![[ Harvests ]](images/harvest.gif)
Strawberry Harvests &
Horticulture
Information on the Growing, Tending and History of the Strawberry Plant.
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This page is dedicated to the information on the growing, tending
and history of the strawberry plant.
-- strawberryJAMM
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- Strawberries are thought to have been cultivated in ancient Rome.
- The strawberry, as we know it, was originally grown in northern Europe, but
species are also found in Russia, Chile, and the United States.
- The berries seem to be strewn among the leaves of the plant. The
plant first had the name strewberry, which later was changed to
strawberry.
- In France strawberries were cultivated in the 13th Century for useas a
medicinal herb.
- Historical Medicinal Uses of Fragaria Vesca (Alpine
Strawberry):
It is said that the leaves, roots and fruits of this variety of strawberry were
used for a digestive or skin tonic. Internally, the berry was used for
diarrhoea and digestive upset, while the leaves and the roots were used for
gout. Externally, it was used for sunburn and skin blemishes, and the fruit
juice was used for discoloured teeth.
- The first American species of strawberries was cultivated about 1835.
- The first important American variety, the Hoveg, was grown in 1834, in
Massachusetts. The hybrid variety was developed in France.
- The strawberry is considered one of the most important small fruits grown
in the Western Hemisphere. Today every state in the United States and every
province in Canada grows the strawberry plant.
Credits: Much of the information in this and the next fact section
was originally provided by Jennifer L. Hoff, from her 6th grade Report on
strawberries, Plymouth Middle School, Plymouth, MN, December 3rd, 1995.
Additions and corrections have also been added
- Vanilla, Chocolate, & Strawberry : The Story of Your Favorite
Flavors by Bonnie Busenberg
- Children's book for ages 4-8. Describing how vanilla, chocolate, and
strawberry came to become popular flavorings, how they were
originally used, how they're used today, and what makes them taste the way they
do. Includes recipes.
Order
this book at Amazon.com
[Back to Index]
- The strawberry is a small plant of the Rosaceae (Rose) family.
All varieties of the strawberry plant belong to the Fragaria genus.
- It grows both as a wild plant and as a cultivated plant.
- Some strawberries, called everbearing, produce berries throughout
the summer and fall.
- Strawberry plants can be planted in any garden soil. But the richer the
soil, the larger the crop. The plant grows best in a cool, moist climate and
does not do well in warm temperatures. The plants may be planted in the spring
or fall, but if the temperature is too cold, fall planting requires a great
deal of care.
- The strawberry grows close to the ground on the stem in groups of three.
The greenish white fruits turn to a rich red colour when they ripen. When
the strawberry ripens, the petals of the flower fall off and all that remains
is the calyx, a leafy substance shaped like a star. Not every flower produces
fruit.
- Strawberries are not really berries or fruit in the "botanical" sense (i.e.,
the end result of a fertilized plant ovum). A strawberry is actually an "aggregate
fruit" -- the "real" fruit are the objects we think of as the "strawberry
seed" -- properly called "achenes" -- which are fruits in the same way that
a raw sunflower seed with it's tough shell is a fruit. The "berry" is actually
an "enlarged receptacle" and is not reproductive material. As a result, strawberries
must be picked at full ripeness, as they cannot not ripen once picked.
- The strawberry plant has seeds on the outside skin rather than having an
outer skin around the seed, as most berries do. They do not however, normally
reproduce by seeds. When the fruit is developing, the plant sends out slender
growths called runners. These look like strings. They grow on the ground and
send out roots in the soil. The roots produce new plants which grow and bear
fruit. Sometimes these plants are taken from the soil and replanted to start
a new plantation of strawberry plants.
[Back to Index]
Include Your Secret To Succulent Strawberries
Here!
Do you have any other Gardening Tips that you feel are worth sharing with
visitors to The Strawberry Facts Page? If so, please feel free to send them to
me at xxx@yyyy.com so that they
can be included here!
-- strawberryJAMM
How To Use A Mexican Strawberry
Cup Planter (aka Ceramic Strawberry Pot)
From: Geoff Mott, Vancouver, BC
- Reqirements:
-
- Sufficient rich soil to fill planter.
- Fertilizer
- Dried Manure (City Dwellers) or
- 6 - 10 - 10 Plant Food. (For Strawberries the middle number should be high
and the first nunber low.)
- Non-waxed paper tube from a paper towel roll.
