Suttons Seeds and some supermarkets like Waitrose want us to experiment with white strawberries. A contradiction in terms as strawberries are strawberry coloured. I am not usually keen when a retailer pushes a product in my direction and it will be sometime before I consider growing white strawberries deliberately.

White Strawberry or Pineberry

• White strawberries are a special breed of strawberry that taste a bit like pineapple. For differentiation they are now called Pineberries but they are a hybrid of Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana.
• Pineberries start off green, gradually turning paler as they ripen. By the time the deeply set seeds turn deep red, the white fruit is ripe.
• When the fruit is almost totally white but studded with red seeds it should be sweet and juicy enough to eat. The fruit is normally ready in May.
• The colouring is the reverse of the usual strawberry with white seeds on a red fruit. Flowers and plants are similar in appearance
• Pineberries are slightly smaller than most commercially grown strawberries a bit less than an inch in diameter.
• Best grown in a greenhouse with fruit lifted from the compost with straw or coir.

Gardeners Tips
See out other article Growing Juicy Red Strawberries

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