Fool Me Twice Shame On Me

Our church recently got a huge truckload of strawberries. (Cali strawberries on label). They were huge and pretty good. They didn't have the truest strawberry taste from Daddys plants some 40+ years ago but good and ripe. They let us have 4 cases each of strawberries and some red table grapes and after the members all got their 4 cases they let everyone (community) who wanted berries and grapes come and get what they wanted. I ended up with 10 cases (each case 9 pounds of berries). I froze berries and made many jars of preserves. We are eat strawberry shortcake, smoothies and I think it's time I tried making a strawberry cobbler. We gave many fresh strawberries away and now sharing our preserves.
 
i have to agree on the taste over size debate. i go every year to a pick your own farm & always taste a few fro different rows to be sure of what i like & what i have liked in the past hasn't changed. i seem to go for the cabot & cavendish strawberries every year. cabots i will go for more of the smaller berries since the larger ones just get a little mushy at that point. they are still tasty but they do lose that tastiness at the larger end of the spectrum.

for those of you in the area or traveling through & want to get a plant history lesson along the way, Professor Elwin Meader's family farm is just down the road from this farm. he worked with a lot of berry plants & strawberries were just some of them, also raspberries!
http://butternutfarm.net/
 
I have heard and read, too, that strawberries are one of the "dirty dozen" fruits & veggies that are grown with the most pesticides. But I can't figure it out. What kind of insect bothers strawberries? The only things that eat mine are birds, slugs and maybe an occasional terrapin.
Or maybe they are including herbicides? That would make sense.

My strawberries are producing very well this year, for having been neglected so badly. But they get their revenge by growing the berries down in the mulch/dirt/straw. I literally have to hunt for each one.

Nyboy, you need to grow some regular red ones. They really thrive with no care. You could just put netting over them when you are there the first weekend you see them start to ripen up, to keep the birds from getting them. Then next time you are there, you can make your own strawberry shortcake.
 
usually a fungicide. they grow so close to the soil that rain splashes the ground & can contaminate the berries. there is a fruit fly that affects most soft berries SWD http://spottedwing.org/ so this is why they would also use insecticides on berries.
 
This was many years ago when we lived in the Victoria area, there was a strawberry farm the strawberry plants looked big and very healthy, don't know if he sprayed or not but he laid a good layer of straw between the rows. After his pickers had finished he used to light fire to the straw, burn the field off, didn't seem to bother the crowns of the plants at all. Shortly after new healthy growth appeared. This is the only time I have ever heard of this being done.

Annette
 
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