Growing Strawberries
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Divison | Magnoliophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Rosales |
| Family | Rosaceae |
| Subfamily | Rosoideae |
| Genus | Fragania |
Types
There are basically three main types of strawberries:
June Bearing
June bearing strawberries produce berries in a single, large crop one time per year usually during a 2 to 3 week period. This type also typically produces the largest berries.
Everbearing
Everbearing strawberries produce two or three harvests intermittently during the spring, summer and fall. This type is also a great chioce is space is limited.
Day Neutral
Day Neural strawberries produce fruit throught out the growing season. This type is also a great choice is space is limiting.
General Care
Strawberries typically like to be planted in full sun, in a well drained, sandy loam soil. Their ideal soil ph is from 5.8 to 6.2. They are not recommended to be grown in areas that were recently used to grow tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, or eggplants because they might leave veticillium rot or wilt in the soil. Veticillium wilt is caused by a soilborne fungus and will cause wilting of the plant, the leaves to turn brown, and utlimately cause the plant to die.
Strawberries prefer 1-2 inches of water weekly to produce fruit. They can be grown in a bed, pot, or hanging basket. In a garden bed they are a perienniel, but in a pot of hanging basket they are typically an annual. Also in a garden bed they will remain productive for 2 to 3 years, then they will need to be replaced.
Strawberries are typically planted in early spring right after the soil can be worked. They can be purchased as roots or as plants from typically any greenhouse.
Information
Picutes found at:
http://www.ccof.org/org_resources_ucscstrawberries.php
http://www.gardenfine.com/vegetable-fruit-herb/growing-strawberry.php
Information found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_strawberry
http://gardening.about.com/od/fruitsberriesnuts/a/Strawberries.htm