Strawberry seeds / Runners

[Big George]

I grow strawberries, I love 'em and there is nothing better than getting up first thing in the morning, going outside and munging down a handful of freshly picked, SWEET strawb's. YUM

There is nothing worse than the crud you buy from the shops, they look red, but they are hard as stones and taste like sour water. So I grow them and it is a very rewarding hobby.

Anyhow, I got started with some of the gourmet "Wild Strawberries" which grow as big as your fingernail and each one has more flavour than a whole box of punnets from the fruit shop. When they are ripe, you don't even chew them, you pop them in your mouth and they just burst.

I have been drying out the seeds and planting more and more of these every year, so I have a few spare seeds if anybody is interested. These plants are capable of growing fruit all year if you have good weather and keep the right nutrients supplied to the plant.

They will also put out runners, but I have found that the seeds are more efficient at growing more of these plants.

Jamie Oliver uses these strawberries and they are bloody expensive if you can ever find them in the shop. Once you taste one you will know why. When my nieces come to visit me, the first thing they do is come bouncing up to me and ask if I will take them strawberry picking.

The second & third type I have are Kunawase, Fragaria ananassa and Hokowase, Fragaria ananassa.

These grow large like the shop bought ones, but have even more flavour than the wild ones. In a few words, these are sensational strawberries.

I started with 1 of each plant and in the first year, I snipped off about 20 runners from each plant and planted them all over my garden.

This year, I have 40 plants which will probably throw off 20 runners each so if you do the maths I am going to have plenty to go around.

These all originally came from Diggers seed club in melbourne, and you can still buy them if you want to.

What I would like to do though, is offer some up to everybody here who has a similar taste for this amazing fruit, and if possible maybe trade a few types around so that I can get some more variety in my garden.

Any takers???

[Conan Troutman]

How timely...

I have some 'mignonette' seeds if your interested? Ive been meaning to sow them for quite awhile, so not real sure of the viability, I will give them a go.

Ohh and I reckn theres nothing quite like the wild/alpine berrys

[Big George]

Are they the lettuce seeds or the flowering weed?

If you want some of the wild/alpine strawberry seeds PM me your address and I'll post you some. I have these available pretty much all the time.

The hoko/kunawase strawberry runners won't be ready for a month or so. They really get going in summer, but at the moment I can only put your name down and wait till they start producing.

The alpine / wild are almost idiot proof to grow. You can grow them anywhere, small pot, baked bean can, I even have one growing out of the mortar of a brick wall, and they seem to not get attacked by possums, snails, etc..

[JustAskSally]

I have no strawberry sp to offer but I am definitely interested in growing some of these sensational berries..

Can maybe offer some other seed?? Or plant?

[tassiejd]

as a tip with the berries, i put my cacti around my plants and dont worry about covering them or any thing like that and didnt loose a single berry to birds last year, i know a lot of you on here grow cacti so put a pot with a few strawberries in around your cacti and enjoy.

[worowa]

I'ld love some Big George. How I long for Ichigo strawbs, since I left Tassie I haven't found any, but they're my pick of what I've tasted so far.

[Conan Troutman]

Are they the lettuce seeds or the flowering weed?

If you want some of the wild/alpine strawberry seeds PM me your address and I'll post you some. I have these available pretty much all the time.

The hoko/kunawase strawberry runners won't be ready for a month or so. They really get going in summer, but at the moment I can only put your name down and wait till they start producing.

The alpine / wild are almost idiot proof to grow. You can grow them anywhere, small pot, baked bean can, I even have one growing out of the mortar of a brick wall, and they seem to not get attacked by possums, snails, etc..

errrrr who said anything about lettuces or flowering weeds?? mignontte strawberry it is...I'll be more specific next time

[Conan Troutman]

Are they the lettuce seeds or the flowering weed?

If you want some of the wild/alpine strawberry seeds PM me your address and I'll post you some. I have these available pretty much all the time.

The hoko/kunawase strawberry runners won't be ready for a month or so. They really get going in summer, but at the moment I can only put your name down and wait till they start producing.

The alpine / wild are almost idiot proof to grow. You can grow them anywhere, small pot, baked bean can, I even have one growing out of the mortar of a brick wall, and they seem to not get attacked by possums, snails, etc..

errrrr who said anything about lettuces or flowering weeds?? it is mignontte strawberry...I'll be more specific next time

[Auxin]

Another benefit to alpine strawberry is its medicinal

Link

[Big George]

Sorry Conan. Had no idea what mignontte was so I googled it, as you do.... and I find there is a mignontte lettuce and a mignontte weed.

Sally, i'm keen on any kind of swap to broaden my horizons.

PM me and let me know what your interested in.

I don't have any good runners yet, but if last year was anything to go by I will have heaps in the next few months.

I also have another strawberry species but I can't remember the name of it, something like Big Red or similar. It has never given me fruit and is an offshoot of a commercial variety. Not very interesting.

Another one I have (can't remember name again...) grows green/white strawberries, they never go red apparantly. It didn't produce much last year so I didn't taste it. No runners yet, maybe some seeds this year.

I like the idea with the cactus. I can work with that.

I was thinking of growing some jolokia chillis nearby to deter possums, but I suspect they will just eat the chillis and save the strawbs for dessert.

Another one i've hear is companion planting with tobacco is good for pest control.

A big NO-NO is planting strawberries in soil where tomato's once grew, apparantly tomatos put something in the soil that kills them stone dead.