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Strawberries Varieties for Richmond
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Date Posted: Sun, Feb 13 - 9:09 pm
- What are the best varietals of strawberries to grow in RVA?
- Hello there, Glad to see that you are thinking Spring! You have a number of choices for this area. There are several types of strawberries: June-bearing, day neutral and ever-bearing. I believe you'll be most successful planting the June-bearing varieties here. The other two options are more suitable for cooler climates. Some basic requirements for fruiting are to make sure you're planting an area that gets full sun (usually 6-8 hours a day), most likely near to your vegetable garden. However, do not plant in sites where tomato, potato or eggplant were previously planted to keep down disease (verticillium wilt and some others). Be aware that strawberries will reproduce quickly, this can be both a pro and con depending on how much space you have. Clip the runners if you are most interested in having larger berries on the mother plant. It's often suggested that strawberries can be integrated into an ornamental garden but I've never had very good luck with that approach but feel free to experiment. They could make a nice ground cover in the right setting. Some recommended varieties from VA Tech are: June Bearing--Sweet Charlie, Camino Real, FlavorFest. Of course there is always our native strawberry from which many cultivars are produced--fragraria virginiana. If you would like more information on this subject, I've attached a link. https://ext.vt.edu/content/dam/ext_vt_edu/topics/agriculture/commercial-horticulture/small-fruit/fruits-in-the-home-garden.pdf. Best of luck with the berries!