im not sure if they sell runners in your climate. If they do id asume you can plant them end of summer. or around the time runners normaly form. If maby mulch em extra and hope for good snowcover. cus your zone is quite cold.
If you can buy them in the spring thats also an excelent time.
I woulden’t expect a big difference between plants you planted late summer and let naturaly go dormant. And plants that went dormant and where stored in a fridge to sell to you in spring that you than plant in spring. So id probably just plant in spring if i where you.
if you can source them id try out
i see different varieties used in the US and EU though. So dunno if their available for u.
nourse seems to have some of the fresh forward developed varieties.
Darselect sonata and rumba did not stand out of the crowd for me last years. Where good, but not excelent. Although they are in the shadier part of my strawberry field. Maby with more sun theyd be excelent. However the lambada gariguetta and polka all recieve les sun, and taste better imo
Malwina and evie 2 where “best in catogory for me” (my best late, and best everbearer)
So i can recomend those. Although im not sure if they’ll taste the same in your climate. And if you prefure aromatic soft strawberry’s like me. Or prefure more watery fresh crisp strawberry’s. Id discribe the malwina more aromatic. And evie 2 balanced. Some aroma, and stil decently firm.
@Kate6b yea, sure. you usualy plant when there is no chance for frost anymore. so around now is excelent.
If planting also pay special attention to planting depth. Not to deep. not to shallow. Planting the hart to deep will give disease and rot issue’s.
Planting so shallow that tops of most roots are exposed, will make them dry in and thus sever root-hart connection. Seeing the tops of 1 or 2 roots is fine. It’s best to look up some pictures online.
i have grown Evie 2 and it is a excellent everbearer. id probably plant it again when i renew my beds. im growing AC Wendy, Archer ,Galleta, Wonderful pineberry and Mara des bois.
I just got an email from Nourse on this this morning–I was thinking of getting some more, and they have a good number of varieties left. I’d agree that now is a great time in 7b.
ive planted strawberries from spring to fall with no issues but im in a cooler clime. in warmer zones it probably isnt good to plant mid summer. otherwise plant away!
I ordered Jewel, Mara Des Bois and Seascape from Nourse, and traded some Jewel with a friend who bought Ozark Beauty from Stark Bros. I am planting ~25 plants per square foot because I constructed my own vertical planters. We’ll see how it goes once I get them “in the ground”.
Interesting Mara des bois is one of my best flavored ever bearing varieties. I definitely agree with you on malwina being just amazing. Do you guys have tribute or tristar there (day nuetrals) have some of the alpine flavour if overripened and nice soft and aromatic(although not near as good as the real alpines they just yield so much more).
Your raspberry strawberry definitely is unique I have heard of it but did not realize it was bred by Otto Schindler that is pretty cool. Sadly gariguette did not like my snap winters but made excellent berries. I have not heard of lambada any other amazing tasting varieties we should be on the look out for.
@disc4tw you will like seascape I just re ordered mine as they did a bad job at winning against the buffalo grass last year with no mowing. All those are great I just went with flavorfest over jewel for that time period.
Nice to hear Malwina is on the list for one of the best. I ordered it 3 years ago on a whim, even though it was for zone 4, and it is still doing great. I loose a couple of plants a year to the cold but not enough to make me give up on them, just enough thinning so I don’t have to do it.
Yea i was surprised by Mara des bois, ostara similairly. They did not really stand out. I let them bear a small harvest together with the june bearers to compare. Maybe that was a bit unfair.
Also their in slightly sandy soil. With only a little fertiliser. Gonna plant some in more heavily fertilised/organic soil this year. And give my current plants some vinesse kali.
Im not giving up on them. But when planting more, im gonna lean more heavily towards evie 2 than mara de bois and ostara. Unfortunatly it’s harder to source many everbearers in the EU.
I have many other strawberry’s that are good/excelent. But those that truly stood out to me over the past 2 years, if mentioned. My current patch is semi shade though. Gonna plant a full sun patch and see how that differs. Surprisingly the lambada’s and garigueta/polka are currently in the shadiest spot (my mistake -_- ) but surpsisingly still preform excelent!
I had a buddy that had an entire strawberry production, cooling zone to get things to rebloom in a shed with evap cooling, shading it was all real fancy. He planted a ton of rare varieties some from europe and japan at my place but without all the special covering he did most (even ones zone hardy) did not make it and he did not give me labels I now just have a handful of these plants and only one of the alpines left but gave them little care last year. The other one i remember the name for that i loved and did do well over winter was marshall.
@oscar All my strawberries need to excel in the heat and harsh sun so maybe that has something to do with it but definitely give MDB another shot as she is certainly comparable taste wise to june bearers.
Am I reading this correctly that planting many Strawberry plants and planting 1 and letting it put out runners all over the place will result in a similar result? If so what is the ‘upside’ of planting many, especially if they’re the same variety?
Just time. Yes one strawberry can grow several runners in a season but it would take more than 1 season to completely fill out a bed. In addition, if the plant is putting energy into runner production then it produces less berries.
All I have here is Mara Des Bois, Sparkle, white pineberries, fraises Des Bois, Improved Rugen, Yellow Wonder, White Soul, and another variety I cannot recall. Looking to get some Malwina, and hoping to track down some Gaviota! Most of my berries are at least a foot apart except for the pineberries. I used them as a ground cover on a steep bank. They took over no problem! Even if I don’t get much fruit they served their purpose.
I’ve planted half or a third of a bed and set runners to fill the rest, and also planted the entire bed to begin with. Both ways work. All the modern varieties I’ve purchased have been more than generous with runners so the bed was easily full the first year and fully productive the second year. Of course, if you have a large space to fill and only a few plants it will take longer but most junebearers are happy to fill the space as fast as they can. Since I have a permanent bed system (replacing only 1/4 each year) I’m always looking for varieties that DON’T runner so prolifically.
There are varieties that are reluctant to runner so they wouldn’t work so well in filling a bed. Sue
Just commenting that “all you have” is at least 8 varieties… Oh how our perspective skews the more time we spend growing food I think that “all I’ll have” after this year is 6, maybe 7 varieties myself.
It does not have runners. It will continue to clump throughout the season which you can divide if youd like new plants and don’t want to start from seed.
besides mara des bois im going to grow mare runner less strawberries or grow them through ground cover fabric. too much work to dig out all the runners and removing older plants to replace with young ones.
I now just have a handful of these plants and only one of the alpines left but gave them little care last year. The other one i remember the name for that i loved and did do well over winter was marshall.
I think that “all I’ll have” after this year is 6, maybe 7 varieties myself.