Strawberries

[snagfinder]

Apparently Im planting strawberries this year just curious in anyone knows a good everbearing plant that grows good in south central MN climate. Maybe they all do. The only thing I know about

strawberries is I like to eat them. 

 

[delcecchi]

41 minutes ago, snagfinder said:

Apparently Im planting strawberries this year just curious in anyone knows a good everbearing plant that grows good in south central MN climate. Maybe they all do. The only thing I know about

strawberries is I like to eat them. 

 

Your tax dollars at work.  UMN extension has a lot of good information

https://google.umn.edu/search?q=strawberries&site=mnext_public&client=mnext_public&proxystylesheet=mnext_public&output=xml_no_dtd

 

This one to start...

http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/strawberries-for-the-home-garden/

 

Looks like Ogalla (everbearing) and Seascape or Albion (day neutral) are recommended.   

 

Quote

Ever-bearing types produce two crops, one in early summer and the second in early fall. Day neutral plants are capable of producing flowers and thus fruit throughout most of the growing season

 

[snagfinder]

I looked at that web site earlier just thought maybe someone has first hand experience with something that worked good for them.

[Duffman]

Mine never make it past the bunny and deer food stage, so I gave up.

[delcecchi]

 

2 hours ago, snagfinder said:

I looked at that web site earlier just thought maybe someone has first hand experience with something that worked good for them.

 

Yeah, the university extension folks and people who study that stuff do.   Or, ask your local nursery what varieties are popular in your area.   It can be worth paying a little extra to get good advice.   You will want a variety that is hardy in your area. 

[KEN W]

There are 3 kinds of strawberries.....June bearing, everbearing, and day neutral. June bearers get a lot of berries once in the summer. Everbearers get them twice and day-neutrals get them all summer. Day-neutrals sound great .....berries all summer.....but unless you have a lot of them....you get a handful every couple days. They are the ones you see in the grocery store. I have grown pretty much all the everbearers  and quite a few day neutrals

 

Depending on how many you want, you have a large number to choose from.Sold in packs of 25.

 

I prefer the everbearers. They will have berries in the early summer and again in fall. Not as many varieties to choose from. Ozark Beauty, Ogallala, and  Fort Laramie. Ogallala is a little tart. Ozark Beauty is questionable hardy. I would go with FT.Laramie. They are sweet and produce well. They are hardy with a straw cover in winter. In fact, I am getting 50 of those next month to plant at one of my daughter's house.  They will come from Jung's, located in Wisc.

 

They are planted 1 foot apart in double rows. Cut off all daughter plants and pick off all blossoms until August. Then let them blossom and produce fruit. Cover with 6 inches of straw after the ground freezes. DO NOT USE HAY. Bales of hay are full of weed seeds.

Edited March 29, 2018 by KEN W

[Juneau4]

Ogallala and Fort Laramie and plant them in Full Sunshine and follow KEN W advice.

[snagfinder]

Thanks guys I  will give them two a try

[snagfinder]

Maybe dumb question but if im planting them in a planter tower thing can both kind be planted together or just pick one.

[Mike89]

just picked some strawberries today, produce section was full of them!!  sorry couldn't resist!!!!

[smurfy]

2 hours ago, Mike89 said:

just picked some strawberries today, produce section was full of them!!  sorry couldn't resist!!!!

[KEN W]

4 hours ago, snagfinder said:

Maybe dumb question but if im planting them in a planter tower thing can both kind be planted together or just pick one.

No such thing as a dumb question...You can mix them up. But it is easier to group them separately because they will bloom and produce at different times. I believe the  Ogallala produces first. Easy to tell them apart.....Ogallala has darker green leaves than Ft. Laramie.

 

If you need soil to put in your tower.....use Garden Soil that has fertilizer in it from 1 of the box stores. I will be putting mine into three 3/6 raised beds. I will mix it with peat moss and composted cow manure.....all from 1 of the box stores.

 

 

[delcecchi]

Good to have a way to protect them from various varmints, if it turns out to be necessary. 

[ZachD]

Last year I had a big fat white floppy ear bunny eat my pepper and strawberry plants

My wife thinks it is the neighbors so I wasn't aloud to shoot it.

My dog almost had it too but she called him off

I guess I am going to have to try fencing this year.

 

All other varmints get a pellet to the head though

 

I like everberries better than juners

[Juneau4]

Robins may be your main concern. They definitely like my  berries.

