Fragaria chiloensis |
Native Region: Haida Gwaii
Zone Range: 5-9
Preferred Climate: Semi to full sun; well draining humus rich sandy soil.
Harvest Date: Monday 05 September, 2011
Seed count: 30-40
Description:
Delicious red fruits are so fragrant you smell them before you aproach the patch. Extremely productive as well considering the thin layer of humus soil that is overlaid the sand on the beaches of Rose Spit. Thick leathery evergreen glossy leaves on long stems and white flowers look very much like a smaller version of commercial varieties. Can make dense carefree colonies when happy so filling a bucket is not hard to do. This species continues to be used by breeders to create many of today's strawberry cultivars.
Notes:
Hand cleaned (no damaging appliances used). When searching for these plants for seed collection, the best fruit are found growing on grassy wild sites with at least half day of sun. Fruits receiving sun are red while shaded fruit remained white. Despite whether the fruit were red, white or somewhere inbetween, the flavour in these little morsels was enough to knock your socks off! You can smell the ripening fruit before you see the leaves poking through the grass! My hands smelled like strawberries for days after depulping the fruit.
Cultivation:
Soak seed 24 hours. Mix with a small amount of sand and sow thinly on the surface of a sand based medium. Keep moist. Chill to mimic early spring conditions for 60-90 days (do not freeze) a unheated greenhouse is ideal. Germinate at 20 C. Use a good wide nursery pot and prick out seedlings when in they have their 4th set of true leaves into individual pots to grow out and transplant.
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