varieties of strawberries

Commercial Varieties

Victorian strawberry farmers grow many different varieties of strawberries to so they can supply the very best strawberries throughout the spring, summer and autumn periods.

The most commonly grown varieties are detailed below.

Albion

Albion is a day neutral variety that was released by the University of California. Albion has shown resistance to Verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae) and Phytophthora crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum). Fruit is typically long, conical and very symmetrical. Fruit has outstanding flavor and attractive internal and external fruit color. Albion is currently the most planted variety in Victoria.

San Andres

San Andreas is a day-neutral with production similar to Albion. Plant vigor for San Andreas is higher than for Albion early in the season but plant size throughout the fruiting season is similar. The fruit color for San Andreas is slightly lighter than for Albion, and it has similar post harvest characteristics. The flavor of San Andreas is very similar to that of Albion. San Andreas has a good disease resistance.

Juliette

Juliette is a short day variety that was bred by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries strawberry breeding program. Formal disease resistance studies have not been completed; however, Juliette has displayed field resistance to leaf spot and powdery mildew.

Fruit from Juliette are conical in shape and are consistently large. They are longer than broad and are a moderately glossy berry with a bright red colour that does not darken in storage.

Camino Real

Camino Real is a short day variety that was bred and released by the University of California. Camnino Real is resistant to Verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae) and Phytophthora crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum) as well as being relatively resistant to Anthracnose crown rot (Colletotrichum acutatum). Camino Real is however moderately susceptible to common leaf spot (Ramularia tulasnei) and prone to powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca macularis).

Fruit is large and attractive mostly symmetrical-conic fruit with internal and external fruit colour being quite dark when fully ripe.

Melba

A day neutral variety which produces some of the most attractive and high quality fruit ever seen in Victorian trials. It continues to maintain this excellent appearance throughout the season. Excellent yields and holds up very well in the rain.

Home gardener varieties

Most of the commercial varieties are not available to home gardeners. However, once new commercial varieties are released and adopted the old varieties are sometime released to home gardeners.

The best choice for Victorian home gardeners with a strawberry passion is the Australian variety, Alinta. This variety is the only variety, which can be planted in the garden in September and still give heavy yields of the best-flavoured fruit in summer. It does this due to its ability to develop new flowers under the long days of summer, unlike other varieties, and it resists most of those annoying pests and diseases, which so often damage the plants. A good tip is to pick the fruit 2-3 times a week and buy new clean plants for the following year.

Other varieties and information about growing them can be found at your local nursery.