Garden Journal

[Cathy A]

...if I plant regular red strawberries, the birds will snatch every one before I can, and I get none. But if I plant yellow or white ones, the birds assume they are still unripe, and leave them alone. It limits me almost totally to alpine type strawberries (as of this point, I've only found one type of full size strawberry that is pure white, and it's hard to get going) but it's better than nothing.

I didn't realize this until I did a brief search, but you are right, white strawberries seem to mostly exist among alpine strawberries.

Are alpine strawberries closely related to domestic strawberries and able to readily support a cross? If so, you might want to cross the white alpines you have found with a range of your favorite reds. You would have to grow the reds under bird netting during the breeding project, but after 2 or 3 generations you should be able to get a stable white domestic.

[Jeremy Weiss]

I didn't realize this until I did a brief search, but you are right, white strawberries seem to mostly exist among alpine strawberries.

Are alpine strawberries closely related to domestic strawberries and able to readily support a cross? If so, you might want to cross the white alpines you have found with a range of your favorite reds. You would have to grow the reds under bird netting during the breeding project, but after 2 or 3 generations you should be able to get a stable white domestic.

Actually there already IS an all white full size, it's just not well known. It's called Buttercream White. I just haven't had much luck getting the seeds to germinate

https://www.etsy.com/listing/962552737/wild-strawberry-buttercream-white-seeds?click_key=85e142ee3de339c9a2b5d47bfd661571b895ee3c%3A962552737&click_sum=7f91eb1b&ref=user_profile&frs=1&sca=1

I have also heard that there is a variant of the European Forest Strawberry (Fragaria verdis) whose fruits stay green when mature. That might work as well.

The Domestic strawberry is actually an interspecies cross. One half is one of the Europeans (I think the field strawberry) and the other is the Chilean Beach Strawberry. It's actually comparatively recent, around the 1740's, I think.

[Garrett Schantz]

If I remember correctly, it's Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana which were crossed in order to create the garden strawberry.


It's North American and South American crosses.



There's the typical woodland strawberry, found in Europe. And it's also found in North America.


That was the standard strawberry, for a while.


Fragaria vesca.



Fragaria moschata is pleasant as well. And it's been used in attempts are crossing Vesca with other species which have larger fruits.



Fragaria verdis is another woodland strawberry.




Typically, the large white strawberries, are Fragaria chiloensis, or modern hybrids, recreating the old cross - Pineberries.



Then, you have the white strawberries that Baker Creek sells seed for. Fragaria vesca, white types.


It's also quite noticeable, that the Baker creek sells - these are usually an off yellow, rather than white.

And the berries are slim / wrinkled.


White soul is nice. I planted strawberry seeds of Fragaria virginiana and some white Fragaria vescas, last year. I'm seeing some sprouts - but I planted strawberry relatives as well. So. Yeah.




There's an issue with incompatible chromosome counts with Fragaria vesca, mixes with with Virginiana or Chiloensis. I've been looking into strawberry breeding, for a while now.


Vesca has flavors that garden strawberries and the like, simply lack. This could be in part, due to the chromosome count.





I mentioned Eterna blueberries, due to the size. All wild blueberries, are going to give you a very low shelf life.


I'd recommend crossing them with pink blueberries or whatever.


I was reading about interspecific blueberry crosses the other day. Or the past few weeks.



So, the blueberry talk simply seemed to be interesting to me.



I've been tossing rotting or moldy blueberries out into an area in the woods. Or strawberry tops, which some people waste those.

I pinch and pull the green parts, and eat around the stem. No need for a knife. But that's just me.



Bilberries largely fell out of fashion, or never caught on. Because they have a low shelf life.

Blueberries from north America supercede them, even where bilberries are native.




Some of the cool looking blueberry cultivars, have three or four species mixed into them.



I'm pushing it on the max days of chill or frost here.


I've tossed blueberries from Chile, Mexico and California, I think.

Sometimes it's only a handful.


But, blueberries don't take long from seed to flower and whatever.


So, I'll eventually have different seedlings crossing with one another out in the woods.


Eventually the most disease resistant plants should cross and flourish.



I've been doing that with garden strawberries as well. Same general area.



I could compost them. But, this seemed like it would be more fun.



With the previous blog post about blueberries, I believe that the white blueberries are found in Lithuania and another country starting with an L.




There is also a single blueberry plant in the yard. It looks old.

Multiple main branch cuttings. Big, old branches.


It looked unhealthy when we moved in last year, and it put out like two handfuls of berries.


Ideally, I could've tossed those fruits as well.


I've been doing this for a few weeks now. I haven't posted about it much here, since that may fall out of the purview of "Garden Journal."


