Really Sweet Strawberries?

Strawberries now are not very sweet. But I'm sure there are some varieties still around that are sweet and yield well. I especially need a variety that can take cooler weather. Anybody have a suggestion?

Look for Everbearing varieties...

Yeah, I know you keep looking and I seem to be the only one with replies even though they are not optimum.

WHERE are the strawberry growers?

I am very thankful for you, darius. We started some ever-bearing ones this year; they did well for the 1st year. They were Alexandrias and I got them at the GA RU. We tried to grow some Alpines from seed, only got 1 out 100 seeds!

My Alpines have only done marginally, but they have been transplanted 4-5 times in 18 months.

well, du-uh. that would definitely be a setback.
Where are the strawberry growers?

woodspirit1, check with your county extension office for recommendations. Down here on the GA coast, I plant Chandler strawberries. I plant my crop in October. I made the mistake of not getting recommendations for my area, and I totally wasted my time (and energy) with other varieties.

I actually thought of that and put a reminder on my in-car recorder my spousal unit bought for me last Christmas. I drive 20 miles; takes about 1/2 hour to work and think of or remember all kinds of things to do so I put them in that little recorder. Of course, I forgot to call today.

I found some really, really sweet strawberries but they were growing wild.

Some were on the top of Pat's Knob, Plains, Montana. Very small but bursting with flavor.

I also found many small sweet strawberries growing wild in Gustavus, Alaska. Same story. Very small and very sweet.

Probaby does not help much but maybe you can locate some wild ones near you?

Yes, we have wild ones and that is how I know what strawberries are supposed to taste like. But they are so small that it would be hard to find enough for a shortcake or pie. I am calling my horticulture agent and will post what he says.

A thought on your poor germination for the Alpine varieties: I ordered seeds from territorial, and they did fine, but their instructions included having the seeds spend several weeks in the freezer. I now have a nicely multiplying patch of alpines in the back yard, which I hope will naturalize and spread further, and they're also great in containers. As noted, it would take lots and lots of them to fill a pie, but they are fabulous to munch in the garden.

I was going to start a thread asking about the most flavorful strawberry varietes (I don't care if they're a little sour and need sugar; I'm just looking for intense strawberry flavor), but now I think I'll take your advice and check with the extension agent. I've also had good luck getting recommendations from the folks at the local Southern States store... they carry all sorts of ag-related stuff and have given me advice on everything from chooseing seed potatoes to eliminating groundhogs.

If the "Chandler" strawberry is recommended for your area, try it! It is a HUGE, sweet strawberry

Wow, thanks Pete. I checked with my extension agent and he recommeded Earliglow. I ordered some of them. Will check out Chandler. Do you know where I can buy the plants?

Gurney's has Earliglow, 25 plants for $8.95.

They have an internet special going on where you can get $40 worth of stuff for $20 (and I think you can include your shipping in that total). They also sometimes send out catalogs with a coupon to get $20 worth free, no strings attached, which is how I started ordering from Gurney's last year....

I just checked my Miller nursery catalog (good source for all kinds of berries), and they have Earliglow too, 25 for $7.95.

FYI, Earliglow is a June bearer rather than an everbearer, don't know if that matters to you.

I already ordered Earliglow from Park's seed. I need to know where to buy Chandler's plants. I read up on Chandler's and it appears to do fine in our cooler climate.

I ordered my Chandler plants from a place out in California. I have all of that information saved on another computer that is experiencing difficulty connecting to the internet at the moment. Grrrrrrrr! The computer guy is supposed to fix it this Tuesday. As soon as I can, I'll post the information you're looking for. Sorry for the delay.

Terri

BTW, Chandler is a popular commercial variety. The people that sell its plugs usually have a minimum order requirement of 1,000 - 2,000 plugs.

