Strawberries

Botanical Name: Fragaria

Plant Type: Fruit

USDA Hardiness Zones: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Sun Exposure: Full Sun Soil Type: Loamy Soil pH: Slightly Acidic to Neutral

The natural sugar in the berries begins converting to starch as soon as it is plucked from the plant, fruit become tart with grainy texture. Strawberry plants come in three types:

Day-Neutral: Insensitive to day length, these varieties produce buds, fruits and runners continuously if temperature remains between 35 and 85. Production is less than that of Junebearers.

Everbearer: These varieties form buds during the long days of summer and the short days of autumn. The summer-formed buds flower and fruit in autumn, and the autumn-formed buds fruit the following spring.

Junebearer: Length-of-day sensitive, these varieties produce buds in the autumn, flowers and fruits the following spring, and runners during the long days of summer.

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Notes

Summer 2014

Success! This years strawberries went into the upside down planters Mom & Dad gave us for Christmas and we've finally been able to eat some actual strawberries. The planters are difficult for chipmunks to scale and are so close to the house that the birds are too timid to mess with them. Love it! I guessed at the amount of soil to use in the planters this year and it seemed to work ok but next year I'll be putting in maybe 30% more.

Summer 2013

Tried moving the pot closer to the house but the chipmunks still take almost everything. Tried netting this year but that was a lot of trouble to set up and didn't even slow down the thieves.

Summer 2012

Got some actual fruit this year, though not much. Still losing almost everything to chipmunks. They do seem to be doing better in an actual pot though.

Summer 2011

Tried growing strawberries on the deck this year in a plastic 'strawberry' pot. Not very successful, and what did grow was eaten by the chipmunks. May try a different pot next year.