[snagfinder]

20 hours ago, KEN W said:

No such thing as a dumb question...You can mix them up. But it is easier to group them separately because they will bloom and produce at different times. I believe the  Ogallala produces first. Easy to tell them apart.....Ogallala has darker green leaves than Ft. Laramie.

 

If you need soil to put in your tower.....use Garden Soil that has fertilizer in it from 1 of the box stores. I will be putting mine into three 3/6 raised beds. I will mix it with peat moss and composted cow manure.....all from 1 of the box stores.

 

 

Ace hardware went out of business next to where I work. That's kinda what started this whole idea when I seen the bags of potting soil and manure compost sitting there at 70% off.

12 hours ago, ZachD said:

Last year I had a big fat white floppy ear bunny eat my pepper and strawberry plants

My wife thinks it is the neighbors so I wasn't aloud to shoot it.

My dog almost had it too but she called him off

I guess I am going to have to try fencing this year.

 

All other varmints get a pellet to the head though

 

I like everberries better than juners

My neighborhood had about a dozen bunnies go missing last year after my peas kept getting eaten off.

[smurfy]

either i need a way better pellet shooter or something. i just put up a fence. living in town i'm limited to a pellet gun at most, and even then i dont trust my neighbors not to rat on me, one anyway, and i get pretty anal about worrying i'm going to have a pellet richocet and danage something of the neighbors!!!!!!

[Hoey]

46 minutes ago, smurfy said:

i get pretty anal about worrying i'm going to have a pellet richocet and danage something of the neighbors!!!!!!

...or you wing one that ends up on their front step.  Duh.

[delcecchi]

Found a dead racoon in the front yard a few days ago.   I have no idea what killed him.  He was laying in the snow near the driveway.  Wife said "there is a dead racoon there in the yard"  as we backed out of the driveway,  so the next day I looked and sure enough there was.   I don't know if it just died or was under the snow until it melted.  

 

I didn't have anything to do with its demise, honest.   

[Mike89]

24 minutes ago, delcecchi said:

Found a dead racoon in the front yard a few days ago.   I have no idea what killed him.  He was laying in the snow near the driveway.  Wife said "there is a dead racoon there in the yard"  as we backed out of the driveway,  so the next day I looked and sure enough there was.   I don't know if it just died or was under the snow until it melted.  

 

I didn't have anything to do with its demise, honest.   

should have sous Verdi it for dinner!!!

[delcecchi]

16 hours ago, Mike89 said:

should have sous Verdi it for dinner!!!

 

didn't know how long it had been there, or why it had died.   So eating it seemed like a bad idea.

[KEN W]

You will need netting to keep the robins from getting to them. They start pecking them as soon as they start to turn red. Either get bird netting from one of the box stores. Or go to a craft store and buy some green porous fabric. 

 

My dad had an interesting way to keep them out. Take some berry sized rocks and paint them red.Scatter them throughout your berries before they start to ripen. It won't take long for the birds to figure out to leave them alone.

[snagfinder]

Ready to give up on this experiment. Right after planting new growth sunburnt off. New shoots started to grow then pretty much wilted over and croaked. In the planter I used potting soil mixed with compost with manure is it maybe possible soil is to high in something like nitrogen or something? I put 60 plant in there to start figured on taking at least half out now I don't think even half show signs of life.

[KEN W]

Wow.....surprised, I planted 25 Fort Laramie everbearers last week and they all look like they are growing. All have new small leaves starting to show up. I will be planting 25 more plus 25 Cabot Junebearers at my daughter's new home next week. All came from Jungs Seeds.

 

I planted  them in pallets with every other board taken out. Used Miracle Grow garden soil that has 3 months fertilizer in it.

Edited May 9, 2018 by KEN W

[delcecchi]

8 hours ago, snagfinder said:

Ready to give up on this experiment. Right after planting new growth sunburnt off. New shoots started to grow then pretty much wilted over and croaked. In the planter I used potting soil mixed with compost with manure is it maybe possible soil is to high in something like nitrogen or something? I put 60 plant in there to start figured on taking at least half out now I don't think even half show signs of life.

Yes it is possible that the soil burned the plants, just like the grass where a dog urinates or if you drop too much lawn fertilizer in one place.  Or there could have been a fungus or something.   I have had plants that I transplanted rot right at the soil line and die.   Called damping off.   Also could have been bad plants that had been stored or handled improperly.