I just got these bare root strawberry plants from Stark Bro’s. I’ve never grown strawberry plants but these do not look healthy to me. Is this what they should look like?
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I just got bare root strawberries from stark bros last week and had about a 100% success rate. It does look like yours may have baked in the package a bit but I would still try to root them.
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Rinse them off and pull off the dead top materials.
If the roots are still light colored/whitish/light brown/tan, they’re alive. Strawberry roots go completely black when they die except some of the really thick ones. Sometimes those will stay white but like, you can feel the lack of life in them
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I took them up on a deal they emailed me $5.99 for 25 I got Tristar and Tribute… so total of 50 with free shipping… took them a month to get here and mine smelled very funky and moldy… As long as 1 of them lives I can always propagate to infinity…
I have no idea what the profit margin is on 50 plants for $12 and free shipping… i guess i got what i paid for.
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My neighbor got some late tristar from them 3 weeks ago and gave me the leftovers. They definitely looked awful like that, but I soaked for an hour and they all are growing.
Edit- my neighbor gave me tribute.
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The Tri-Star i received were rubber banded and everything that was on the inside was dry as a bone but alive…everything on the outside that had been soaking in the bag for who knows how long had zero signs of life. I found 8 out of 25 with a glimmer of green…the rest dark brown or black.
Anyways I’m in it for the backstory…
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It’s my first year buying strawberries, but it’s clear that you order early/get them early for the best, and the blowouts are a shot in the dark. But, as you said, if you get them crazy cheap and only need a few to survive- it’s a win! I’m a total sucker for a plant sale with free shipping…I might have placed and picked up 5 “VERY LAST” orders!
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soak it in water for a few hours then bury them as directed by some youtube video. They should sprout green in a week or so (normally takes 1-2 days) if not they were dead and ask for new ones
Tiny… my Tristar are huge and some of my biggest berries
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I’ll just call these ones : Meilyn’s Tristar and we’ll call it good
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I had strawberries arrive and I did not separate them. I dug a small hole put the entire bunch in then the small leaves started to form from a few of the roots. I only got 3 to root out of twenty. They arrived fried. As they mature I will separate them this fall and replant them. They might look dead but some are not.
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Stark is pretty good about honoring their guarantee, so follow up if some or all don’t make it. “If your trees or plants do not survive, please let us know within one year of delivery. We will send you a free one-time replacement, with a nominal shipping fee of $9.99. If the item in question is not available, we can issue a one-time credit to your account equaling the original product purchase price or issue you a refund.”
Oh that’s crazy that charge to ship the replacement. I haven’t needed to have things resent from them. I have from Burpee (strawberries this year) and other places for perennials, and I’ve never been charged shipping.
I just ordered a pack of 10 from Home Depot for $10.50. Free shipping. Even if only a third of them survive that seems like a good deal. If I can get at least one to come alive I will order a couple more packages. I’d ideally like to have ten to twelve living plants. They are day neutral so I think I will get some fruit off of them this year.
What’s odd is that I looked all over for Tristar and Home Depot bare roots were the only place I could find them.