With summer on its way strawberries are top of mind! Make sure you have yours planted to enjoy delicious fresh strawberries picked straight from the garden for summer snacking and cooking.
We've put together our top strawberry varieties to plant this season.
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- Harvest in 140-160 days
Strawberries varieties are either short-day or day-neutral. Short-day varieties include Camarosa, Chandler and Pajaro. These varieties produce flowers buds when the days are short providing an early spring crop. They are best planted in mid-winter. Day-neutral varieties include San Andreas, Aromas and Temptation. They flower throughout spring and summer and therefore can be planted later than short-day varieties.
Chandler
Producing large, dark red fruit, with firm-medium red flesh, Chandler has excellent flavour. High yielding and vigorous plants, this variety has high resistance to weather. Expect a light early crop followed by a heavy summer crop. Juicy fruit can be picked fresh for use in a wide range of desserts, and also enjoyed as a healthy snack or garnish.
Pajaro
Large, bright red fruit with firm flesh and excellent flavour. Pajaro are vigorous plants that produce high yields of delicious fruit throughout the summer season. Pick this succulent and juicy fresh fruit for a variety of desserts or as nutritious and great tasting snack.
Aromas
Produces large bright red fruit with firm flesh and great flavour. Aromas thrives in full sun and produces for several months. Perfect for snacking and desserts.
Monterey
‘Ever-bearing’ Monterey is very popular with organic growers as it has a high resistance to most strawberry disease. The fruit is large and has a delicious sweet flavour. The juicy fruit can be picked fresh for use in a range of desserts. Also perfect as a healthy snack or garnish.
Camarosa
Popular Camarosa produces medium sized red fruit with firm flesh and excellent flavour. Producing a light, early crop followed by a heavy summer crop, this variety is high yeilding. The fresh juicy fruit can be used to brighten and sweeten desserts, while also making a delicious snack.
Ventana
A high yielding medium sized fruit with firm fresh and sweet flavour. Similar to the Camarosa variety but produces greater quantities of early-season fruit.
San Andreas
Provides a long harvest season of tasty glossy red fruit. San Andreas has an upright habit and good resistance to disease and rain. Enjoy it's juicy sweet fruit straight off the plant.
Sundae
Produces large red fruit with a delicious flavour. Sundae strawberries have firm red flesh in an oval shape, and make the perfect summer fruit!
Top strawberry tips:
- Choose a spot in full sun.
- Before planting and dig in organic matter like Tui Sheep Pellets and Tui Compost to your soil.
- Plant in Tui Strawberry Mix is specifically formulated with extra potassium, just what your strawberry plants need to encourage a plentiful harvest of big juicy fruit.
- Feed your plants and they will feed you. Replenishing nutrients used by your strawberries ensures they will grow to their full potential. For strawberries planted in garden beds feed with Tui Strawberry Food every four weeks during key growth periods of spring and summer. For strawberries in pots and containers use Tui NovaTec Premium fertiliser.
- A good rule of thumb is to plant five strawberry plants for each member of the household.
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Top strawberry varieties Comments
well I just love the input. anything that is posted is just such great information for a newby in the garden. thank you
Adrianna
I have been picking the flowers off, when is the best time to stop picking to allow the fruit to ripen?
Jocelyn
Hi Jocelyn, stop picking the flowers off now. It is normal for berries to produce flowers in winter. They will slowly develop into fruit later in spring and will be ready to harvest once it is warm enough. ^Tui Team
Tui Team
Why do my strawberries flower but not set fruit?
Rob Lang
Hi Rob, are they planted in the garden or pots? If you have netting over the plants to deter birds then the bees won’t be able to pollinate the flowers. Are there plenty of bees around? Maybe you could spray the flowers and plants with a weak sugar solution to attract bees and plant bee friendly plants near the strawberries. Remove any netting until the fruit have set, birds usually don’t touch them until they have colour in the fruit. Regular feeding over the key growing seasons and applications of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic will also help.
Tui Team
Do you have plans to bring Pine Berries to NZ? They are in the shops in the UK at present and family there are raving about them..
Linda Mitchell
Hi Linda, thanks for getting in touch. It sure looks like an interesting fruit! Tui aren't a plant supplier so couldn't say if there are plans for it in NZ. There would be MPI considerations around that.
Tui Team
Pajero & Chandler are good croppers in my garden beds
Suzanne Alexandre
Are any varieties more suitable for Marlborough?
Donald
Hi Donald, all strawberries currently for sale in your local garden centre or DIY store will be suitable for your region. Pajaro and camarosa are two popular varieties sold throughout NZ.
Tui Team
Thanks for all the advice. I was wondering if you had any tips for keeping strawberries under control in containers and what to do with them in winter? Thanks :)
Georgia
Hi Georgia, usually growing in a container restricts the growth of plants. Remove the older leaves and tidy up the plants, removing any straw mulch to discourage slugs and snails over winter. Re-apply mulch in spring. Plant growth should slow down naturally over winter as temperatures cool, keep an eye on your plants to make sure they are pest and disease free. Every now and then you could give the plants some Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic to give them a boost and help stimulate root growth as well as deter pest and diseases. If there are any flowers that develop deformed fruit, remove those as they have not been properly pollinated by the bees and won’t amount to much.
Tui Team
Hi Tui, I do have strawberries in my garden and they have started to get ripe. What shocks me is that despite applying manure they just changed to dark green without getting bigger. But the fruit are big enough and sweet. Thank you, Tui for empowering us with knowledge. I have beetroot which I used its leaves as a relish, carrots, sweet cabbage, garlic, king onion, tomatoes and lettuce. My garden looks good and it is because of the advise you gave us previously. I am based in Zimbabwe.
Caven
Thank you for all the information and tips.
Trevor Hughes.
Great support for growing strawberries, thank you
Elizabeth
Can anyone please tell me if I can buy pineberries aka hula berries in NZ.
Chris
Hi Chris, as far as we are aware Pineberries are not available in New Zealand and are unlikely to be available due to MPI restrictions. It is a long and involved process when bringing in new plant material to New Zealand, it is important to protect our horticultural industry and export markets. There are white strawberry plants available but probably not with the pineapple flavour and red seeds of pineberries.
Lianne
I was delighted to read the helpful advice on different strawberry plants to try. I hope to buy a few of the plants mentioned. Thank you
Christine Mackenzie