All Things Strawberry

It might be plant stress and only the very bottom seeds being pollinated. I know the weather can make them do some wonky things as well sometimes

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We’ve had a very mild and cool spring here in Ohio, and my alpines are just starting to ripen up.

They taste bleh. Mushy nothing.

That confirms to me that alpines need some heat to get that punchy signature flavor.

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just fertilized my straws. alpines always lag behind the bigger ones.

I believe this is typically due to poor pollination.

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I only bag the first few days of fruit, early in the season when I am dying to get some for myself. After that I don’t because strawberries are really soft and if they get overripe in the bag, the bag is a mess.

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Anyone try Sluggo Plus and like it? We are overrun with pill bugs, earwigs, and slugs. So many I can’t even tell if the sluggo is working.

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If someone is wondering what they look like side by side, Toscana and ruby ann.Toscano is clearly more pink. Both are very pretty. Someone stole the first berry but I’ll compare them soon… I hope. Any suggestions for stopping birds or rabbits (or maybe neighbors :eyes::eyes::eyes:)

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Gorgeous. I didn’t realize Evie-2 was pink! I’m going to test them at my scorching foundation this fall if I can find some runners.

Just a note on Purple wonder, Summer breeze and Tristan should it help anyone: they are all supposed to be clumping and not run. Purchased this spring and they all have runners. Happy about that. (I don’t think they’re mislabeled)

Yellow wonders had entirely different flavor (actually good and full of zing) after 3 days above 95. It must need heat to develop flavor. This is good since I grew out every white alpine I could source seed for and was thinking it was all a waste.

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My bad I just realized I got them confused. Ruby Ann is in the pink pot with the more red flowers. Toscanonis in the grey pot with ping flowers that are bigger. Evie two is just normal looking. I edited the posts above

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I finally caved and laid some down last weekend for the same set of varmints in the same rank order. Too soon to tell yet for me.

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First Strawbs of the year! Seascapes. Albions are always a bit behind them but looking good. Looking like it is going to be a great year for them which is nice because the rough winter frosted out a lot of my other fruit

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i planted these out two weeks ago and moved some wild strawbs into the back end of the bed. they are very dramatic right now. I’ve had little to no luck with strawberries but these are all survivors and have done good from the ones people here sent me to try.

this other bed is meant to be rhubarb and aspargus and strawberries and got stolen by hollyhock and garlic. i need to clean it up well this year and get every bit of that garlic out. and put more strawberries in.

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How long do your woodlands take roughly from flower to fruit? I have some that were pollinate but seem to just be sitting there doing nothing..theyre wild type woodlands so basically alpine that produce runners

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Have not tried it, but watched a video of a guy putting out a bowl of beer overnight. Next day it was full of dead slugs. Could be clickbait though.

I used beer for slugs. It has worked well but the bowl for beer needs to be shallow so slug can climb in easily.

I tried that once and had no luck, was meaning to try again but after a month or so of picking slugs a couple of times a week I mostly defeated them at home. The community garden plot is a different story.

What I read from Pam Peirce was to go out at night and just start harvesting slugs. I tried mornings, foggy days, and rain first and I made a dent but eventually tried at night and got 3x as many easy. They haven’t been a problem since. I hesitated to go out at night because it seemed like so much more of a bother. It wasn’t, took me 10minutes, not much more time than setting up a beer trap

Pill bugs and ear wigs are my real problem now

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Oh, that’s interesting. Maybe where I am applying it, it’s too dry.

i use sluggo.

i put a line of it all around any bed i don’t want them to get near. it’s just iron.

DE will kill any insects that touch it, it’s indiscriminate. sluggo only gets snails and slugs.

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For sluggo, you have to wet the ground first before applying.

The beer thing works too but if you forget about it for a few days in the heat :grimacing: it’s so gross…

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Evie 2 and toscano were both nice. Nothing exceptional. Toscano was sweeter with more flavor but nothing I wouldn’t call a good grocery store strawberry. Ruby Ann was sour. Probably too early. I’d only grow these for the flowers and not the fruit

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