50 Earliglow Strawberry Bare Roots – Sweet & Early-Fruiting Fragaria × ananassa

Overview

Embark on a delightful gardening journey with 50 Earliglow strawberry bare roots, an exceptional choice for both novice and experienced growers. These premium bare roots offer the promise of abundant, early-season harvests of sweet, flavorful strawberries. The ‘Earliglow’ variety, scientifically known as Fragaria × ananassa ‘Earliglow’, is a highly sought-after June-bearing type, celebrated for its rich, classic strawberry taste and vibrant red color. Perfect for home gardens, these Earliglow strawberries are not only delicious but also robust, exhibiting strong disease resistance and hardiness across a wide range of climates. Planting these bare roots provides a cost-effective and efficient way to establish a thriving strawberry patch, ensuring a rewarding yield of fresh fruit right from your backyard.

The ‘Earliglow’ cultivar stands out due to its consistent performance and adaptability. It’s an excellent choice if you’re looking for an early-fruiting variety that delivers on taste. These strawberry plants for sale are shipped as dormant bare roots, which allows for easy planting and establishment. Once planted, they quickly spring to life, developing into vigorous plants ready to produce a bounty of berries. Prepare to enjoy the quintessential taste of summer with homegrown Earliglow strawberry bare roots, a truly satisfying addition to any edible garden.

Key Benefits

Choosing Earliglow strawberry bare roots for your garden offers numerous advantages, from their delectable taste to their resilient nature. These plants are designed to provide a rewarding and relatively low-maintenance growing experience, making them a fantastic investment for any gardener.

• Superior Flavor Profile: Earliglow strawberries are renowned for their exceptionally sweet, rich, and aromatic flavor, making them ideal for fresh eating, jams, and desserts. The taste is often described as a perfect balance of sweetness and a hint of tartness, characteristic of classic garden strawberries.
• Early & Abundant Harvest: As a June-bearing variety, Earliglow produces a concentrated crop of berries early in the season, typically in late spring to early summer. This allows for a significant harvest in a shorter period, perfect for preserving or enjoying fresh.
• Disease Resistance: These plants exhibit good resistance to several common strawberry diseases, such as leaf scorch, powdery mildew, and verticillium wilt. This inherent resilience reduces the need for chemical treatments and contributes to a healthier, more productive patch of Earliglow strawberries.
• Hardiness & Adaptability: Suitable for USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 8, Earliglow is a robust and adaptable variety that can thrive in a broad range of climates. Their hardiness ensures reliable growth and fruit production year after year with proper care.
• Ideal for Home Gardens: The compact growth habit and prolific fruiting make growing strawberries like Earliglow an excellent choice for home gardeners, whether in raised beds, traditional garden rows, or even larger containers. They are easy to manage and provide a generous yield for their footprint.
• Excellent for Fresh Eating & Preserving: The firm texture and delightful flavor of Earliglow berries make them perfect for eating fresh off the plant. They also hold up well to freezing, canning, and making delicious homemade jams and jellies, extending your enjoyment throughout the year.
• Attracts Pollinators: The flowers of Earliglow strawberry bare roots attract beneficial pollinators like bees, contributing to a healthy garden ecosystem and ensuring good fruit set.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Successful cultivation of Earliglow strawberry bare roots involves providing them with the right conditions and consistent care. Starting with healthy bare roots is the first step towards a bountiful harvest. Upon arrival, if you can’t plant immediately, keep the bare roots cool and moist, ideally in a refrigerator or a cool, dark place, until you are ready to plant. The best time for planting is typically in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked.

Earliglow strawberries thrive in full sun, meaning they need at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day to produce the sweetest and most abundant fruit. The soil should be well-draining, rich in organic matter, and have a slightly acidic pH between 5.5 and 6.5. Amend heavy clay soils with compost or peat moss to improve drainage and aeration. When planting, dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots without bending them. Create a small mound of soil in the center of the hole, spread the roots over the mound, and backfill with soil, ensuring the crown (where the roots meet the stem) is at soil level. Do not bury the crown too deeply or leave it too exposed. Water thoroughly after planting to settle the soil.

