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Old June 17, 2014   #1
drew51
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Default Pineberry and musk strawberries

I have been growing these for two years now. The flavor of both is exceptional. Pineberries have a tart-sweet flavor, sort of like pineapple, hence the name, but not really. It is a unique flavor. I have found that White D is the best cultivar. Growing large and prolific producer of white berries. It is difficult to tell when these white strawberries are ripe. Seeds are mostly red, and a slight tinge of red on the surface. These berries here, are ripe.


Musk Strawberries taste like alpine, except the flavor is more intense. Also have a creamy texture. You need two cultivars, or a male plant to produce. Not a large producer. But the berries are super unique. They have an almost red metallic look.


Both are soft berries. I freeze damaged berries for jam, or cooking. It's easy to damage them. Over ripe berries still taste pretty good. Birds and snails love the pineberries. I have had to net them.

I grow June, everybearing, musk, pineberry, red and white alpines. Here today's harvest.
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Old June 17, 2014   #2
Pappi
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Those certainly look mighty tasty, especially the musk. Do you have a seed source or do you buy plants? I haven't grown alpines or anything special for years. But definitely want to get into them again next year.

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Old June 17, 2014   #3
drew51
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I tried growing from seed, alpines, with little luck. Pineberries are hybrids. So you need plants. Burpee'a sells White D. Perennial Feast also sells White D, but they are out till next spring, maybe fall? Many places sell Musk. I bought them at Raintree and The Strawberry Store. The strawberry store has some of their own Musk hybrids, which i purchased.
You can grow some musk from seed. I have no idea which plants are which with mine? I had to plant them in a planter as my raised bed was not ready, and the tags were taken off by my dog! So I just put them in the raised beds. It's kinda a problem, as I don't want to remove the males. But unlike regular strawberries, these plants I believe keep producing for years. They don't get worn out, or stop producing like regular strawberries do.
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Old June 17, 2014   #4
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Alpines have about a 5% germination rate, both from my trials, and from what I've read.

I had a volunteer strawberry plant show up in the garden last year. This year, the (small) fruit from that plant was ripe on June 6th. I'm thinking about getting a few very early known cultivars, and then make a few crosses.

Gary
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Old June 17, 2014   #5
drew51
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I really like Fragaria virginiana, it seems disease resistant and a steady producer. Currently I have only the white fruited cultivar. I would like to try the reds. I tried the common Alpine reds, and they either didn't produce well, or produced great, but died from fungal infections. I have one red left but it so far has only produced one fruit. So it's not the best. I may try again in the future. The Musk has a more intense wild flavor, but none of the cultivars I have are great producers. Slow to produce, you need a lot of them. But they send runners out and are super hardy plants. So you only need one, by the end of the season you'll have 25 plants. Well you need a male or a 2nd cultivar for fruit, well i heard that, but I myself added three male plants last fall, and I have berries this year.

Mara Des Bois is an intersting strawberry too. When ripe it's really sweet and tastes like a normal strawberry. If you let it ripen a touch more, it takes on the alpine wild flavor, except it's a lot bigger berry.
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Old June 30, 2014   #6
Rachel W
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I have a question about strawberries in general. If strawberries are not picked from the plant one year, will you get more, less, or the same amount the next year?
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Old July 6, 2014   #7
drew51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachel W View Post
I have a question about strawberries in general. If strawberries are not picked from the plant one year, will you get more, less, or the same amount the next year?
I would think the same. if left to rot on th plant. Which IMHO is a very bad idea attacting bugs, fungi, and other diseas problems. I remove all damaged, or rotted berries from the area ASAP. If you pick the flowers off the first year, you should get more berries the 2nd year as the roots would be well established. I myself have seen very little benefit to this. With other fruits I have like blueberries and fruit trees. I don't see much difference. the plants are so vigorous to begin with, mine never had a problem establishing. My biggest problem is more in controlling the spread of runners.
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Old July 6, 2014   #8
rags57078
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Drew does the pineberries need a pollinator ? I planted some this spring and they started blooming so I plucked them off . Now they are running like crazy and hoping they will bloom again
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Old July 6, 2014   #9
drew51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rags57078 View Post
Drew does the pineberries need a pollinator ? I planted some this spring and they started blooming so I plucked them off . Now they are running like crazy and hoping they will bloom again
No self fertile. If no flowers this year, well always next year. Mine are done flowering, but some may be everbearing. Usually everbearing flower in the spring. Slow down during the hot summer, and then in late summer start producing again. I would not remove anymore flowers. The roots I'm sure are established now. If they do flower again, let us know, and also do you know what cultivar you have? As after typing this I forgot that the pineberries Nourse farms has, do need a pollinator, but they sell a pollinator also. That is the only Pineberry cultivar that is not self fertile. The name is Natural Albino
I would myself not purchase that cultivar. White D I think is the best, White Pine, and White Carolina are OK too, they all taste slightly different from each other.

