Here is a partial list of questions we are asked frequently:
Seeds for blue, black and other colored strawberry fruit are often sold on eBay and other shopping sites. Why don’t you sell them?
First, these types of strawberries are hybrids, if they really exist. Saving seeds of hybrids is for professional breeders. Hybrid seeds don’t produce true from seed. If the seeds germinate you will get a whole menagerie of seedlings.
We sell a few selected F1 NON GMO hybrids like ‘Fresca’.
Alpine types are available in red, white and yellow fruiting types.
I see sellers on various shopping sites selling strawberry seeds much cheaper than yours. Why would be buy from you?
I suppose that you sometimes get what you pay for. I hear from customers frequently that they strayed away from purchasing from us but are coming back because seeds they get from us germinates. I have seen reviews on mega online stores where many customers say that they did not get even one seed to germinate. We buy or save seeds and run germination tests on each seed lot in the late summer of each year. If germination falls below 60% we no longer sell the seed. Germination results are on the label of each seed packet.
Are there GMO Strawberries?
Since there are no labeling laws for GMO that we know of, it is not common knowledge that there are indeed GMO strawberries sold in the market place. Most of these are hybrid types that produce pink, rose and red flowers. They are sold for ornamental enjoyment because the berries or not very tasty. There are scientific papers who mention some of these by name. If you want to do your own search, search for Fragaria intergeneric hybrids. The original forced cross that makes them GMO is between plants from the genus Fragaria and the genus Potentilla.
Fragaria vesca crosses have been made with Potentilla going back many years. It doesn’t appear that there are any hybrids offered commercially. If you stick with legitimate seed distributors and resellers of Fragaria vesca seeds you will receive seed that is produced through open pollination which assures that the seed is NON GMO. If in doubt, ask how the seed is produced.
Do you sell treated seeds?
None of our seed is treated. We do treat seed that we germinate with hydrogen peroxide to eliminate any fungi that would be on the seed surface. This treatment also improves germination.
There are cultivars of alpine strawberries that you don’t carry such as Italian types and ‘Improved Roegen’. Is there a reason?
We sold these cultivars in the past. The Italian types seem to be generic types. We cannot find a bulk supplier of these types of seeds. The names are generic as well. We have grown them and have not seen exceptional characteristics nor exceptional production from these “cultivars”.
‘Golden Alexandria’ seed is available. Why don’t you sell it?
This in an interesting alpine with leaves with a golden green color. We have grown it. Because the leaves lack chlorophyll the plants grow very slowly and are not very productive. We try to carry cultivars that are productive rather than those that are decorative.
The terms alpine strawberries and woodland strawberries seem to be used interchangeably. We also see a term Fragaria alpina used more and more. How do you view the classification of these types of strawberries?
True alpines were discovered int the Alps about 200 years ago. They were discovered just before the Chilean and Virginia strawberries accidentally crossed in Europe. When fruit from this cross were “discovered” the strawberry world was turned upside down. Alpines were no longer revered. This was the beginning of the “worship” of BIG strawberries.
Anyhow, most true alpines produce clumps rather than producing runners. Woodland types produce runners and are June bearing types. the alpina term refers to alpines. It was a term suggested many years ago to simplify classification. I like the term and have started to use it but not consistently.
There seems to be a number of strawberries that are called “wild strawberries”. Are alpines wild types?
I like to think of alpines as wild types that have been tamed. There are wild types of Fragaria vesca. These produce runners and are called woodland types in my classification system. There are wild types of strawberries from F. virginiana and F. moschata. It gets very confusing when the scientific names are not used when describing wild strawberries.
This varies by geographic location. For example, F. virginiana is not native to Europe so is not mentioned as being wild there while it occurs in the “wild” in North America.
The term variety is used when talking about alpine strawberries. Are these true varieties?
In a word, no. Named alpine strawberries are selections. When a selection is grown for long periods of time it can differ noticably from the original. These selections should be called cultivars. I was actually corrected by a European strawberry expert some years ago. He correctly pointed out that they are best call land races. Because I don’t want to cause too much confusion I try to stick with the term cultivars for named alpine types.
There are very cheap strawberry seeds that are for the soap industry. Will these grow?
Alpine strawberry seeds are sold to the soap industry. These seeds might be coaxed into growing but there is no assurance of a specific cultivar or even species. We have extra seeds at times but have not offered them to the cosmetics industry. Most require an analysis which would not be a reasonalble financial situation since they are sold for about $2/oz.
Can strawberry pests be controlled organically?
Yes they can. One has to think about organic control differently from conventional control. Conventional crontrol methods use harsh chemicals that many times have quick knockdown and residual control. Organic methods are most times “softer” control with anti feeding properties which don’t knock down the pests but slow their feeding and eventually kill.
I worked in the pesticide business for much of my life. I will say that the MOST important thing to do when dealing with pests if to identify the pest first. You need to know what you are dealing with so you can plan the attack. Next, understand the damage created. If it is cosmetic damage to leaves when you are producing fruit then it is not of much consequence at the moment. Watch for changes. If damage starts stressing the plant then control is important.
Finally, choose the control that does the least harm to beneficial populations. This does not mean just honey bees. There are many beneficials that inhabit an ecosystem. This includes fungi, bacteria, insects, spiders, etc. Sometimes a simple control method makes much more sense than a chemical control. Japanese beetles for example can attack strawberries. They tend to prefer other plants like raspberries. Hand picking a few adults off the strawberry plants in localized areas makes more sense than spraying the whole crop.
For disease control there are many more organic options that there were in the past. There is Bacillus subtilis and Potassium Bicarbonate formulations available. We use these together in the same tank very successfully. There are even organic products avaialble to control very hard to control diseases like root rot.
We consider slugs to be a major pest of strawberries. Baits work for large scale control. For more localized infestations that stale beer method makes sense. Copper strips have been suggested. We have never tried this method because of the size of the area to be protected and the cost of copper.
By all means know what you are dealing with and then choose the best method and the method that does the least harm to other populations.