- Gravel - Small pea size. Enough to fill paper tube.
- Strawberry Plants
Suggestions:
- "TOTEM" June bearing - Big, Juicy, Sweet
- "TRI-STAR" Everbearing, Medium size, not as juicy but very nice.
- "PINK PANDA" New hybrid, has pink flowers, blooms constantly,
bright, small red fruit, very tasty.
- Procedure:
-
- Start with empty pot
- If possible mix rich soil 50/50 with bagged dried manure, or mix in 1/2 cup
of 6-10-10 plant food.
- Place paper tube vertically in center of pot
- Fill paper tube with gravel and leave tube in pot. The paper tube and
gravel allows water to reach all levels of the pot's cups.
- Fill pot with rich soil and fertilizer. Leave paper tube in pot.
- Plant one strawberry plant in each cup.
- Plant four strawberry plants in the top of the planter. For beauty and
novelty plant "Pink Panda" in top as this plant has beautiful pink
flowers rather than white and usually receives comments from visitors.
- Water plants as required both from top and in each cup.
Good luck and enjoy eating your own strawberries.
Deterring Birds
From: Kristine Adam, Coquitlam, BC
"When I was growing up in Northern BC I knew someone who
came up with an interesting way of keeping birds out of the strawberry patch:
Early in the year, before the strawberries were even close to ripening, small,
strawberry sized rocks that had been painted red would be scattered throughout
the patch. Birds would then try to eat the 'berries' they thought they saw,
finding them hard and inedible. The birds would eventually give up on the
patch, leaving the real berries alone when they finally ripened later
in the year."
More on Deterring
Birds
From: Julie B., Australia
"To keep birds off my strawberry patch in Australia , old
fly wire seems to do the trick nicely."
[fly wire is the wire mesh found in a screen door --JAMM]
First Year Plants Produce Better
Berries
From: Dan Skousen, Spanish Fork, Utah
"I have been able to get a fine crop of strawberries each
year by making certain that my plants are all first year plants, i.e. they have
only gone through one winter. No, I don't go out each year and buy new plants.
Instead, each spring I clear a two to three foot square patch in the middle of
my berries and alternatingly leave another two to three foot patch alone. The
ending result looks like a checker board. This is also a good time to mulch and
prepare the bared soil."
"Over the summer, the plants will send out new shoots to the bare
spots, and become established. I don't usually get many good berries off of
these new ones that season (growing season is rather short here in Spanish
Fork, Utah), but next year, what a crop! Big berries that are plump, sweet, and
juicy!"
"Of course, next year I clear the opposite patches that I had cleared
last spring. The result is a constant supply of young healthy plants that
produce fantastic berries. Try it, and with a little patience (say a couple
years), you too will see some great results."
Tip For Tending a Single Strawberry
Bush
From: Anat Golan
"Each morning, spray water from a spray bottle (such as a
window-cleaner bottle) on the plants. Every 2-3 days, give the plants a half
cup of water. This really makes them fresh and red!"
[Back to Index]
- Strawberry Gardening/Horticulture Books available at
Amazon.com
- Grow the Best Strawberries (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin,
A-190)
by Louise Riotte
Order
this book at Amazon.com
Systematics and Geographic Distribution of the American
Strawberry
by Gunter Staudt
Description from Amazon.com:
In this detailed investigation of the natural variation, geographical
distribution, and modern taxonomy of the American Fragaria strawberry species,
three species with four subspecies each and two hybrid species are recognized
taxonomically. The author also discusses the phylogenetic relationships of the
diploid and octoploid species and subspecies and their postpleistocene
migration. The American octoploid Fragaria species are known as the ancestors
of the large-fruited garden strawberries, so this study is of great
horticultural interest and may contribute to the preservation of these species
and their further use in strawberry breeding.
Order
this book at Amazon.com
Compendium of Strawberry Diseases (Disease Compendium
Series.)
by J. L. Maas (Editor), American Phytopathological soc
Booknews, Inc Review:
Designed to aid plant pathologists ... especially extension or advisory
pathologists or pathologists who have limited experience with strawberry
diseases ... and other agricultural workers. This second edition places greater
emphasis on diseases that are important internationally ... such as
anthracnose, Botrytis rot, and virus and viruslike diseases ... and reflects
changing cultural methods, cultivars, and expansion of strawberry culture as a
major crop in many countries. Contents are organized according to causal
agents, beginning with noninfectious disorders caused by environmental
agents.
