Strawberry Harvesting - year 1.5

[phkc070408]

So - after some learning curve mistakes in my strawberry garden, I replanted half of it in the second half of the summer last year, August is a good estimate, so they've only had half of a season to acclimate and focus on plant growth. I did Pineberrys and Purple Strawberries. The plants started to produce later in the season, but I nipped the fruits off.

Question 1: Are these June-bearing or Day Neutral variants?
Question 2: Will it hurt future production to harvest them this year? Is the half season good enough for promoting the plant growth?

 

[Meadowlark]

@phkc070408 I don't grow those varieties myself, but I did a quick search of my AI in an effort to help. Here is the response:

Quick Summary Table

Strawberry Type	Typical Bearing Habit
Pineberries	Day‑neutral / Everbearing
Purple strawberries	Usually day‑neutral / everbearing
Modern pineberry cultivars (such as ‘White Carolina’) are everbearing/day‑neutral, meaning they fruit continuously through the season rather than in one big June crop. “Purple strawberry” isn’t a single official cultivar name, but the varieties sold under that description (often Purple Wonder, Purple Delight, or similar) are typically day‑neutral or everbearing types. Regarding question 2, I would have guessed 1/2 season would be enough...but not having grown those varieties myself, I did a search and found mixed answers. Some say yes, enough and some say no, they need a full season to establish roots. Maybe someone with experience on those varieties will offer an answer.

 

[phkc070408]

I just learned that my purples aren't purples, but their own variety - Tristens. ( I assumed Tristen was a purple variety, but just learned that it's a variety of its own.

And looking them up, they are everbearing.

That said, looking for another opinion - can I harvest them this year, or should I wait for next year? Or option 3, since they're everbearing, is to nip the spring fruits but keep the late summer fruits.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

You can harvest them

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The literature says it makes a big difference if you take the flowers off first year; when I moved I brought a bunch of new runners with me, took the flowers off half and left the other half because I wanted to have at least a few.
The next year the difference seemed minimal. I'd go for harvesting them, or try what I did, plant a few extra and go half and half.

 

[lorenntqof]

Since you planted in August and they started fruiting late, it sounds like your Pineberrys and Purple Strawberries are likely June-bearing. Harvesting them this year won’t hurt future production, and letting them fruit can actually help the plants establish better. Half a season is usually enough for them to focus on growth before next year’s main harvest.

 

[phkc070408]

Thanks

 

[lorenntqof]

Since you planted in August and they started fruiting late, it sounds like your Pineberrys and Purple Strawberries are likely June-bearing. Harvesting them this year won’t hurt future https://tropical-casino.com/ production, and letting them fruit can actually help the plants establish better. Half a season is usually enough for them to focus on growth before next year’s main harvest.

It sounds like your Pineberrys and Purple Strawberries are June-bearing, so letting them fruit this year is fine. Harvesting now won’t hurt future growth, and it can actually help the plants establish stronger roots. Even with just half a season, they’ll have enough time to focus on growth for next year’s main harvest.

 

[tomkat]

If they tried to flower in fall I would say they are not june-bearing. I think Meadowlark's post got it right. Keep in mind commercial strawberry producers plant plugs in the fall,harvest the berries the following spring,then dig up and trash the plants. And repeat that every year. So I would say your plants are now in the prime of their production. My plants start going down hill after year 3 anyway.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

If you keep propogating the runners and moving them to a new location every 3-4 years they stay productive

And weeding....

 

[phkc070408]

Well, I’ll watch them this year and see if they produce after June.

Thanks for the advice all. I’m hearing you.

I’ll definitely turn some runners into full blown plants after a few years.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I bought some Malling Champion, they produce fruit Spring to Autumn, I had runners the first year, but saw none the second.