Camino Real variety
This is my first attempt at growing strawberries. I’m super excited about trying the first fruit. Anyone have experience growing this variety in the Deep South? I was wondering what kind of production I can expect and for how long will they produce? Bare root plants were planted around October 25th. I have been fertilizing with homemade fish emulsion only as I wanted to see if I can grow food without having to buy synthetic fertilizers.
That looks really nice.
Its hard to see from the picture. But did you make sure you planted your strawberry’s at the correct depth? To me they look a little deep. But that could just be the photo or the mulch or me looking at it wrong.
I find the diagram at the bottom of the page of this website helpful
The text is in Dutch. It says from left to right.
good. to high. to deep. roots not stretched.
if planted to deep in the past. And ran into trouble (hartrot and disease)
Nowadays i take cuttings in p9 pots and just lay the runners on the soil in the pots. And clamp the runner down with a U bent piece of wire. That way I’m sure their are the right planting depth.
They are planted at the correct depth. I added the mulch after planting and tried to give the crown a little space but the mulch migrated closer to the crowns. It doesn’t seem to be an issue yet. I do have a little bit of fungal leaf spot, but that hasn’t been too much of a problem either.
I see that you are using bird netting, which may be a bad idea. I used bird netting for my strawberries and some critter chewed a hole in it. Also, chipmunks were able to get in before the hole was made.
I had rabbits chew threw the netting and make a home a couple years ago. I built a frame with 2 foot hardware cloth on a 1x1 pressure treated frame and it held up last summer and kept the rodents away.
A nice bed you have.
From wiki, there is good news and bad news about this variety. My concern is its susceptibility to gray mold.
You planted them last fall, I won’t be surprised if some plants will start to flower and set fruit this summer. It will produce more in 2024 and most in 2025.
Wolfmanjack was a radio personaility we listened to in my childhood by the way. Strawberries look very good.
I put up the bird netting because the rabbits were eating all the leaves on my plants. It has worked to keep them out so far. We also have tons of birds as they tend to fly south for the winter. Strawberries are usually grown as an annual plant in my state. We have brutally hot and humid summers here and strawberry plants don’t usually make it through the heat according to what I’ve been told. Strawberries are planted in the fall and harvested in late winter and early spring. It’s supposed to get up to 80 degrees this week here. As far as cultivars go it’s difficult to get strawberry plants in the fall. Our local ag extension has 2 varieties available: camarosa and Camino real. I was told by an old farmer that he never had any luck with the camarosa and the Camino real would be better.
