Because my alpines, which are now 2 years old, produce only a few berries per plant and the berries are very seedy, we have decided to replace them with “regular” strawberries.
We do like the flavor, but you have to pick a lot of them to get even a handful for a meal.
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Although the berries are small and the yields unsatisfing for myself (maybe just the variety in my yard), my kids love them. They are dependable and not attacked by critters and in my area a 2x2 foot patch produces a few berries every few days all season long. Flavor is good and it gets my kids out to the yard. As @steveb4 says a kid sized berries for kids.
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I have several varieties of alpine. My Fraises des Boise and white soul have produced slightly larger berries in their second year. Improved Rugen remains just as small but more productive on year number two. Both my Minonette and my yellowed wonder barely pulled through last year and aren’t doing much but surviving right now. I’ve found that second year berries are getting more flavorful as well but still small. You would need several of each just to get a pint per picking. I get a handful a day if I’m lucky. I did put 50 pineberry plugs out last year as a ground cover and they took off. Had a decent harvest this year even though they are crowded. So delicious!
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they dont like heat and dont like direct sunlight. the ones in some shade are very productive and good sized. compared to our wild ones they are huge i get about a pint per bush right now every few days and have 17 bushes.
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Mine are in full sun. I guess I should put them in more shade.
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You get a pint of berries from a single bush every few days?? How large have the plants gotten for you?
about 16in. 4 years old.
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Wow, so I guess they’re extremely productive even after they get into their older age and the bunches don’t really need to be separated to keep it that way.
Mine although much less productive then @steveb4 produce the same every year despite no speartion. Also 4 years old.
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Thank you!
It could be that the variety Steve has is just that much better than the others available too… @steveb4 where did you find yours?
most came from rareseeds.com some came from the thestrawberrystore.com. yellow wonder, white soul and alexandria from rareseeds and bowlenzauber and pineapple crush from strawberrystore. very productive compared to wild alpines. huge berries. they are so productive i rarely get all the berries. i prefer the white ones for flavor and the birds leave them alone. pineapple crush is crazy productive.
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i find as they get older and bigger the middle of the plant isnt productive so its best to separate them at that point.
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they grow great in pots in almost full shade. they fry in direct sun in or out of pots. only strawberry ive grown to prefer shade. they like alot of water and mulch is a must to keep the roots cool.
No thank you. After growing mara des bois, I’m never growing another small strawberry. We have bred giant strawberries, so why settle for small ones? I get all the points you listed, but its not enough to overcome their size.
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I find larger berries to be more watery or bland in general. Maybe I’m missing something but I love my mara des bois. Most of mine grow to a medium size berry. Some of my Alpines produced bigger berries in their second year but still only a small berry. The flavor in comparison is however night and day!
Is that the best tasting strawberry?
It has that reputation. At least among day neutral varieties. I went with the hype and got myself a few this year. So far the birds have beaten me to them almost every time so I’m not sure if they’re really a match for the summer bearing ones. Size doesn’t matter to me as much as taste does.
I have a small row of Alpines and my own cross of Rügen and wild strawberry that sends out runners. Most of my garden strawberries are also day neutral which is a game changer if I could just keep the critters out of them.
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I’m not recommending them in place of regular strawberries, I have a much larger garden bed filled with modern red ones. But I also have a small area in my garden that gets very little sunlight in comparison and not much else would grow there in regards to fruiting plants. Plus white strawberries taste nothing like modern red ones. I made this post to let people know they exist and are pretty great plants, I didn’t make it stating that these should replace anything.
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i like them but no they arent big producers compared to the large strawberries but taste better than the bigger ones. they are alot bigger than the wild ones with the wild taste. i grow mara des bois and i really like them also.
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