[Arid_gardener] RE: Recommended Strawberry Varieties for Low Desert Gardens

[Carolyn Hills]

Hi Holly - More important than where you buy your strawberry plants is what
variety you buy. The four varieties recommended for our low desert by the
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension are Camerosa, Chandler, Sequoia, and
Tioga. Check out http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1269/ for a short
description of each variety.

 

I have found Sequoia strawberry plants at many local nurseries, as well as
at Home Depot, Lowe's and Target garden centers. They are probably not
available now, but most likely will be starting in September. I would wait
until temps go below 100 degrees to plant. 

 

You can also start your own new plants, since strawberries send out runners
with new plants on the end of the runner. If you place a small pot with soil
in it under the new plant and make sure it gets watered, that plant will put
down roots and can be cut from the mother plant and transplanted to another
area of the garden. You may have to pin down the runner to keep the base of
the new plant pressed against the soil to encourage root growth. Cut up old
wire hangers or bend a paper clip to make a pin, or just place a small rock
on top of the runner.

 

Has anyone else on this listserv found the other three recommended varieties
of strawberries locally? Thanks for any information!

 

Carolyn Hills

Maricopa County Master Gardener Volunteer

  _____  

From: Holly Dunn [mailto:ryrygoose at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 11:27 PM
To: Carolyn Hills
Subject: RE: Strawberry Pests

 

Thank you very much!  One last question, where do you but your strawberry
plants.  The ones I have now are a few years old and I would like to add to
them.  Thanks again!  Holly

Carolyn Hills <carolynhills at cox.net> wrote: 

Hi Holly -- 

I'm not sure what pest is eating the leaves of your strawberry plants, but
the one most likely drilling holes in your berries is the pill bug (or sow
bug). Check out http://insected.arizona.edu/isoinfo.htm for more information
on this common garden pest. 

In my garden, any strawberry that touches the ground seems to get invaded by
pill bugs. 

Once it cools down in fall, I plan to transplant all of my strawberries to
my raised beds and use weed cloth to block the pill bugs. For an excellent
description of how to plant strawberries in a home garden, check out this
Santa Clara County Master Gardener website:
http://www.mastergardeners.org/picks/growingStrawberries.html

Hope this helps!

Carolyn Hills
Maricopa County Master Gardener Volunteer

-----Original Message-----
From: arid_gardener-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu
[mailto:arid_gardener-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu] On Behalf Of
ryrygoose at yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:13 AM
To: arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

Holly Dunn
85295
ryrygoose at yahoo.com

I have some strawberry plants that are about 2 years old. They produce well
Feb-May but I do have trouble with a pest eating round holes into the
berries. Right now I have something eating the leaves of my plants. Do you
have any suggestions of what they might be or how to stop them? Thank you
for your help. Holly


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