white alpine strawberry
Fragaria vesca
Last edited on February 03, 2024. View history
Alpine Strawberry
Also known as
wild strawberry (en)
woodland strawberry (en)
European strawberry (en)
A variety of strawberry
How to sow Alpine strawberry: Transplant bare root plants/plugs or divide runners
Sun requirement for Alpine strawberry: Plant in Full Sun
Strawberries are a hybrid species of the genus Fragaria that produce sweet, bright red fruits.
There are three main types of strawberries:
1) summer-fruiting: produce a single, large crop of fruit the year after planting. To grow, transplant plugs or crowns in early spring in rows spaced at least 120cm apart. Pinch off all flowers the first season and train the plant's runners, pressing them into the soil 15-22cm apart from the mother plant. Mulch with straw or pine needles in the fall when the plants have died back. When the plants start to grow back in the spring, move the mulch aside. After harvest the second season, set a lawnmower to about 10cm high and mow, being sure not to damage crowns.
The other two types are
2) Ever-bearing and 3) Day Neutral, both of which send out less runners and bear several crops of smaller fruit throughout the season. These two types can be grown using raised beds about 20cm high and 60cm wide. Transplant crowns or plugs in staggered double rows, about 30cm apart. Remove runners and flowers until July of the first year to give the roots time to develop, and then allow plants to produce fruit. All types of strawberries begin to produce fewer and less sweet fruit once they are two years or older. Because strawberries are a hybrid, seeds will not breed true. Strawberries are predominantly propagated using bare root plugs or crowns or dividing runners. Make sure not to bury the crown when transplanting plugs.
- 8
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 1
- seed packet
Alpine strawberry facts
Lifespan
Perennial
living more than two years
Optimal temperature
12–20 °C
Absolute temperature
5–28 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall
700–1500 mm/year
Absolute rainfall
300–2800 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH
5–6
Absolute soil pH
4.5–6.5
FAO EcoCrop
Crop cycle
180–270 days
FAO EcoCrop
Max altitude
2000 m
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal light
clear skies to cloudy skies
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Alpine strawberry, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 1980 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Alpine strawberry will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Alpine strawberries
- Dig compost into the bed 2 weeks before planting out
- Water the new plants at planting out every week
- Mulch with straw 4 weeks after planting out
- Feed with fertiliser 6 weeks after planting out every month
- Net the plants against birds 2 weeks before first harvest
- Pick ripe fruit at first harvest every week
- Cut back old leaves and remove runners 4 weeks after first harvest
- Replant with young plants 36 months after planting out
How members grow Alpine strawberries
Sunniness
Loading...
Planted from
Loading...
Varieties of Alpine strawberry
Plant Alpine strawberries with
pineberry
Photos
Photos
Alpine strawberry crops
Alpine strawberry plantings
Video
Where Alpine strawberries grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about Alpine strawberries
Nobody has posted about Alpine strawberries yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing Alpine strawberries.
Who's planted Alpine strawberries
- neotoma Container Garden · Silver Spring, MD
- Cesy Planter boxes · London, UK
- LeighS Garden · Melbourne Victoria...
- mismatched Balcony · 98107
Alpine strawberry harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your Alpine strawberry harvests.Find Alpine strawberry seeds
View all Alpine strawberry seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 180 to 270 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Fragaria vesca L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Rosales Rosaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Alpine strawberries
Resources outside Growstuff.
