Gurney's Strawberry Food do I need it??

I'm putting in some strawberries this spring. Gurney's has this special "strawberry food"..... Does anybody have any experience with it? Will it do anything more for my plants than watering with Miracle Gro?

Please advise.

Thanks,
Jill

I would think that you definitly do not need Gurney's strawberry food. My choice would be to go with organic fertilzer available at many good companies in Dave's Garden Watchdog. If you don't want to bother with that, any garden center or hardware store can offer you different fertilizers for your gardening needs. Just ask them, They will be glad to help you. Also, many DG members will have some better ideas depending on if your stawberries are in the ground, in a container or a "grow-tube/bag". Good luck.

What variety are you putting in, critterologist?

I've amended the bed with compost, and I'll probably sprinkle in some granular organic fertilizer or maybe a little Ortho time release fertilizer when I plant, so maybe there's nothing magical about "strawberry food."

I was looking at the Ozark Beauty + Tristar combo that Gurney's is offering. They're going in a double row along the new walkway to the back deck, so I expect most of them will be eaten out of hand. :-) I don't think I can quite cram all 50 plants along the front of that bed, so I may put a dozen Tristar into a gro bag (they're supposed to be especially good in containers).

I'd really like to find a variety with intense strawberry flavor. I'd rather have a vey flavorful berry that can use a good dose of sugar added to it than a very sweet berry that doesn't taste of much other than sweetness. I know about alpine strawberries, in fact I have a patch, but what about intense flavor in a "regular" strawberry? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Jill

Hey, Pete2, I just found your posting on the "sweet strawberry" thread about where to get Chandler plants. I'll have to check into those (although that Gurney's certificate is just burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak). What sort of soil do you have, since they're doing so well for you? Our builder left us with nasty clay, but the side bed where the berries are going has been dug out and topped with 8 to 10 inches of nice topsoil, pH about 6.7, so I think strawberries would be generally OK there, but I wondered about the conditions in your bed.....

I live on the GA coast. My soil is mostly sand. Of course, I have added organic matter for many years to make it better. Our pH in these parts is very acidic. So much so that I usually have to add lime to my soil.

The thing about strawberries in my neck of the woods is that everybody recommends (with Chandler at least) that you replant your strawberry bed every year. The county extension service near me has a large "pick your own" plot of Chandler strawberries, and I know that they replant their beds every year. Yup, it's a real pain in the butt to do that, but they say to really get the large berries it's a "must do" thing. We plant Chandler strawberries in October in black plastic with drip irrigation. Strawberries HATE weeds, and the black plastic works very well. I did not plant strawberries last October. I was way too busy to even think about it. (Work, school, kids, etc,etc.) I'm going to plant them again next October though. Ah, there's nothing as good as a juicy,sweet strawberry, except maybe a juicy, vine ripened, old fashioned tasting tomato on two pieces of white bread with mayo, salt ,and pepper. Oh man, now my mouth is watering. :-)

This message was edited Jan 17, 2005 1:33 AM

Thanks! It's always helpful to know what works for somebody else when you're planting something that's new to you.

Be careful about dealing with Gurney's. I have had bad luck with their availability of plants. Take a look at their ratings on Garden Watchdog. I ordered from them last year and found out MUCH later that most of the things I wanted were out of stock. Check out Nourse Farms. They have 100% positive comment on the Watchdog and their prices are great. They supply many of the big mail-order companies.

Thanks. I did note that they'd been having some problems, but I had a $10 merchandise certificate from them. Together with their "buy $40, get $20 back" coupon, that was too good to pass up! Their seeds arrived promptly, so I'm hoping they've turned the corner. If they run out of strawberry plants, I can get some locally or just stick with propagating more alpine strawberries this year.

I do appreciate the recommendation for Nourse Farms, and I'll check for their web site! Thanks.