[richyrich7]

Strawberry Review: Sarian F1 hybrid

Well you know how it goes early in the year I was looking for some strawberry plants did’nt want elsanta or santa’s grotto etc that the supermarkets used. I wanted something different else it don’t seem worth growing. Elsanta by the way is also known as the bouncing strawberry due to it’s excellent travelling capabilities,which personally I think must have been chosen over taste.

I found some seeds from Thompson and Morgan variety Sarian F1 Hybrid. At the price of £2.99 for 15 seeds plus P&P bit steep :shock: , but seeing as I had a free voucher for a fiver off them thought I’d give them a go.According to T&M they are “A new generation of quality Strawberries from seed. Heavy crops of fruit are produced on both plant and runners. Sweet, juicy fruits high in Vitamin C. Harvest throughout summer until the first frosts from an early spring sowing.”

Well now we are harvesting our first berries from them I thought I’d share this with you all.

I received the pack in good time from T&M and got 16 seeds

I planted them in a 50% multi purp and 50% Fine sand, ( left over block paving sand ), sown onto the surface and not covered, inside the electric propagator. Approx 15-18 days later all the seedlings had germinated and showing good growth.

They were all transplanted on when the first set of true leaves had appeared into small 1 ½” pots, then later into 3½” pots. Where I have left them for this year.

They have grown well and have started to produce a good amount of fruit, not the biggest strawberries I’ve seen but nice good mouthful. They have a very nice taste sweet & juicy but with a touch of sharpness. One thing I have also found is that a lot of their runners are now merrily producing fruit too, just as they said in the catalogue.

They have seemed to suffered a little from mould but I’ve put this down to the weather and that I’ve kept ‘em pretty close together rather than spreading out the pots like normal
 
So all in all I’m very happy with them, so if next year your looking for a nice strawberry from seed then I would recommend this one.

A few photo's






 Note the "mother plant at the back is still attached to the runner which is also fruiting.

HtH

[Anonymous]

Thanks RR7 - so how many marks out of 10 are you giving them for flavour?

I also take it that runners from an F1 Hybrid are true to type since they are produced asexually?

[richyrich7]

Thanks RR7 - so how many marks out of 10 are you giving them for flavour?

Well I really like them, but I suppose taste is such a personal thing for me 8 going on 9 out of 10.

I also take it that runners from an F1 Hybrid are true to type since they are produced asexually?

Yes spot on, they are genetically identical to the mother plant

[weeeed]

I'm going to give them a whirl next year on a suck it and see. I had heard that strawbs were hard to grow from seed. On the subject of runners do you have to keep attatched to parent plant to get true clone? Strawbs which appear in my homemade compost have all reverted to wild and yukky! Jan. :shock:    

[richyrich7]

On the subject of runners do you have to keep attatched to parent plant to get true clone?

No they just need to be left on untill they have a big enough root system to support themselves.

Strawbs which appear in my homemade compost have all reverted to wild and yukky! Jan. :shock:    

Are they appearing from seeds ? then they will be a heinz variety you might hit on a beaut tho'.

[mushroom]

Are they appearing from seeds ? then they will be a heinz variety you might hit on a beaut tho'.

there was me thinking heinz means beans  :oops:

still, very nice strawbs, and doing a review is an excellent idea. How about reviewing veg sorts/types in a category on the site and have sub-sections off it for different veg?

I've planted out 12 from runners (these were given to me) in the regular soil. They seem to be doing OK, but should I have not done this, and kept them in pots???

[richyrich7]

I've planted out 12 from runners (these were given to me) in the regular soil. They seem to be doing OK, but should I have not done this, and kept them in pots???

No they really need to be in the soil if you can, IMHO you will get better results, mine are only in pots because my plot is not weed free enough for permanent planting yet.

Hopefully I'll be happy with it by late autumn and then they will go in, as well as the raspberries and the blackberry.   :roll:

[garddwr]

Would the strawberries have to be in a  heated propagotor to germinate? aslo what time of year did you do this ?

[richyrich7]

No they would probably germinate without but at a slower rate they would need some kind of warmth like a greenhouse, window sill etc.
They should be sown around about March - April a little earlier if you can keep then warm.

Don't forget not to cover the seeds as they need light to help germinate.  

[garddwr]

Thanks
And you mean not cover them in compost ?

[richyrich7]

yes water the compost well before you sow the seeds and simply sow on the surface.  

[digital_biscuit]

I too grew these. Out of my 16 only 1 germinated, but thats mainly as i neglected them! My one plant is now nice and big, just started flowering and sending out runners! Nice to get a late cropping strawberry as my main batch finished a while ago!!

[garddwr]

What do you mean by neglected ?

[digital_biscuit]

Forgot to water them, ignored them, let them get eaten by slugs, that kind of thing!!

If people want these, go to your nearest wyevale for 50p packets of the things, there were loads at my local one!!!

[david64]

Those pots look too small to grow in to me. I got much better results with these:



Will be trying these in the PT for better results next year.