This has been discussed here before. A search may turn up the results.

I don't like strawberries (grew up on a PYO strawberry farm and ate too many) but Earliglow always gets my vote. Nothing sweeter nor more uniformly red inside. Not the largest, but by far the best we had in 30 years of berries.

"Fairfax" (probably from the old USDA farm there in Va, not far from you) used to be touted as the sweetest. I grew it once and liked it but can't seem to find it again.

My #1 is Mara des Bois, #2 is Earliglow, and #3 is Sparkle. I am still working the kinks out of MdB, this is my first year getting a decent harvest. They are producing a very big "June" crop now even though they are an everbearing type. Some of the berries had a boring flavor but I think they needed to be ripened longer (I hope). The ripe ones have a unique musky flavor that is incomprable. They are running slightly bigger than the Earliglows which are also being harvested now; neither is very big. Earliglow is the 100% classic strawberry flavor, in spades. Sparkle is somewhat less "strawberry" flavored than Earliglow but is sweeter.

None of these berries is big, my impression is you need to pick size OR flavor, can't have both. Some of the new commercial varieties are supposed to be better on this but my understanding is these new varieties are not publicly available at this point.

Scott

I don't want to hijack this thread but can any of you local, meaning MD, DE, SE PA, folks let me stop by a get a taste of these strawberries you might be growing?

I've got a June Bearer, which I can't remember the name of and Ozark Beauties (Everbearers) and I just don't like their taste (To tart for me, but family/neighbors love them). I need something higher in sugar and I don't want to spend $$'s and time (Replanting every year with something different) to find out I want something different.

BTW, I prefer day neutral/everbearers.

Thanks!

I need to add to my post above, I just did another picking of the Mara des Bois and they are just not consistently flavorful in the June crop.. bummer. I picked them when they were dark red and still the flavor was weak in most of the berries. They were very flavorful in the late summer crop I got last year, every berry was delicious. So the verdict is still out on them.

Joe I don't have enough berries to be worth trying at this point except for the Mara des Bois (I redid my beds last fall). If you want to try Earliglow go to Shaws Orchards by the MD/PA line. There is also Blevins up there which grows some other varieties which I don't think are as good.

Scott

Thanks for the info on Shaws. I know exactly where they're located from driving to Stewartstown to visit friends when I lived in Cockeysville.

I've been in there one time and that was when the apples were in. Not knowing what I was looking for, I bought apples that were for pies or something because they were to tart for me.

BTW, when are you going to start giving tours or lessons on grafting, spray or what not at your place? Your member page is amazing!

Having spent years working on a PYO farm which featured strawberries, I've eaten WAY more than my fair share of the fruit, and I can say, hands down, that Sparkle is the best. I've planted some Mara des Bois here, and the flavor is definitely not all it's cracked up to be. Most straws, if you eat enough of them, start to taste funny, like strawberry bubblegum, kind of artifical-tasting. Sparkle was unique in my experience in that, no matter how many hundreds of them I scarfed, they never lost their delicious flavor.

I have tried many varieties including Sparkle and Earliglow. Both are good in flavor though Sparkle wasn't prolific enough for me. I just set out 25 each of 6 varieties yesterday. I wanted Winona but it wasn't offered there. I got Jewel [best producer I ever had besides Honeoye], Annapolis, Earliglow, Selva, Sea Scape, and Mesabi. Surely something will be good there.

Honeoye is the most beautiful of all, but is short in taste.

Just bumping this because i know how everyone loves strawberries. I've gotten a lot of good info here. Any comments welcome.

The Italian musk strawberries are my favorite, Profumata di Tortona and Capron. They donÂt crop that heavily, but have a wonderful, alpine, musky flavor.
IÂve grown Mara de Bois from three different sources; Wicked Wilds, White Flower Farm, and a member who posted here on Gardenweb, and swapped some plants. The ones from Wicked Wilds are inconsistent in quality, but when theyÂre good, theyÂre as amazing as Scottsmith describes. The ones from White Flower Farm are consistently sweet and delicious, not quite as aromatic as WWÂs at their best, but still dependably wonderful, my favorite of the three. The plants are horribly overpriced, but almost worth the expense, if you really like good strawberries. The MdB from the Gardenweb member are much bigger than the other two, usually sweet and good, but not quite as aromatic.
Then there are the alpine strawberries: yellow, red, white, theyÂre all great. Smaller is better.
The Seascape and Albions are usually good, but any strawberry you grow yourself and pick at its peak will be better than the tasteless plum sized ones at the store.

Those musk types are interesting. I have some alpines that i'm growing from seed, but we will see how that comes out.

Back when i was much younger we use to pick wild strawberries not far from where i live now. They would grow right along a little used backroad. Remember them being small, but very flavorful.