In my hunt for the sweetest strawberry variety aside from my beautiful mutant… I’ve realized that I already had the variety that I’ve been seeking and the reason why it’s disappeared despite the deliciousness that came with it:
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It is highly susceptible to powdery mildew. Even with spraying copper fungicide, I’ve lost the plants at a young age. I grew them from seed i labeled as the sweetest variety.
For now, i guess my current not as disease susceptible have to be my Charlottes and mutants.
I’ll add Monterey and Denali to the list that I’ll be trialing this year. I know i said i don’t do June bearers but supposedly Denali’s burst will throw out fruit for 2.5 months. I’m excited to see how that plans out for me with my heavy handed fertilization methods.
Long story short: I’ve been trialing strawberry varieties and well as other berries types for the last 2 years. My goal is to narrow it down to the best ones and start selling it to the smaller grocery stores after i can get something substantial going. The last 2 years have come with their own challenges though. Severe and historic wind and hail in Colorado Springs where i started the trial for 2023, and a move in 2024. Hopefully 2025 will be more stable overall. Originally i was going to do a u-pick but people are disrespectful so I’ve been leaning more towards keeping things private instead of public. That may or may not change later.
I actually don’t like mara des bois this last year. They never got sweet enough for me. Wondering if it may change this year. Plus they’re all kind of small.
Charlotte is actually the daughter of mara des bois, and i think she’s succeeds in a lot of ways that mara fails.
To me, Charlotte is a LOT sweeter and bears more than mara. Plus it’s twice the size at least
wow! and it has a strong flavor too? For me, I would give up some sweetness if it has a strong “strawberry flavor”. If what you say is true, I’ll pick up charlotte instead!
If they’re saying Charlotte isn’t as fragrant as mara then their Charlotte was unripe. It’s best if you leave them for a about a week after they turn red.
Charlotte isn’t on there but i have tried a lot of those varieties and they’ve been a bust for me.
I find the alpine ones, while fragrant, are high in acidity and low in sugar/sweetness for me.
Here’s a list of the ones I’ve tried for potential commercial purposes. I didn’t add any of the 3 alpine varieties i tried on here along with a few others who quickly fizzled out or grew slowly. For alpine, I’ve tried mignonette, Alexandria, yellow alpine. Plus they’re all too squishy.
The Berried treasures are fantastic as well when they’re happy but they don’t produce runners. They’re mounded and bred that way
Charlotte is my winner in last year’s trials. You have to let them sit red for a week before picking them for the full flavor. They may look ripe but they won’t get sweet-sweet until about 4 days into being red.
All of my strawberries are potted, given liquid fertilizer every week, and on watering systems. I make sure non are stressed as much as i can. They all use about the same potting soil so that the conditions aren’t too skewed. I felt that this would help them bring out their best vs growing in ground in unknown conditions or not having enough food/ energy to produce.
Full sun in Colorado Springs for the most part so altitude might play a factor as well.
Here in Washington, still Charlotte has outshined them all.
I feel like growing them in a condition where there’s not a lack of nutrients or sunlight and all in the same area would help make better berries.
Picture below of some of the plants in the first year so you guys can see how they looked during the berry production time.
The strawberries I remember from my young childhood were cabot, from what I remember they were huge and amazing flavor. All the ones I’ve tried growing lately don’t seem to compare.
There are many stronger fungicides on the market. It’s just a matter of whether or not you are inclined to use such products. They are super effective. For stone fruit in the PNW it’s very difficult to use only copper for PLC. Some people use the more potent products.
For abundance and a very good one is Sparkle. Not very complex but very sweet. Most nurseries say its late but its more mid for me… probably because its very cold hardy that info is from somewhere very cold.
I tried earli glow and they produced a decent crop last spring… they were early and had very good flavor.
But they were also subject to some kind of perhaps fungal disease… leaves turn brown and rot…
Too bad because I think they were right up there with the most flavorful strawberries I have tried so far.
Ozark Beauty and Sure Crop have done well here in the past… good flavor… close to early glow flavor. Good disease resistance.
Eversweet… were not super sweet but had decent flavor and were the most everbearing strawberry I have ever tried… they cranked out the berries from spring to fall and fruited thru our 100 degree summers.
Other everbearing types I have tried did not even get close to Eversweet.
I need strawberries that can be grown spray free… very disease resistent… i dont spray.
