I grew up on a rather small farm with a ~3 acre strawberry operation.
My favorite variety was Red Chief. My Dad said there weren't any
decent everbearing varieties, so we only grew Junebearing.

About 10 years ago, I tried a bed of everbearers. I was not told the
variety when I bought them, only that the company had "too much" of this
specific variety. They didn't amount to much.

I have a small area I'm considering planting to strawberries again,
and was wondering if there have been any everbearing varieties worth
mentioning that may have come out in the past 10 years?

I like the idea of getting a few berries here and there for a long
season. However, my experience has been closer to having healthy
looking plants, and a berry once a week - even with 80 plants.

Thanks!

In article ,
Ohioguy wrote:

I grew up on a rather small farm with a ~3 acre strawberry operation.
My favorite variety was Red Chief. My Dad said there weren't any
decent everbearing varieties, so we only grew Junebearing.

About 10 years ago, I tried a bed of everbearers. I was not told the
variety when I bought them, only that the company had "too much" of this
specific variety. They didn't amount to much.

I have a small area I'm considering planting to strawberries again,
and was wondering if there have been any everbearing varieties worth
mentioning that may have come out in the past 10 years?

I like the idea of getting a few berries here and there for a long
season. However, my experience has been closer to having healthy
looking plants, and a berry once a week - even with 80 plants.

There's definitely something to be said for that big glut of fruit in
June (or July for those of us up north) when nothing else in the garden
is doing much yet. Freeze them and you're good, and you know which one
you like. Could be your dad was right.

I've been growing alpines (fragaria) for a while, and have just started
shifting them to dedicated full-sun full-compost garden beds, having
tried them as "edible edging plants" and found that the ones parked in
better spots in the garden managed a whole lot more edible fruit than
the ones playing at "edging." I think they are "red wonder" - supposedly
the yellow ones have less bird problems - I don't know if the birds read
that or not, or if moles/voles/mice/snails care so much about color,
though, and I have a variety of things competing for what I grow. When I
covered the blueberry bed to keep the birds off, the mice were
delighted...

They are like a large wild strawberry, nothing like a commercial
strawberry for size.

I'll be interested to see what else comes up here. I'm trying to shift
more garden production to fruits - I'm actually trying another
strawberry that's supposed to be larger and EB, but won't have results
worth mentioning for another year or two, so I'll leave that out of this
until then.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

I really liked the flavor of the wild strawberries that used to grow
out in our yard near several of the trees. They didn't yield enough to
get more than a small handful, but the taste was wonderful.

So the consensus on everbearing strawberries is that they aren't
really worth it?

I was in that boat a few years ago, trying to expand my growing horizons. You're already off to a better start than me though, I see you spaced them out a bit...something I didn't think about until it was too late

They grew pretty easily for me, kept them on the same schedule as my MJ and they eventually 'berried'. Here's my example of what not to do...

Good luck! Mine were delicious despite my lack of know how, so yours should be even better

Ohioguy wrote:
I really liked the flavor of the wild strawberries that used to grow
out in our yard near several of the trees. They didn't yield enough to
get more than a small handful, but the taste was wonderful.

So the consensus on everbearing strawberries is that they aren't
really worth it?

i have Ozark (i think, i'll know for sure in a bit
when the greenhouse guy gets his stock in for the
season) and they taste fine to me.

had three crops last season, almost a fourth,
this season might be able to do four since it
is looking to start earlier.

full sun is important and rich soil that has
good moisture content. if you are shaded or using
sandy poor soil then the crop will be less.

during the mid summer when it gets really hot
i have a cover crop of beans for shade.

this year i'll have about 1500 Honeoye June
bearing and 50 (Ozark) everbearing. we'll see
how it goes...


songbird

On Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:59:16 -0400, Ohioguy wrote:

I grew up on a rather small farm with a ~3 acre strawberry operation.
My favorite variety was Red Chief. My Dad said there weren't any
decent everbearing varieties, so we only grew Junebearing.

About 10 years ago, I tried a bed of everbearers. I was not told the
variety when I bought them, only that the company had "too much" of this
specific variety. They didn't amount to much.

I have a small area I'm considering planting to strawberries again,
and was wondering if there have been any everbearing varieties worth
mentioning that may have come out in the past 10 years?

I like the idea of getting a few berries here and there for a long
season. However, my experience has been closer to having healthy
looking plants, and a berry once a week - even with 80 plants.

Thanks!

Can't really answer to ever bearing berries but Early Glows are
wonderful. I think we tried some ever bearing and were unimpressed.
Early Glows have a great flavor. They will not transport well which
is why you do not see them in the grocery stores.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html

On Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:27:54 -0400, Ohioguy wrote:

I really liked the flavor of the wild strawberries that used to grow
out in our yard near several of the trees. They didn't yield enough to
get more than a small handful, but the taste was wonderful.

So the consensus on everbearing strawberries is that they aren't
really worth it?

not everyone thinks the same. My dad grows an everbearing strawberry.
No idea on the name, but he's been tending the same patch for 12 years
or so.

The strawberries are a little smaller than the average store-boughts.
But the flavor will knock your socks off. They don't keep more
than a day or two after picking. But the flavor. . . .

I'll see him this weekend. I'll ask if he knows what variety he has.
[this is in upstate NY]

Jim