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The Garden Plot for March 27, 2009
3:55 PM - 4:00 PM
[Program Website]
Today's Highlight: “Strawberry Varieties”
Now is a good time to start planning a strawberry bed for spring planting. Strawberries can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. Plants are tough, as long as you keep the roots from drying out during planting – keep them in a bucket of compost tea until the holes are dug. Strawberries do best in raised beds amended with a rich, high nutrient compost. Raised beds concentrate nutrients, improve drainage, and reduce diseases such as gray mold and leaf spot.
There are three kinds of strawberries. JUNE BEARING is the most common kind. They produce a single crop early each summer, usually late June in our area. 'Honeoye’, 'Redcoat,' 'Sparkle,' 'Veestar,' 'Glooscap' and 'Catskill' are hardy varieties for our area. Honeoye was the favorite in our variety trials. ‘Vibrant’ is a Canadian variety that shows some resistance to gray mold.
EVERBEARING, or fall-bearing, kinds of strawberries produce two crops each season. Unfortunately, their flavor and quality are not as good as June-bearing cultivars, but they produce over an extended period of time. 'Ogallala,' 'Gem,' ‘Streamliner”, 'Fort Laramie' and 'Red Rich' are recommended for our area. 'Quinault' is reported to be resistant to common leaf spot disease.
DAY-NEUTRAL strawberries are the third kind of strawberry. They are a more recent development. Unlike June-bearing strawberries, Day Neutral kinds produce all season long and are tasty and productive. Results with day neutral strawberry varieties have been mixed in Western Montana. “Fern’, 'Tribute,' 'Tristar' and 'Hecker' have produced well for the first year, and often the second year after planting. But the third year, crops seem to drop off dramatically. Thus, it is probably best to replace day-neutral types every third year.
Plant June-bearing and Everbearing strawberries about 16-20 inches apart in rows 2 to 4 feet apart. Make sure the soil covers the roots but, do NOT cover plant crowns. The crowns are the bulbous, brown part of the strawberry plant from which leaves emerge. Plant day-neutral plants closer, about 6 inches apart.
It’s always tempting to try for berries the first year, but for better root establishment, remove the flowers of June-bearing plants the first season. Remove only the spring, first crop flowers on Everbearing plants. If they establish well, you can let flowers set later in the summer for the fall crop. Remove flowers on day-neutral varieties for the first 6-8 weeks and then let them flower and fruit.
Strawberry plants produce fewer fruits over time as plants get crowded and start to compete for plant nutrients. Every fall, mow all the plants about 2 inches high to remove the leaves, but not damage the crowns. Every third year, till walkways where you need them, and rake over the remaining plants to remove weak runners and weeds. Thin the remaining healthy plants to about 6 inches apart. Then, top dress the plants with approximately 50 lbs of compost per 100 square feet, and irrigate them thoroughly.
For more information on growing strawberries, contact your local county extension agent.
Helen Atthowe's new short program of gardening tips
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