Hi Scott
I'm sure others will post, but here's my 2 cents.
1. I assume you mean br vs potted plants. Personally we've only bought bare root and they do great. And they're probably much cheaper than a retail outlet.
2. The reason to pinch off flowers the first year is to allow the plant to establish itself. Fruiting the first year stresses the plant and you will have lower production. Saying that we always find a few ripe berries in our patch, meaning we missed a few flowers and it didn't seem to hurt anything.
3. Best variety? It's a matter of location and/or opinion, what does well for us in WI may not do well for you. We have good luck with Honeoye, Earliglow, and Cabot, especially Cabot (huge juicy berries).
4. Nourse can't be beat, but they are already sold out of many berries.
Krohnes, we've bought around 3000 plants from them and they are 1st rate (very large and vigorous plants).
3rd I'd try Indiana berry. Before you order from anyone check them out on gardenwatchdog and see the reviews.
5. Have fun weeding!

Hope this helps
Jake

Hi Scott
I'm sure others will post, but here's my 2 cents.
1. I assume you mean br vs potted plants. Personally we've only bought bare root and they do great. And they're probably much cheaper than a retail outlet.
2. The reason to pinch off flowers the first year is to allow the plant to establish itself. Fruiting the first year stresses the plant and you will have lower production. Saying that we always find a few ripe berries in our patch, meaning we missed a few flowers and it didn't seem to hurt anything.
3. Best variety? It's a matter of location and/or opinion, what does well for us in WI may not do well for you. We have good luck with Honeoye, Earliglow, and Cabot, especially Cabot (huge juicy berries).
4. Nourse can't be beat, but they are already sold out of many berries.
Krohnes, we've bought around 3000 plants from them and they are 1st rate (very large and vigorous plants).
3rd I'd try Indiana berry. Before you order from anyone check them out on gardenwatchdog and see the reviews.
5. Have fun weeding!

Hope this helps
Jake

Sorry for the double posting, puter problems
Jake

Jake,

Thanks for the great advice. I noticed that Nourse was sold out of many of the favorites. Thanks for the names of the other plant sellers.

Scott

I don't have near the knowledge of the other members of this forum, but here is my experience so far (this will be my third season for strawberries).

I bought a package of 25 bareroot plants, and planted one every 12-15 inches. My bed is about 2 feet wide by 30 feet long. I planted "Surecrop" which is a June-bearer. From what I've read, that cultivar is not preffered, but we've had no complaints. We got nice berries that tasted better than the market.

The first year we did pinch the flowers and forego a crop of berries. The bed thrived and is packed solid. We get a ton of runners.

The second year we had bushels of berries for about 3 weeks mid-May to the beginning of June. Then a sort of half-hearted mini crop in mid-July that was unremarkable. We literally had more berries than we could use or give away for those few weeks, then nothing. Which is the way June-bearers produce. It is very reliable for what it is meant to be. I actually erred when I bought the Surecrop, I thought it was ever-bearer. I would actually prefer a longer berry season.

We purchased our bare-root strawberry and blueberry plants and a lot of other seeds from Park Seeds and have never had a problem. I don't use any pesticides. I used organic "Stawberries Alive" fertilizer from Gardens Alive. I by mulch from a local provider, it is a compost-mulch mixture (half compost half triple ground fines).

It is my understanding that strawberry beds need to be renovated every few years because very mature plants don't produce as well or the fruits start degrading in size and flavor, so this year we are planning an expansion. We plan to add two more rows for strawberries below the current row. Our garden is on a hill, so these would be stepping down the hillside. Then I plan to separate all three rows into thirds (2 feet by 10 feet each). We will plant two new varieties of of day-neutral or everbearing strawberries (I justed ordered Tribute and Quinalt as bare-root plants). I'm hoping this gives us a more consistent crop of strawberries. The plan is that we will rotate the beds on a 3-year cycle by training the runners to the bed below (or above). One bed will be resting/replenishing nutrients, one bed will be newly planted/maturing, and one bed will be producing. Since it's just a plan, I can't say how well it will work. It seems like you can get two to three years of production from the mature plants, so we will probably allow them to produce two years not just one. It's just an idea right now, we're still fidling with how it'll actually work in practice.

I am hoping that the combination of the June-bearer surecrop and the new everbearing varities will give us the longest berry season. The Surecrop should produce earlier than the everbearing, but the everbearing should produce through fall if the descriptions are accurate. I plan to keep using the runners from my plants to always have new young plants, so I won't have to buy new plants again (unless I want another variety). I think I read that the dayneutral everbearing varities do not send out as many runners because they are producing fruit all season, so I'll have to see how that works out.

Hi All,
Yes strawberries need to be renovated, when ours are done producing we mow them off and then roto-till them into 18" rows. The biggest weed in a berry patch is said to be the strawberry itself. The bed looks pretty bad when your done, so try it on one row to see for yourself.
smlechten, like your plan to rotate, last year we planted 1500 Albion and 1100 Seascape and really liked the way Albion produced. BUT THEY LIE!!! We were pulling runners forever with that patch. Seriously though, on a small patch they won't be bad at all.

Jake

I grew regular strawberries for a couple years, was disappointed each time.

My mother in law had white alpine strawberries ( the kids call them magic berries). I figured I'd try them (as I was tired of the disappointments with regard to production and competition from bunnies, squirrels, birds, magic fairies (or whatever).

I grew them from seed, some fruited first year (started early). All fruited second year. I'll bet I'm happier with my strawberries than the other posters who've responded.

~Chills