does well in hot weather.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 18, 2020 22:19:44 GMT -5
Yep, I enjoyed a lot of sweet things this evening. They were from Dunlap, Ozark Beauty, and Seascape for regular size. Sweetest were red Alpine. Also have yellow Alpine but they were not ripe yet.
Over the years I have grown just about everything that the local Jung's store has had. Always end up back with Ozark Beauty for most dependable. The absolute best that I have ever grown was Galore. Available just once from WalMart in the 1980s. Lost them to rabbits one spring when they ate the hearts out of the plants.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Hensaplenty on Jun 19, 2020 8:42:23 GMT -5
I grew an ever-bearing variety when I lived in NC because they were free plants. They only did well for the spring crop. I decided to try June bearing in SC and have two varieties, Cardinal and Sweet Charlie. Both are excellent. Cardinal is a firmer and larger berry and good for freezing which is what we do with most of the berries. Sweet Charlie is deliciously sweet and best for fresh eating, IMO. Both beds were planted a Feb. 2019, so this is the first year for harvest. Cardinal did better because the bed was in the best location. Am thinking about relocating Sweet Charlie. We had tons of berries; more than I had imagined. I made lots of jam, cobblers, gave away some and froze the rest. Berry pictured is Cardinal. Not all were that size but many were. Bed pictured is also Cardinal.
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Post by paulf on Jun 19, 2020 9:29:00 GMT -5
My wife has been going to the "old lady style" of gardening, AKA raised beds. She wanted to grow strawberries so I built a frame for a rubber tub for strawberries. I think it has six plants. I have no idea of the variety. So far we have eaten a handful of small berries. She liked it so much as a decorative planter she saw a raised bed made out of a plastic 55 gal drum. We happened to have one floating around in a storage shed plus we had some spare lumber, so I got busy. She put more strawberries in it in hopes that someday we could feed a family of two some strawberry shortcake once or twice a year. Again no idea of the variety. Our patch will feed a family of zero, but hopefully more than that someday.
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Post by bestofour on Jun 19, 2020 23:21:43 GMT -5
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Post by farmerjack41 on Jun 20, 2020 0:48:14 GMT -5
Very bad year for strawberries in this area. Most of the commercial growers did not even open up. I have had very few myself. Something in the weather must have gone wrong. Couple very cold nights at the end of September, temperature fell fast. Several cold nights late this spring. Don't know what really happened. Plants were looking good and them all of a sudden, half of them died.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 20, 2020 7:02:36 GMT -5
I buy my strawberries at local strawberry farms and in years when we have cold, wet weather in May, the crop is limited or non-existent.
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Post by octave1 on Jun 20, 2020 8:56:18 GMT -5
Been growing strawberries in the past and I would love to do it again, but for me it's too much of a labor intensive crop when grown in the ground. And yet the flavor of homegrown strawberries is so much better than store bought that I am considering a contraption like that of Paulf. It's too late this year, but maybe next.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 20, 2020 10:07:49 GMT -5
And yet the flavor of homegrown strawberries is so much better than store In my opinion, store bought strawberries are the equivalent of store bought tomatoes. Not worth buying. I am fortunate to live in an area where there are several Amish and Mennonite farms right near where I live that sell strawberries. They are smaller than those big store bought ones but oh, so much better tasting!
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Post by paquebot on Jun 20, 2020 10:37:15 GMT -5
Gardening partner showed up with 2 quarts of Dunlaps last night all trimmed and washed. Swapped for about the same amount of rhubarb. They are automatic for pies.
Nearest U-Pick is about 20 miles from me. When I was last there, didn't take long to pick a flat as the berries were huge. I was told the variety but didn't remember the name. There was one closer back in the 80s with smallish berries but sweet as sugar. Took forever to fill a flat but well worth it.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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ponyexpress
Junior Member
Posts: 86
Zone:: 6b
Favorite Vegetable:: alliums
Joined: June 2020
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Post by ponyexpress on Jun 20, 2020 12:30:47 GMT -5
Great pictures everyone. I just had my heart ripped out.
Deer found my 2 beds with the Jewel Strawberries. Ate the leaves and the berries. F'ing deer. The plants were gorgeous. Giant, healthy leaves. nice big strawberries with a small white crown. Very easy to trim.
At least I still have my Seascape & AllStars. I guess I'll have to rig up some sort of cover for them next year. I live in Mass with woods behind my house. Homes are too close to each other otherwise I would get a .22 to scare off the deer like my friend does in NH. I view them as giant rodents.
Does anyone else just throw the strawberries (leaves and all) into the blender when making smoothies? My friend does this as he can't be bothered to core out the berries.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 20, 2020 14:37:54 GMT -5
ponyexpress , I have seen tunnel-like covers of chicken wire in areas where deer are prevalent. That's really disappointing about this year's crop. Sorry to hear that.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 20, 2020 19:51:41 GMT -5
If you can't protect the plants from above, do it around the beds. Lay chicken wire 3' around the beds. Use a few stones or short pieces of 2x4 to have it partially off the ground in places. Deer will not step on it.
Also, .22 is not for scaring. That is the first step into venison steaks and roast. Aim for the white spot on the chin and lower one inch. "Venison, some disassembly required!"
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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ponyexpress
Junior Member
Posts: 86
Zone:: 6b
Favorite Vegetable:: alliums
Joined: June 2020
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Post by ponyexpress on Jun 20, 2020 21:20:00 GMT -5
That's an interesting idea. I'll have to try it out. At this point, I'm focused on making more runners from what's left to stock the beds for next year. If you can't protect the plants from above, do it around the beds. Lay chicken wire 3' around the beds. Use a few stones or short pieces of 2x4 to have it partially off the ground in places. Deer will not step on it.
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