I recently purchased the following book through Amazon.com. It is out of print but they carry used books from time to time. It’s a must read if you are interested in the history of strawberries.
A History of the Strawberry: From Ancient Gardens to Modern Markets by Stephen and Sagen, James Wilhelm
There is a full chapter about the Virginia strawberry. My favorite chapter is about Pine Strawberries. I sell ‘White Carolina’ which is even mentioned in this book.
Hi Mike.
I received great plants. Was a little worried at first because the box looked like it’d been dropped and broken open in shipment. But all the plants arrived (the day after you shipped, as it turns out), and they recovered quickly and now look very healthy. Most already have a few blooms.
Thanks again,
Customer from Texas
Our first video was published this week on YouTube. We are making an effort to provide informational videos about our business and about how we do things to help you grow your gourmet strawberies. Here’s the first:
Musk strawberries are not well known in North America. Their scientific name is Fragaria moschata. They are genetically different than alpines and garden hybrids. Under normal conditions, they will not cross with either alpines, garden hybrids or virginia strawberries because they are a different species.
One very important thing you need to know about this type of strawberry is that they are NOT self-pollinating. For best fruit set plant more than one variety.
You should also know that they are June Bearing types which means that they produce one crop per year. Here in zone 7 we get real late season blooms for a second crop but have not had a second crop yet. In warmer zones I would guess that you might get another crop. This surprises me since I thought they would need a cooling period to set flowers again.
I was first introduced musks about 20 years ago. It just so happens that a large strawberry nursery in Delaware (where I now live) was offering them. I had no clue what I would get when I ordered a few plants.
I will say that initially I was turned off by musks. The plants are VERY aggressive. They just took over an area. For this reason they make a good ground cover and will fill an area quickly. The plants are also taller than your “typical” strawberry. I have seen them 16″ tall and they can get taller if grown in shade. They do need full sun to produce well. They also have the same requirements as other strawberries in terms of nutrition though I have yet to over fertilize them for fear that they will spread even faster.
And, when it comes to taste, they are not ANYTHING like any strawberry you have every tasted. I was particularly attracted to the taste initially but now I LOVE them and can’t get enough - same for my wife. In fact, she MADE me plant a bed this past fall so we would have more. They seem to freeze well though you will need a pretty big patch to have enough left over to freeze.
Back to taste. The fruit is not pretty necessarily nore is it large. Here’s a photo:
It’s a bit of an art knowing when to harvest them as well. They are not necessarily all red when ripe. You learn as you go by picking and eating. If they are soft to the touch and release easy they are ready. As you can see from the photo, not all the caps came with the berries. Some caps come off and some don’t.
Musks are VERY fragrant. The air is just full of their aroma when some are ripe. Once you have associated the aroma with this fruit you will never forget.
The taste is another thing. It’s impossible for me to describe. I’m sure a chef could describe them. Last spring I took samples of alpines and musks to a chef in PA at an excellent restaurant in Fairhill called the Fairhill Inn. Both chefs happened to be there when I brought the samples. I’m sure they could try to describe them and probably have by now. They just kept trying more fruit and the looks on their faces were priceless.
I have described the taste as a combination of strawberry, raspberry and pineapple. That’s not accurate because there are other tastes there. You just have to try them and try to describe them yourself.
For spring 2010 we will not have as many plants available as we have in the past. A lot of this is due to our concentrating on alpines and getting more involved with virginia strawberries. We do carry 3 varieties. The standards are ‘Capron’ and ‘Profumata di Tortona’. We are the only grower in North America to our knowledge that carries a third. This third variety is from Eastern Europe and is named ‘Rosea’ or ‘Rozeya’.
We hope you’ll try this type of strawberry sometime. We’d love to hear your thoughts and how you describe the taste.
Mike:
My plants arrived amid the blizzard of 2010 here in Atlanta so I put the box on the back stoop so that it wouldn’t completely thaw and wouldn’t be out in the 20 degree temps until I get them in the ground. I thought I might open the box a day or two ago just to make sure they were not in plastic (I have sometimes had this happen) and they were beautiful and even had a few blooms. Thank you so much. I will give them a little water and try to get them in the ground this week.
I wanted to make a comment or two about production that one can expect from different sized transplants. A few days ago I posted pictures of starter plants and quick starts. There is a huge difference in size, right? What does this mean for production.
Obviously, if you transplanted a starter plant and a quick start on the same day there would be a big difference in production. The starter plant likely has 1-2 more months before it will produce the first flower. Sometimes, later in the spring season, starter plants are starting to flower. But, a starter plant doesn’t have enough of a base, roots, and plant size to support much fruit.
Quick Starts are usually in bloom or have bloomed already when they are shipped. By have bloomed I mean that quick starts shipped in the fall and winter were blooming the past fall. Once they start growing again they will flower fairly quickly.
So, how much production can one expect from the two sizes. I have “eyeballed” some of the trials I have conducted over the last several years and will make some VERY general observations. If both sizes are planted in the spring, the Quick Start will produce more than twice the number of fruit that the starter plant will produce. And, the size of the fruit from the Quick Start will be substantially larger.
