I used organza bags last year without issues. Mostly for bird protection. Except squirrel stole some bag and all. I just bagged a lot because I was seeing some insect damage and some are starting to color up.
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ive got a little patch. maybe ill bag some with organzas and see how it goes this year. i didnt really try but none last year so anything is an improvement:
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I failed at this.
I put alot of effort, time and money into them and almost none survived the winter here in Z6B/7A.
I am thinking that they froze the roots and killed them.
I had extras of each in 1 gallon pots on the ground and all of them survived.
The gutter ones got the best soil, best mulch etc.. the pots got the worst.
I use hi yield sparingly with some mixes.. however i think the best bang for the buck for me is the Lowes triple 13.. as it has sulfur in it…i use it on all of my berries.. YMMV
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We are finally starting to get a few handfuls a day and they’re so yummy! lNo pictures because the kids split them up and gobble immediately (I get one, maybe?). But, we did take bets at the beginning of the season as to how many we would harvest and we’re going be way, way low since I think we’ve already managed to get to 100. I’m pretty sure I would need my entire tiny property covered in them to have enough to satisfy or even consider saving for more than 10 minutes! New ones we’ve tried: purple wonder (“purple” is a stretch for the color for sure), Tristan, galleta and Mara de bois. MdB lives up to the hype! Galleta are huge and yummy but on par with flavor fest (my favorite) and whatever not-earliglow is. Yellow wonder is odd- one kid described it as “apple-y” and I agree. These were planted last year and are fruiting a lot. Looking forward to trying all the different alpines I seeded this year.
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@Eme did you end up trying a tower? Did it work so far?
My 6’ tower of doom quickly failed. I did not make anymore after that. The strawberries largely leafed out and died. I transferred what was left alive to this greenstalk along with some real (hopefully) earliglow, sweet sunrise, alpines, and two thyme. The strawberries in the 2 pallet beds I made and planted are doing well.
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What a great vertical planters @Eme! Any idea what went wrong with your setup? Looks like your planters are deep… deeper than my dollar tree planters I’m about to put in use.
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Has the raised strawberry beds helped to keep slugs out? Just moved mine to raised beds similar to yours.
The only problem was with my 6’ cedar tower. It was way, way too tall and narrow. Most of it dried out and the roots were smashed. I had originally set out to make 4’ that might have had a chance of working. Also, as I think I mentioned I’ve learned that DIY planters like that seriously hard to fill. Took 2 hours each.
@Robert I’ve never had a big slug problem in any of my gardens or raised beds. They do get up there, and I saw the most ever last year with the spring that never stopped raining. Barely any this year, maybe the drought?
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I’ve been getting a few MdB for about 2 weeks now, my first couple of Tristar about a week ago, my first (first ever tastes actually -and wow!) of my wild strawberries starting about 5 days ago, and my first 4 “maybe seascape” today.
Still waiting to get my first tastes of Fairfax and Flavorfest (they are the newest additions so also the least established).
Just got in from picking this evening. Herr was my haul for today (hadn’t picked in a couple days so it’s more like 2 days’ worth I guess).
Full bowl is MdB, the other bowl has Tristar the larger ones) and my wild strawberries (the tiny pale ones), and the 4 on the table beside the bowls are my “maybe seascapes"
Despite the drought and late-ish hard frosts doing their best to make this a rough year for growing, at very least the strawberries have yet to be phased in the least haha!
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How’s this working for you? most of my strawberry crowns i started in my greenstalk went green then died. Never had problems in pots, ground, or in raised beds.
Only just planted it one week ago. Made a super light mix for it and things seem to be growing.
Yeah I’m debating between adding holes to the bottom of each tier and/or adding some perlite to the mix.(i used strawberry fields from foxfarm)
I used a lot of sand and perlite and a good chunk of nugget with it. If it is getting dry, I’m going to take it apart and enlarge the microscopic holes on each watering pan thing. I think they’re too small. But, i know a gardener near me with a bunch of them they love them, so we’ll see.
Started some musk strawverry from seed for fun. I believe they are dioecious. Anyone know how soon they flower so I can tell? And a ratio of males to females that works?
Also started some more hawaii 4 seeds the bare roots i received from a forum member looked dead but theyre pushing out new growth now so hopefully ill be in abundance and my ground cover in the dog patch will be solved lol
Hi I have never trusted towers that tall for strawberries, as the cups dry out first ( where the berries are planted versus the center which s still damp. It should be in a large saucer filled with water. I have much better luck with terra-cotta, than plastic.
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I am seeing so many photos of delicious, large, juicy strawberries here. Well… this is my strawberry bed.
The largest strawberries are pea sized. I tasted some today and they were tasty, but you would need 25 in one go to have a good bite.
Could it be:
- Transplant stress? When I just transplanted them we got some crazy hot weeks. I had to cover them with shade cloth but still they were wilting. The plants are fine now, but they were water stressed during flowering.
- Old plants that don’t have the energy to produce anymore?
- Or just a variety with micro fruits?
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i bet its a water issue. put a ring of fert. around them with about 3in. of mulch. strawberries also dont like hot roots.
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Like the crazy plant person I’ve become, after tasting an amazing strawberry I saved the seeds, stratified them, and germinated them. I think the variety is medallion based on what the company told me and the taste. Strawberry from seed, as far as I understand, may not share the same characteristics as the parent. But I am happy they even germinated! I’ll be keeping the humidity done on for a while so cross your fingers for me!
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