Consistent watering is crucial, especially during dry periods and when the plants are fruiting. Aim for about 1-1.5 inches of water per week, either from rain or irrigation. Fertilize your Earliglow strawberry bare roots lightly with a balanced fertilizer in early spring, before new growth begins, and again after the main harvest. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers, which can promote lush foliage at the expense of fruit production. Remove runners during the first year to encourage stronger plant establishment. In subsequent years, allow some runners to form new plants, but thin them to prevent overcrowding. Mulching with straw around the plants helps retain moisture, suppress weeds, and keep the berries clean. Protect your June-bearing strawberries from pests and diseases by monitoring regularly and addressing issues promptly.

Size & Details

This offering includes 50 Earliglow strawberry bare roots, providing a substantial quantity to establish a productive strawberry patch. Each bare root is a dormant, young plant ready for immediate planting. When mature, individual ‘Earliglow’ plants typically grow to a height of about 6-8 inches and spread approximately 12-18 inches, forming a compact and manageable clump. The fruit itself is medium-sized, conical, and bright red, with a firm texture that makes it excellent for various culinary uses. As a June-bearing variety, you can expect a concentrated harvest period, usually spanning 2-3 weeks, beginning in late spring or early summer, depending on your specific climate and planting time. These plants are designed to provide robust growth and a reliable yield for several years, with optimal production typically occurring in the second and third years after planting. They are shipped without pots, in their dormant bare root state, ensuring they are ready to be planted directly into your garden beds.

The vigorous nature of these strawberry plants for sale means they establish quickly, given proper care, and will begin sending out runners to propagate new plants. While the initial planting will yield some berries, the most significant harvests of Earliglow strawberries are generally seen in the years following establishment. With proper care and occasional rejuvenation of the patch, these bare roots will provide you with delicious, fresh fruit for many seasons to come. The quantity of 50 bare roots is perfect for creating a sizable bed that can supply a family with plenty of fresh berries.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big do these Earliglow strawberry plants get? A: Mature Earliglow strawberry bare roots typically grow to about 6-8 inches tall and spread 12-18 inches wide. They form a compact plant that is easy to manage in garden beds or larger containers, making them ideal for home gardeners.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: Earliglow strawberries are primarily outdoor plants, best suited for garden beds, raised beds, or large outdoor containers where they can receive ample sunlight and space to grow. They require outdoor conditions to thrive and produce fruit.
• Q: How much sunlight do Earliglow strawberries need? A: For optimal fruit production and sweetness, June-bearing strawberries like Earliglow require full sun exposure, which means at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Adequate sunlight is crucial for developing rich flavor and a strong harvest.
• Q: Are these strawberry plants easy to care for? A: Yes, Earliglow strawberry bare roots are considered relatively easy to care for, especially for gardeners in USDA Zones 3-8. They are hardy and disease-resistant, making them a good choice for beginners and experienced growers alike.
• Q: What condition will the bare roots arrive in? A: The Earliglow strawberry bare roots will arrive dormant, without soil or foliage, which is the standard and ideal condition for planting bare root strawberries. They are carefully packaged to ensure they remain viable during transit.
• Q: When is the best time to plant Earliglow strawberry bare roots? A: The best time to plant Earliglow strawberry bare roots is in early spring, as soon as the soil becomes workable. This allows the plants to establish a strong root system before the summer heat and ensures a good harvest in subsequent years.
• Q: Will Earliglow strawberries survive winter in my zone? A: Yes, Earliglow strawberries are hardy in USDA Zones 3 through 8. In colder zones, applying a layer of straw mulch after the ground freezes can provide additional winter protection and ensure the plants return vigorously in the spring.
• Q: How long until I get berries from these bare roots? A: While some berries may appear in the first year, a significant harvest from your Earliglow strawberry bare roots is typically expected in the second and third years after planting, once the plants are well-established.
• Q: What kind of soil is best for growing strawberries? A: Growing strawberries like Earliglow prefers well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter and has a slightly acidic pH (5.5-6.5). Amending your garden soil with compost or other organic materials will provide an ideal growing medium.
• Q: Can I grow Earliglow strawberries in containers? A: Yes, you can successfully grow Earliglow strawberries in large containers or strawberry pots, provided they have good drainage and receive full sun. Ensure the containers are large enough to accommodate the root system and allow for some runner development.