Best Strawberry Varieties?

Jewell is a fairly good berry in my area. There are few that would overall be better. Honeoye has the dreaded off koolaid flavor in my area of Kansas but it is a strong producer of berries and a prolific producer of new growth. Ozark Beauty are small spindly plants that did not thrive in our climate at all. It’s just my humble opinion but my recommendation is skip those other choices and out of those listed go with Jewell. My other choices were already discussed. I think last time I grew strawberries I planted over a thousand plants so I have some experience with them.

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Thanks Clark. I keep going back to Jewel, and the reason I’m considering Honeoye is we have a PYO about 20mi from us, and they started growing this variety last year, and they were very tasty. Not discounting your experience with them, but they were very good here. I’m not a strawberry connisseur, so maybe store strawbs has clouded my palate.

Thanks for the comments on OB, did you happen to get them from Stark’s?

I think two runs of 25 more plants ought to be plenty for us. I’d think after a couple years, 75 plants would supply us plenty of berries. I don’t know what one plant will produce, but I’m sure 75 will be more than enough.

I’ve also considered Cavendish, Sparkle, Earliglow, Seascape and the MdB sounds intriguing.

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I googled around a bit to get a second opinion on mine and came up with this cornell document that for the most part supports my opinions http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berry/production/pdfs/strcultreview2012.pdf

For Archer, see the link. It maybe out of stock though or not fit your criteria. Albion is too firm for my taste.

Wow, OK, that does look like an excellent strawberry.

Actually it does.

Well my wife likes that. I’m indifferent to firmness, it doesn’t matter to me. Taste is much more a driving force in what i like.
Thanks for finding this MI nursery, and bringing this up again, it’s now on my want list. This sounds like an excellent strawberry.
Unlike others here, I don’t have much room. I have to squeeze these in wherever I can. I would take 25 of Archer in a NY minute.
Here’s another article

Me too, I’m still looking for varieties that are tasty. I LOVE Mara des boise too. But my second year is not as tasty as my first. I may have to get more runners this year for future planting.

I don’t have a lot of space either, so I stuff several in one big pot/tub. Can’t live without good strawberries.

Hope you get some Archer. I placed my order very early and can’t wait to have them.

I will also try Marshall, Fairfax, and gariguette strawberries this year.

Thanks for the article.

Has anybody tried either amandine or Charlotte. Both appear to have Mara Des Bois as their parents? Charlotte is being sold by Gurneys and the only place I could find a reference to amandine is a trial planting Nourse was offering a few years back.

https://www.google.com/patents/US20140331369

Norse is great. I’ve been growing Mara des Bois for fifteen years. One excellent berry. Buy many plants as they really take off in year two!

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Looks like I’m getting 25 Archer strawberries, @winsorw thanks for the tip. very rare at this point. I don’t care about that, they look excellent, do meet my criteria, I even get to support a local nursery.
I asked for May 1st delivery, kinda late, but safe, this first year will be for establishing the plants anyway. Also thanks for the tip on Alpines the Reine des Vallees sounds exactly what I’m looking for. I found a place selling plants. I can grow these in root pouches and leave them out all year. Once root pouch breaks down in 4-5 years I can divide the heads of the large runnerless alpine.

Did you finally talk your wife into tearing the garage down Drew?

LOL! Actually it’s the neighbors house I want torn down!
A couple people offered me strawberry plants last year, so I’m giving some of them to those guys.
I want to add the other ones I mentioned too, just 1 or 2 plants.

Great! Glad it worked out and you get some. I think May is the best time to plant them.
Regarding RDV, I germinated from seeds, but getting a plant is nice too (hope it’s from Gourmet strawberry website), you save a lot of time that way. You won’t be disappointed.

I know you said you don’t have a lot of room, but if your wife would like to see pretty strawberry flowers. I suggest you find Roman and Ruby Ann. They are pale pink and red respectively. Roman tastes good but Ruby Ann not so much. However, its red flowers are very cool. Just saying:-)

I have Charlotte. It is tasty but not as fragrant as Mara. Fruits are larger though. It’s a nice addition to your garden.

I don’t see anyone selling Amandine.

I would really like to get my hands on Just Add Cream. It’s being sold for the first time this year by Thompson-Morgan. They brag about it a lot.

I have a red flowered one I picked up locally, the berries are big, and fairly good too, not the best, but not bad. Seems disease free too. I use it as ground cover. I have pretty much turned our flower garden into a secret strawberry garden. The perennial flowers don’t seem to mind.

So many old cultivars that are good I have not tried.I’m still going through them, or back to old ones left behind commercially.

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Cool!

Old ones are hard to find. I also want to try some Japanese varieties but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon. Heard that they are sweeter and more flavorful. Heard about one big white strawberry variety that costs $10 each. LOL.

Awhile back users were getting some heirlooms from ARS. A few small nurseries may have them if you look hard.

I Might be interested in Archer in a few years, I fruited some Rutgers Scarlet last season, didn’t notice pollination issues, in fact I was pinching flowers, but missed some :wink:. Ordered Darselect and Jewel from Nourse this year to renovate another bed.

Helped transplant Cabot from Nourse a few years ago, huge size and great flavor up to a few years ago when the land was sold and the bed was renovated into a hotel.

Info about pollination is from Nourse. I think because they grew it probably no where near other strawberries. I suspect it needs a pollenizer. As long as we grow other cultivars, we should be fine.

I bet many from Nourse are good, Slowly I’ll try others.

ARS doesn’t give them to individuals any longer.