Nursery Hours!

9am-5pm Monday - Friday

9am-4pm Saturday

Closed Sundays

NOTE: The Tropical Fruit Nursery is for retail customers who can visit our farm in North Fort Myers, Florida. We do not ship plants!

Strawberries for SW Florida!

'Sweet Charlie' and 'Festival' strawberries

Strawberries are tasty fruits that almost everyone enjoys eating.  They are sweet, versatile, high in vitamin C and easy to grow.  Strawberries are a small plant of the Rosaceae (Rose) family.  All varieties of the strawberry belong to the Fragaria genus.  Strawberries are usually thought of as a summer-bearing perennial crop.  In Florida, however, they are planted during the fall and harvested during late winter and early spring.  The plants are usually grown and easier to treat as an annual, though with consistent watering and weeding the plants can survive a Florida summer.  Strawberries are grown commercially in Florida and are said by some to taste better than California berries.  In fact, Florida is the second highest producer of strawberries in the United States, behind California.

Strawberries that do best in Florida are either short-day or day-neutral varieties.  Short-day varieties flower and produce fruit when days are short and nights are long.  Day-neutral varieties flower and produce fruit upon plant maturity, regardless of day length.

‘Strawberry Festival’ is one of several short-day varieties that can be grown commercially or by the home gardener. This cultivar was named after the Florida Strawberry Festival, an annual festival in Plant City. This cultivar is a vigorous plant that produces sweet, medium- large fruit with firm texture and excellent flavor early in the season.    The plant’s dark green compact growth tolerates warm temperatures and is less susceptible to Botrytis fruit rot and powdery mildew than other cultivars. 

‘Sweet Charlie’ is another short-day variety that is well adapted to Florida.  This variety is well suited for the home gardener because of its superb fruit quality but short shelf-life.  ‘Sweet Charlie’ is not grown as widely as other commercial varieties, but is relished for its wonderful fruit quality.  Plants are small and compact.  The fruit is very flavorful and sweet because of low acidity.  This variety can be susceptible to crown rot, so be sure to plant in a well-drained area and do not over-water. 

ECHO has grown strawberries successfully for several years and this year we have planted both ‘Strawberry Festival’ and 'Sweet Charlie' strawberry varieties.  The ECHO interns have planted close to 1,000 plants throughout the Global Farm and we hope to have lots of berries to enjoy during the spring months. 

Strawberry plants are typically susceptible to fungus and other diseases when they are in contact with the soil.  To avoid this problem and to cut down on weed pressure, we plant in drip-irrigated beds covered with mulch.  The young plants must be planted in the ground carefully. Their crown (area between roots and stem) must not be buried under the soil, nor should it be left completely on top of the ground.  The roots should be placed into a fan formation in the soil, taking care not to crumble or bend too many of the roots.  The richer the soil they are planted in the better the crop of berries will be.  Once established, the plants require little care other than consistent irrigation. 

The nursery has both ‘Sweet Charlie’ and ‘Festival’ strawberry plants available for sale.  If planted soon, they should begin producing berries shortly.  In fact, many are already flowering in the pots.  If well cared for, you can expect a long fruiting season.  Our plants often yield fruits from January until June.  They are absolutely delicious. 

Plants are on sale for $4.50 for a 1 gallon plant.  Strawberry hanging gift baskets are also available for $5.00.  Come in and get them while they last!