And it's just a fun little project.



I did plant some Musk strawberry seeds in the woods as well.


I marked the area. There's an old truck tire, big one. I planted them in the loose soil next to that.



I'd also like to mention, that there's Fragaria chiloensis variants, native to the United States as well.


It's thought that birds carry or carried them over at some point.


But yeah. White looking strawberries in "Garden strawberries", typically come from Fragaria chiloensis.



Fragaria nilgerrensis, I grew this out before.


But, I had issues. I had to move the seedlings.


It was an interesting species. It should've given me white fruit.




Fragaria daltoniana, is a strawberry which is on my list of wants, as well. When you cross a white and red strawberry, you typically don't get "pink."


So, that species is of interest, potentially.



I'm glad to see that others here, have some interest in strawberries and the like.


Another user here, found a wild strawberry with pink flowers. Typically, that's found in descendedants of an interspecific cross. Or interfamilial.

[Garrett Schantz]

I mentioned this before, that we may have brought over Agrobacterium, from Pennsylvania and introduced it to Mississippi.


I noticed issues on the Wisteria last year. The leaves turned brown - other issues.



Here's some leaves from an Azalea and a Hackberry.


These are both, a distance from one another.


They don't appear to have been caused by insects making a nest.




I'm also feeling pressed to make a note on the whole spiritual sense of things. Someone said something about how someone was going to get themselves in trouble.

Well, that wasn't the exact terminology. And I think that I'm patient and friendly.

I have noticed that the whole omniscience thing has only been working with fellows who I haven't met before. And, they have to be near me and whatever.


Others, likely still assume that I am whatever else.

So, I was surprised to hear someone directing stuff at me, let alone the fact that I could hear them.





But, if I ever seem skittish or odd. Until a few days ago, my spiritual body was in a maximum security prison, since I snuck in and incarnated. Happens to a lot of people. So I never got matched with my body, with whatever system, either.


But, I got a little hand press thing. Some fellows helped me grow new eyes. I regrew my arms and legs. It wasn't a pleasant prison. Literally stuck in a cell. Alone. Granted, I used some guards to regrow my arms and things in place of their own. Not that it wasn't deserved.

Since birth. But, my spiritual body is nestled, safely within my body.


Plus similar things happened with a more above body, protecting myself here.


So, I may seem skittish at times. Or ramble.


I do apologize for that.


And while I am one of those "Earth Energy Representatives", for yellow in particular. There's a ton of Representatives, for whatever.

Back when my outer form was split up, I was out wherever, before.


I was recognized when I came back wherever at those points as well. So, I'm usually locked up due to whatever.

But since I'm back together, on Earth, I'm called The Devil.

Which is different from titles like Satan or Lucifer.


Seraphs called me the Devil after I told them some things and said I'm a 100% match for that.


But, I never had a presence here really.



Yah'wei is the White - Yellow energy Representative. He killed a white - blue energied guy known as Odin, thousands of years ago or something. I believe he's been going by that stolen name, out in spiritual realms.


And my kin here, usually have a false layer of red stuff blanketed over ourselves. Or they invert things around us and make us seem like males or females, so that others get confused or can't recognize us.


And things are cleared up, outside so to speak.



Things have been going well in other regards as well.



But, I do apologize if I seem skittish or anything. Ever since I was properly logged into whatever systems, it seems like my posts on here result in my heart beating, very, very quickly.


In some relgions or whatever, Abaddon and the like are viewed in a positive light. Thanatos is popular in some circles.




But, I do ramble at times. It happens.


Plus I have a nice heritage or whatever. So things aren't all that bad.



I'd assume that some lady or a few others can see or sense a bit better than others.


But we are all humans on earth, so to speak. In some manner.




Anyways. If this is agrobacterium, there's some possible usages for it.


Honestly, it infected a Forsythia and some Rubus species back home.

So, if that's what happened. It would likely be from a strain that can infect a multitude of species.




The other stuff is extra that I mentioned. I don't like to unnerve people. So I'm mentioning that.

It is what it is.



I'm unsure if anyone else here has an interest in Agrobacterium. It wasn't brought here on purpose. I didn't use the possibly infected tools, as we hadn't cleaned them yet.

[Jeremy Weiss]

Trade winds seeds has a lot of blueberry species seeds available. A lot of the rarer ones are out of stock (and things that go out of stock there often don't ever come back in, but, looking over the list, they still have red huckleberry, Chinese Blueberry and Costa Rican Blueberry (which might be handy for someone in a warmer climate like yours).

https://www.tradewindsfruit.com/search.php?page=2&section=product&search_query=Vaccinium