I found it!!! I had posted about this place here at DG a while back and just searched through my posts to find out the name. Here's the place I ordered from.

http://www.lassencanyonnursery.com/default.htm

I'm surprised that Chandler's sweet because most that bear big berries and are raised commercially, are dry and definitely not sweet. My spousal unit found a website that said they were grown in NC successfully.

They are terrific! Up the road from me is a place called "The Bamboo Farm." It's part of the county extension service. They have a huge "pick your own" plot of Chandler strawberries. After I tasted theirs, I decided to plant my own. They are soooooooo good! People drive for miles to go to "The Bamboo Farm" to pick them.

Terri

Where is Richmond Hill? Maybe I can go by when I go to the GARU. Are you coming?

What, where, and when is the GARU? Is this the roundup?

The strawberries should be at their peak at the Bamboo Farm in April. The Bamboo Farm has a Savannah address, but it's really a little south of the city limits. It's on Hwy. 17.

Richmond Hill is about 30 minutes south of Savannah. It's a very small town of almost 10,000 people, give or take a few. It's a wonderful place to live, and I have to drive right past the Bamboo Farm to go to Savannah. How convenient, eh? LOL

Terri

This GARU stands for Georgia Round-up. Go to the round-up forum and you will find 2 active threads now. One is the sign-up list and the other is details about the site. We have 42 people signed up now....
*Sigh* Dear Lord, how I miss Savannah..........

Thanks for the link to Lassen! I think I'm going to order from there. Since I'm in Calif. the plants won't have too far to go. I think I'm going to plant a variety of them so that I've got berries all season. I'm looking at the Earliglow, Quinault, and Ozark Beauty. I know our local Lowes carries the last two but I would hope to get better plants from Lassens.
-Juli

Thanks, Woodspirit. I just checked out the GA Round-Up. I hope I can come! I've never been to one before, and it looks like a lot of fun. Plus, I'll finally be able to put faces to all of my gardening friend's names. :-) I can't commit 100% to coming just yet, so I'll wait until I know for sure.

Juli, I was very impressed with Lassens. Nice folks, and my plants arrived in GA in great shape. I'll be ordering from them again next fall. I don't plant Chandler strawberries in my part of the world until October.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2005 12:06 PM

Pete, last year we went for a meal at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes." It's the only living and operating movie set intact. The whole town was only a block long!

You're kidding! How cool. :-) I sent Darius an email earlier to get the scoop on the RU. I really want to come, and I am planning on it. I'm just not 100% sure if I can get away then, and I won't know for sure until some time in late March. However, I am very optimistic, so much so that I sowed MORE tomato seeds. I want to give everyone some tomato plants for their gardens. It's a "from me to you" kind of gift. :-)

Terri

So pray that I can get away! Or else I'm going to be paying people to take tomato plants off my hands. LOL

So Pete is actually Terri? I can't wait to meet you. Just harangue everyone involved at home and work about how you "NEED" this little trip.
Not sure what I will bring but for sure some liriope (Monkey Grass). I have a dark green variety, the tips of the leaves do not get raggedy like other varieties and the bloom stalk has particularly dark blue/purple blooms. I will have a lot of that. Probably one Meadow Rue, too. I may also have some brugmansias. I rooted more than I can use this fall.
I'm hoping for some tomato seedlings that have the name "mountain" in front of them like Mountain Pride. They will do better in my cooler climate.

Oh yes, I'm a she and not a he. Long story about my nickname... LOL

That's one tomato variety I don't have, woodspirit. Sorry. Is Mountain Pride a hybrid or an heirloom?

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/30850/index.html

It's a hybrid that was bred to handle our cooler mountain weather.

Farmerdill, why did you give it a neutral rating? What did you like/dislike about it?

I have not personnaly grown any of the mountain series developed by N.C. State . I use neutral whenever I add information but am not making the comment from experience. This entire series is well thought of as fresh market tomatoes. There is one "Monte Verde" that is open pollinated. Why haven't I grown it?. I grow very few round reds prefering pink and yellow beefsteaks.