Starter plants are an economical way to get started growing alpines. You will get fruit the first season. If you live in a northern area with a short growing season you won’t get a lot of fruit. Farther south with a longer growing season and the possibility of getting a fall crop, you will get more fruit.
Quick Starts planted in the spring will be in a position the following year to produce nearly a full crop. If planted in the fall, quick starts can produce a fairly decent crop the next spring.
I’m sorry that this is not more clear, but that’s what happens when one is generalizing. Make comments if you need further explanation.
You probably are sick of hearing terms that you don’t understand. I hear them all the time and wonder if someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
Here, I’m going to try to set the record straight on the products that I sell - at least pot size, not plug trays. Standard horticultural flats are 10″ x 20″ x 1.5″ deep. Everyone in the industry refers to them as 1020’s. There are various inserts that fit into a standard flat. The one I call a starter plant is in a 1206. This means that there are 12 paks of 6 plants that fit into the flat. That means that there are a total of 72 plant in a 1020 flat. They are fairly small as you can imagine. Just for your information, strawberry plants in this size take about 3 months to grow at near optimal conditions. The size of starter plants are shown in the picture below - the “72″ is the one on the far left (my thumb is shown to add perspective).
Strawberry Plant Containers
The plant is the middle is known as a 32. I’m no longer selling this size because I have found that they do not overwinter well under the conditions in our nursery.
Quick Starts as I call them are shown in the picture on the far right. These are what are known in the industry as 1801’s. There are 18 plants in single “pots”. They are perforated and come apart from each other like the 6 paks do. The size of each of these plants is 3.25″ square by 3.5″ tall. They are actually taller than the flat that holds them. It takes about 4 months from seeding to have a nice, well-rooted Quick Start plant. Quick Starts overwinter nicely under our conditions here in Delaware. Of course, they have to be mulched with straw.
So, the next obvious question is “how much fruit will I get from a starter plant vs a Quick Start”. The answer isn’t simple because it all depends on when you plant them and where you are. Where you are dictates how long the season will be, all assuming that they are being planted indoors instead of in pots.
Let me get into that in the next post since it’s a separate subject from container size. But, you get the drift about size. Now, you can get an inkling about why the plants are priced differently.
I have grown alpines in containers for many years and prefer to grow them that way. They are very hardy. They were originally discovered high in the Swiss Alps. Plants that are well established in large pots need minimal protection. One option is to move them into an unheated shed. What I do is put a little fence around them making the enclosure at least 6″ larger than the pots and about 6″ taller. I then fill the space around the pots and on top of them with straw. Some people wrap their plants in bubble wrap or black roofing paper. I don’t advise that because both of those materials can cause heating and a freeze thaw cycle. All they need is some protection to moderate the temperatures and cut down the ups and downs.
We ship strawberry plants nearly year-round. Right now it’s cold outside. We have not been above freezing for a couple of weeks. Yes, I’m talking about the daytime high not being above freezing. It’s rough out here on the frozen tundra of Delaware.
Despite the cold, I have been shipping Quick Starts. I dig them out from under the straw that covers them and break them loose from their trays. Most times they have fine roots that have penetrated through the ground cover and these roots are broken off when I’m pulling the orders.
Many of the leave are still green though frozen solid. Some leaves are yellow or dead. I don’t clean off the yellow and dead leaves under these conditions. I have found that doing so can break off the whole stem. Instead, I wrap them in newspaper and send them off, most times still frozen.
They will likely thaw out on the way depending on where they are being shipped to. My advice to those receiving them is to allow the plants to gradually adjust to their new surroundings. I would suggest no warmer than the 40’s at first. If you’re lucky enough to live where it doesn’t get that low, then your lowest temperature or coolest area.
I think it’s best to just put the plants outdoors with protection. They were covered with straw here. If you have straw, put them outdoors in a spot where the straw won’t blow away or use fencing or something to keep the straw in place. Cover them with 3-5″ of loose straw. Use the courser straw, not fine straw which can smother them. In the absence of straw, do not use wood mulch. Use pine needles instead. I don’t recommend leaves as they will pack down and smother the plants.
If you feel that you need them inside for whatever reason, put them in the coolest area and gradually warm them up over a couple of weeks like you’re simulating spring. Isolate them from other houseplants and give them as much sun as possible. Keep them moist but not soaking wet and allow them to dry out a bit before watering them again.
If possible, transplant them a few days after they have thawed out and adjusted to their new environment. I like to put Quick Starts into 6 or 8″ pots with well drained soil. This would also be a good time to clean off the yellowing and dead leaves. Don’t pull them off, snip them off with a garden shears or scissors.
Good luck. Please let me know if you have other questions about receiving plants in the winter.
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Mid Atlantic Berry Guide
I get a lot of questions about growing strawberries in general. Here is one of a number of great resources. It’s called the Mid-Atlantic Berry guide and includes strawberries and other types of berries. It has a wealth of information that can be used to grow other species of strawberries like alpines. Garden varieties and alpine strawberries have very similar needs in terms of nutrition and other needs. Here’s a link to this guide:
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/MAberryGuide.htm