Some good info here:
http://strawberryplants.org/2010/09/...y-pineberries/
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Old July 7, 2014   #10
rags57078
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No clue on which ones I have , I bought them from a guy that needed to thin his bed . I also have Alpines that I started from seed this spring and they are just starting to bloom now . I have some Allstars blooming right now and kinda thinking they was miss-labeled.
Thanks for the info
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Old November 13, 2015   #11
greenthumbomaha
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I ended up purchasing two pineberry plants from Park Seed in 4 inch pots. They were delivered in only 3 days. Park Seed sold out of white and yellow alpine strawberries while I was deciding. The cultivar wasn't specified. I'm anxious to try them either way.

- Lisa
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Old November 13, 2015   #12
drew51
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Funny you posted this today I just finished making Alpine and musk strawberries preserves. They came out purple! I mixed them together, alpines are small and musks are not that productive. I saved enough of each for one batch of jam. I have yet to taste. I JUST made them, too hot yet!

Earlier in the year I made pineberry preserves and they looked a little funky, but wow! They were super good! They lasted about a NY minute!


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Old November 13, 2015   #13
drew51
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The finished product
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Old November 13, 2015   #14
greenthumbomaha
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That's a lot of pine berries Drew!!! Do you have a zillion plants in your garden? I remember the OP said they sucker like crazy, at least in his climate. I am anxious to taste one. They look very firm.

Isn't it late to be getting alpine strawberries in your area?

Any sage advice on growing my new twin 4 inch babies indoors, or at least giving them a comfy indoor home for the winter? I purchased a new bag of Dr Earth Home Grown potting soil with all the added goodies to give them a good start. I bought a clean window box and a 10"round planter, one for each.

Can you tell I'm excited to see all those berries your picture!

- Lisa
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Old November 13, 2015   #15
drew51
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The jam I made today was from frozen berries. I have made around 35 jars this year.
Yes, they do sucker. I have about a 12x4 area they grow in. They are June bearing, so harvest is in June. Not sure how you should grow them inside? if you're ground is workable i would plant them outside. Cover with straw leaves, or pine needles once freezing temps are constant. The idea is not to keep them warm, but to prevent them from thawing in the day and freezing at night. Best to keep them frozen and covered. If by some chance they don't make it, I'll send you some in the spring, just remind me.
If I could not plant them, i would take them outside during the day, and keep them in an unheated garage or shed at night for a few weeks. Eventually you can leave in the unheated garage. Once dormant they do not need light. They need to be moist, do not keep wet, and do not let them dry out. You have to water about once a month in the winter, in a garage. I keep many plants like this that are in pots. Blueberries, currants, even cherry trees. Like most fruits they need a certain amount of chill hours to flower and fruit. if you keep them indoors, they may not fruit next year unless they received chill before they were sent.

The berries look firm as they are frozen. Pineberries are actually rather soft and must be consumed soon after harvest or frozen. Freeze them individually, once frozen you can put them in a gallon bag together and they will not stick together.



Here's my stash of frozen berries still left. Strawberries, raspberries, black raspberries, and blackberries.

Last edited by drew51; November 13, 2015 at 11:09 PM.
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