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8 medium-sized strawberries contain 140% of the U.S. RDA for Vitamin C. Bet our fresh organic ones have more!
Here is what some people think about bare root: Bare root in simple terms, means a savings to the consumer of 40 to 60 percent, and in many cases a more vigorous specimen. With bare root planting, roots grow directly into native soil – the same soil they will remain in during the plant’s life-span. Hence, no transition, and no dissimilar soils. Containerized soil is sometimes too adverse for its to-be-planted environment. Roots may refuse to absorb moisture from surrounding soil. These adversities can cause death or slow root growth. And they don’t use a plastic container.
However, most of the commercial literature online leans toward planting from ‘plugs.’ Advantages of plugs: not exposed to plant pathogens, earlier fruits, need less water to get started, it’s not critical to get your plants in the ground the same day or ASAP.
It’s best to buy varieties that are known to do well here locally. Our local nurseries carry those. Planting time is critical. Studies by UC Ag Extension paid for by growers, have proved that berries planted between Nov 1 to 10 get winter chill at the precise moment in their growing schedule to trigger fruit production rather than foliage. When planted at the wrong time, they put out runners but little if any fruit. Our local (Santa Barbara) growers plant Nov 1 – 5. If that changes due to weather patterns, plant when they plant.
3 Types of Strawberries
Deciding on whether to plant June Bearing, Everbearing, or Day Neutral strawberries depends on your available space, size of preferred strawberries and how much work you want to put into the strawberries.
- Everbearing (spring, summer, fall) and Day Neutral (unaffected by day length and will fruit whenever temperatures are high enough to maintain growth) are sweet. They will not need much space and both are great for plant hangers. If you choose to plant them in the garden, be prepared to spend time weeding and fertilizing the plants. Everbearing: Sequoia, medium, heavy producer Day Neutral/Everbearing: Seascape, bred in the Santa Barbara area at UCSB, large, firm, more heat and drought tolerant, Strawberry Spot resistant
- June Bearing, mid June, strawberries produce a nice, large and sweet berry. Because they only produce for 2 to 3 weeks, there is not so much work to take care of them. You do, however, need space because of the many runners they produce. They are classified into early, mid-season and late varieties. Chandler, large, high yield, large quantities of small fruit later in season. Short day, Camarosa is large. It can be picked when fully red though it isn’t ripe yet – good for commercial shipping, and still have a ‘long shelf life.’ This variety represents almost half of California’s current commercial acreage. Short day, Oso Grande is a firm, large berry, with a steadier production period than Chandler.
Do not plant strawberries where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplant have been grown in the past four years, because these crops carry the root rot fungus Verticillium which also attacks strawberries.
Though strawberries like well manured and composted soil, no overfeeding! You will get magnificent leaves, lots of runners, less or no fruit. If you unknowingly make that mistake, water like crazy, maybe a good 45 minutes, 2, 3 times over the period of a week. Rain and watering leach Nitrogen from the soil.
Some plants, like strawberries and blueberries, need slightly acidic soil. When their soil is right, plants fend off diseases better and produce like crazy. So get the right compost, the azalea, camellia type. Some strawberries don’t have deep roots, but others do, so digging in shovel depth deep is great. The variety Seascape, a prolific large berried strawberry bred at UCSB for SoCal production, does have long roots. They feed well, reach deep for water, and it shows!
Plants like strawberries, that tend to attract fungal spores, benefit from worm castings! Castings contain anti-fungal chemicals that help kill the spores of black spot and powdery mildew, and probably strawberry spot!
It is said to get the most berries, remove the flowers the first year, letting the plants get established. The second year plants produce the most, third year production tapers off. I don’t know anyone who removes the first year flowers! The plants do just fine, in fact, commercial growers replace their plants each year for maximum returns! Plus, it is just too tempting to simply eat the berries!
Keep letting your strawberry runners grow for Oct harvest. Store them in the coldest part of your fridge for them to get chilled. Plant in January. OR. Let the babies grow through winter and get the earliest spring berries, like even in April and May, well ahead of the standard June harvests! Very carefully remove old parent plants. If the roots are entangled, cut the parent plant off just below the crown. If you replace your strawberries annually, as commercial growers do, in Santa Barbara area try Seascape, bred locally at UCSB. Seascapes are big fill-your-palm plentiful berries, firm, tasty, store well, are strawberry spot resistant! They have strong roots that gather plenty of nutrition. Plan ahead! Call ahead, earliest January, to get the date bareroots arrive – they go fast! Seascapes and other varieties are available as transplants later if you miss the January window. If you will be planting bareroot berries in January for April eating, remove old plants.
Warning! There are about a trillion super tasty ways to eat strawberries, but be careful! EWG, Environmental Working Group, 2022 report lists Strawberries as having the #1 amount of pesticides of all fruits and vegetables. Strawberries have topped the list as the most pesticide-laden fruit for the past six years. EWG testing revealed that 90% of strawberries contained at least one pesticide, and 30% of the crop had traces of 10 or more different toxins. Grown organically at home they have none! You don’t have to have a garden, A sunny window and a strawberry pot will do the job! It’s like growing your berries in a greenhouse! Be safe and don’t feed your children toxic strawberries.
And how many seeds does the average strawberry have? 200! And can you plant them? You betcha! Strawberries are kinda like natural seedballs. The easiest way to plant them is to just throw the bug-eaten or overripe ones where you think you would like a plant to grow and let them lay right there on the ground. Nature takes over. One day when you have forgotten all about it, there’s a strawberry plant!
Updated 8.27.22
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection newsletter started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA, Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both remaining Santa Barbara City community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are in a fog belt/marine layer area most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is.
Green Bean Connection 