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camp10

How's your strawberries this year?

camp10
11 years ago

I have some, but they are quite small.

There's a mom-n-pop strawberry patch nearby. They decided not to open this year, because the crop was so poor.

My SIL belongs to a CSA, and she got a note that there won't be any strawberries in their share this year.

I'm guessing the warm early spring, followed by the cold snap is to blame.

How's your crop this year?

Comments (11)

  • franktank232
    11 years ago

    I've had an excellent year. I'm in southwest WI (just outside La Crosse), and while I had very early flowers get zapped by frost, a lot more flowers emerged and I ended up having a great crop. I had a lot of very big berries as well as many smaller ones. Some very sweet, some pretty bland. Overall, disease has been very low. Just a little mold here and there (and my bed is a mess! and doesn't get sunlight for many hours of the day). I've already potted up runners and plan on moving the bed later this summer.

    I haven't heard anything with the local crop, so my guess is its gone well. A lot of berries grown in this area. We are running at least 2 weeks early this year.

  • mrsg47
    11 years ago

    We had our first 'Mara des Bois' last night for dessert. They were delish! Many are large (first crop) and some were smaller. The smaller, the sweeter. They are great and there are many more on the way. No mold, disease. Built a cage around my berries so the squirrels and birds don't get them. Can't keep the voles out though. My Fraises des Bois are running rampant this year and have set so many berries! They are very tiny with little taste, but they are so beautiful. Mrs. G

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    Decent crop, despite losing the earliest blossoms to the freeze. Not enough left for jam, plenty to eat. But way, way early. Almost done now, when it would normally just be starting.

    Dry weather cut down on the mold.

  • canadianplant
    11 years ago

    Great year in NW ontario. My "patio temptation" thats been in the ground for 3 years had tripled in width and hight. Ill be getting berries in a few short weeks.

    The new ones I planted this year are also taking off in leaps and bounds.

  • fruitmaven_wiz5
    11 years ago

    This was going to be my first year with strawberries, since I just put them in last spring. The frost zapped a number of blooms, and the horrible 13-striped ground squirrels (or something) is eating each berry as it turns red. Ah well, I've gotten a handful, and the kids have scavenged some, but there is definitely not enough for jam. I'm already planning my next strawberry bed, hardware cloth on all sides and a hinged lid!

  • calliope
    11 years ago

    The crop came on three weeks early, due to the very warm weeks in late April, and then I had to cover them because of frost warning right after that, but I had a very heavy and very nice crop this year. Ate shortcakes, made ice box pies and then jam and enjoyed them over cereal and in bowls with milk and sugar.

    Last year I got tired of messing with the old strawberry patch down near our veggie garden, and transplanted the berries into two new raised beds on a terrace level near my orchard. The plants came up strapping and healthy this year and being in raised boxes, it allowed me to use netting when the berries started ripening to keep the birds and other critters out of them. I use a very stiff rather open weaved pond netting over a frame and it was open enough to still allow pollinators in and out to work the newer blossoms coming on. Best crop I ever had. We're in S.E. Ohio.

  • ohiogardener76
    11 years ago

    I have a curious issue with my strawberries that I planted 5 or 6 years ago. I planted Ozark Beauty, which is supposed to be ever-bearing. But ever since they were planted, I only get berries for two or three weeks in early June. They behave like June bearing berries! Has anyone ever had this issue with Ozark Beauties?

    This has actually been a decent year here in Ohio. The strawberries started blossoming in February, which is bizarre. And the first ripe ones appeared in the last week of May, which is early. But the quality of the fruit has been good, with minimal mold or disease.

    I've been growing my berries in the same plot of garden for at least five seasons with good results, save for two years ago when most of them rotted on the vine due to mold. I know they say you're supposed to replant every three years. But except for some smallish berries in the harvest, I have no complaints about yields. I've started fertilizing every year and changing the direction of the rows each season by mowing out new paths. Seems to be working.

  • jimnks
    11 years ago

    My strawberries were fair this year and 3 weeks early, even though I lost alot of plants last year after I renovated my patch due to the extreme heat last summer even though I watered them faithfully, I don't think I will renovate them again.
    Howelbama, I like the surecrop berries my dad raised them for years they seem to go good in my area (NE Kansas)good size but not as big as those in the stores but alot better flavor.
    Ohiogardener76, I had the same problem with Ozark Beauty they acted like June bearers I never got any blooms in the fall and the berries had good flavor but were to the smallish side.

  • armyofda12mnkeys
    11 years ago

    I had musk strawberries for first time this year. I planted 8 of them last year, and the runners became a couple hundred plants for me this year lol.

    They mostly taste like Kool-Aid grape and a strawberry. Very strong 'artificial grape flavor' mixed in. Really weird. not sure i like it yet, but it isn't bad. When its very soft it gets a better flavor, like a pineapple flavor thrown in hehe.

    I don't have time looking in my alpine strawberries everyday. Too small to enjoy. Might pull them.

  • leslieny
    11 years ago

    We planted Mara Des Bois from Nourse last year. During the summer, we got about a bowl a week of berries. This year, the three beds have expanded to eleven! So far, I have picked about 12 quarts (from the 50 plants bought last year plus their runners which we transplanted). We have had a ridiculous amount of rain, with rain 8 out of 12 days in June. The berries are good, but not as amazing as we remember. I wonder if the amount of rain waters down the flavor.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Mara des Bois strawberries, year 2