Order
this book at Amazon.com
Strawberries (Crop Production Science in Horticulture, 11)
by James F. Hancock
Order
this book at Amazon.com
Strawberry Deficiency Symptoms : A Visual and Plant Analysis Guide to
Fertilization
by Albert Ulrich
Order
this book at Amazon.com
- Information in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
Server
Horticulture Information
Leaflets.
-
- Strawberries in The
Home Garden -- by E. Barclay Poling
- Strawberry Diseases and Their
Control -- by Charles W. Averre, Ronald K. Jones, and Robert D. Milholland
- Weed Control Options
for Strawberries on Plastic -- David W. Monks
- Information at Nova Scotia
Department of Agriculture and Marketing.
-
- Natural
Fertilizers for the Home Garden
- Beneficial
Insects in the Home Garden
-
- Online
Strawberry Database
- Database of strawberry information in the US and Ohio between the years of
1960 and 1995. Information provided includes: Volume of production, Value of
production, Number of acres planted, Number of acres harvested, Value of
production per acre harvested, Average price, Average yield per acre, CPI
adjusted average price, CPI adjusted value of production per acre harvested.
- Atlantic Food and
Horticulture Research Centre, Kentville, Nova Scotia
- The Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre has had a strawberry
breeding programme for years. Select the links below to find out more about
their strawberry research.
[Back to Index]
- The Northwest Berry
& Grape InfoNet
-
General Berry
& Grape Pest Managment
Strawberry
Disease Control Guidelines
Strawberry
Pest Control Guidelines
Weed
Management: Strawberry
- Red Stele
Root Rot of Strawberry
- Fact Sheet by Michael A. Ellis:
Many commercial strawberry cultivars are susceptible to the red stele
fungus. This root rot disease has become a serious problem facing strawberry
production in the northern two-thirds of the United States. The disease is most
destructive in heavy clay soils that are saturated with water during cool
weather when the fungus is most active. ...
- Strawberry
Spray Schedule for Home Gardens
- Fact Sheet by Bob Mulrooney, Extension Plant Pathologist, University of
Delaware and Joanne Whalen, Extension IPM Specialist, University of Delaware.
The schedule lists when to spray plants to defeat what pests and using which
pesticide.
[Back to Index]
- Lassen Canyon Nursery,
Inc.
- LCN is a nursery that has specialized in growing different varieties of
Strawberry plants for almost 50 years! You can find information about all their
different varieties at this site.
- Naturipe Berry Growers
Cooperative
- Naturipe is a Berry Co-operative with deep strawberry roots. At this site
you can also find links to recipes, merchandise and gifts with a strawberry
flavour.
- Nourse Farms
- Nourse Farms is a nursery for small fruit plants, including strawberries,
located in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The site contains a
small amount of information about the nursery and provides an email link for
more information.
- Stores that Sell Strawberry Seeds
-
- Johny's Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine
-
Johny's Selected Seeds
Foss Hill Road
Albion, Maine 04910-9731
USA
ph: (207) 437-4301
- Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester, ME.
-
Pinetree Garden Seeds,
Box 300,
New Gloucester, ME 04260
USA.
ph: (207) 926-3400
- Dig This in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
-
Dig This,
10 - 1535 Johnston St.
Granville Island Market
Vancouver, BC
CANADA.
ph: (604) 688-2929
fx: (604) 688-2999
[Back to Index]
File History:
Date: Comment:
Jun. 11, 2001 - Correction to botanical information about strawberry
Dec. 11, 1998 - Updates and general clean up.
Sep. 24, 1997 - Added PICS information
- Removed URL-Minder Form
Apr. 05, 1997 - Addition of table to hold both index and email update box
- Correction to some horticultural facts
- Reorganization of some information on the page
- Added Strawberry Cup Planter Info to Gardening Hints
Feb. 23, 1997 - Addition of links at Atlantic Food and Horticulture
Feb. 12, 1997 - Changed URLMinder form to use new version
- Corrected spelling to British/Canadian
- Added WIDTH and HEIGHT tags to images
Nov. 15, 1996 - background colour change
Oct. 19, 1996 - Modifications for move to 'www.jamm.com'
Apr. 20, 1996 - Added link to California Strawberry Commission
- Added links to text-only version of site
Mar. 26, 1996 - Added "keywords" and "description" META tags
Mar. 24, 1996 Initial Creation for http://vanbc.wimsey.com/~jam/