Cavendish Strawberries?

[Whitewater]

Has anybody had any experience with these? I'm interested in putting them in my strawberry patch (we're going to expand the patch this spring!). The notes from various growers and nurseries have all kinds of really good things to say, but I know that you can't always trust advertising!

So I'd love to hear, if you don't mind, from people who actually have experience with this particular strawberry. How did it work for you? Do they live up to their hype? Should I buy some bare root plants (from Ebay, but I've always had good experiences on Ebay) or what?

What's your experience with Cavendish strawberries been?


Thanks,


Whitewater

 

[countrygirl4513]

Can't say as I've heard of them. But I looked up some info and they seem to be very highly thought of as a good June bearer. I'm trying out Sweet Charlie and Chandler variety this year on raised beds. Good luck and let me know how you like them I may have to give them a try next season.

 

[babymakes6]

I used to work on a produce farm (7+ years) and we grew Cavendish. They are huge, dark berries with a good flavor, but not my favorite
I love All-Star!

 

[journey11]

Never grown Cavendish either, but just a note on buying strawberries on eBay... You will want to make sure they are a reputable nursery and that they are selling you certified disease-free plants (not just someone selling runners from their own garden). Strawberries are prone to a few diseases in which case an infected plant would perform very disappointingly (for all your time and effort) and could possibly infect other plants in your garden with a disease in common. I'm not saying don't buy from eBay, but they should be knowledgable, reputable and able to produce documentation that they've been inspected and declared disease-free. This really goes unspoken for any nursery you buy from.

 

[Whitewater]

Right now I have Ozarks, All-Stars, Quinalts and a single Honeoye plant in my patch -- I'd like to try to expand it with different berries so that I have a good mix for jam, which is the primary reason I'm growing strawberries (I LOVE strawberry jam!!). I enjoy the All-Stars too for fresh eating! The poor Honeoye was the only survivor of 12 plants 'cause I didn't know how to care for bare root plants -- I have learned my lesson!

Think I'll go ahead and buy the Cavendish, then, unless more people chime in with terrible reports! Anyway, I don't have room for 15 plants (which is the lot that's for sale) . . . I'll plant the half-dozen I *do* have room for, and then I figure I'll pot the rest up and then Freecycle or Craigslist, or something. Give them to friends, who knows. Probably Craigslist, as I did have to buy the plants in the first place!

I bought my first strawberries from Ebay last year and though they never said they were a nursery, my plants never had a problem! So I feel safe in buying again from Ebay this year. The plant sellers on Ebay know that if they sell bad plants that they'll lose a lot of money and potential sales (and if it happens a lot, they could get booted from Ebay altogether!) so it's in their best interests to sell good plants.

There's still too much snow on the ground for me to see my strawberry patch, I have no idea how well (or not) it overwintered . . . I'll find out in a few weeks!


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

WOW!

Ok, my strawberries have taken off and are already flowering! Not to mention putting out more runners. That one single Honeoye plant has become a half dozen plants, and my strawberry patch looks fantastic.

I can hardly wait!

To accommodate all 15 Cavendish strawberries (which I did end up buying from Ebay and which came last weekend), I expanded my patch with a new 4x4 section specifically for the new plants, and boy, was that ever difficult. It took almost three hours to do all the sod busting and the weeding and the composting and so on and so forth, but I eventually got it taken care of.

I had a couple days, though, because the strawberries, when they got to me, were virtually dead. They were bare root and their roots were dry, the stalks and crowns were white, the foliage brown and yellow . . . I was horrified when I opened the USPS box.

Following advice given by one of you folks, I immediately separated the crowns out and put them in a shallow but big platter with tall sides, so I could soak the roots in water.

24 hours later, about half of the Cavendish crowns had come back, and 48 hours later, ALL of the crowns had revived enough to plant. I couldn't believe it, I would have been happy with half! I also wrote to my Ebay seller to let him know the poor condition of the berries, and he apologized and refunded my money, even though I hadn't asked for either an apology OR a refund. That's a good seller!

Now, the one that hadn't revived as strongly as the others looks like it's given up, but you never know, it wouldn't be the first time I've had zombie strawberries in my patch.

The other strawberries are doing quite well, they sure are living up to their 'very hardy' claim. I can't wait for them to get big enough to flower, hopefully I'll have a few Cavendish berries this year. We'll see!

As far as the established plants go, we're going to be up to our ears in strawberries. It's a good thing I've got a dozen jam jars for canning! I can't wait! So excited!


Whitewater

 

[Greenthumb18]

Never grew Cavendish Strawberries either. My strawberry plants are flowering like crazy now and i can already see a few strawberries form, so exciting!!
I'm looking to expand my strawberry patch too, with a few different varieties.
Good Luck Whitewater with your cavendish strawberries i hope they do well for you!!