It is an odd problem but I have sour and bitter strawberries, all of them. I have tried sweetening the soil, adding fertilizer specific to strawberries. Made up great soil according to the best information I could find. Nothing has helped. So I am looking for a new plan, a new strawberry. I have tried Silstar, Quinault, and a couple other varieties to no avail. Does anyone have a suggestion for a species of strawberry that produces sweeter berries? I do have a species that is supposed to be sweet and they are sweeter than the others but still can be sour/bitter if they are not almost overly ripe. If there is no other species of strawberry to cure the problem, can someone please help me prepare better soil and tell me whatever I can do to make them sweeter. My wife really loves strawberries and so does the rest of the family but I hate putting all the effort into growing them if no one likes them because they are too sour.
Weather conditions have a lot to do with the taste of strawberries. I have read that hot weather causes a bitter taste and that cool and rainy weather in late spring/early summer will result in sour fruit.
That doesn't make things any easier that's for sure. The weather is always cool and rainy here in late spring early summer. And then summer decides to get hot and dry so a complete change which probably makes them bitter after starting out sour. Maybe I should stick with making preserves out of them.
you might try sequoia but strawberries usually have a tart taste. have not had a bitter one though. if all yours are too tart/sour just slice in a bowl add a bit of sugar and make shortcake .
I agree with Mart that berries are on the sour side to begin with, but I have had berries that were diseased or something, that tasted very sour and rubbery. If you like projects you could build a small hightunnel over the berries to keep the rain off of them and some heat on them, if you are home enough to pull the sides up so you don't cook them if the sun comes out. I forgot to mention so I am editing this.... Honeyoe has always been my favorite variety for flavor although they are a little more disease susceptible than some other varieties. We also have planted Jewell and I thought it was a nice variety, too. We replant the berries every other year. We keep at least two beds in production at all times. The first year is for growing the plant the second year is for harvesting the berries. We pick all the flowers off the plants the first year so the plants have all their energy going to making a well rooted plant. The third year we generally turn them under and start over in a new bed. NOT the same bed for the next crop. If there is deficiency or disease in the soil it will show up in the next crop. I am growing to sell my berries so I need as many as my crop will make. It is far more productive to justify the work and expense to keep a bed only two years. A lot of gardeners keep their strawberry beds more than two years , but not much more than three. They just aren't very productive to keep them that long. They seem to choke themselves out unless you spend a lot of time pulling out many plants to keep them in narrow rows. The wider the row the fewer the berries.
Maybe I am crowding them. I might need to separate them more and plant fewer than I am. I might try putting them in separate containers for each plant but that takes up a lot of room that I don't have to start with. Or maybe build a large strawberry planter so I can have many plants and utilize vertical space more. How much space does each plant need? Would a stack of 4 or 5 inch pvc pipes 6-8 inches deep set on a slant for drainage be enough room for individual plants?
Fish, We plant the strawberries about 12" apart and the rows 4' apart. Then try to keep the rows no wider than 18", but that is next to impossible, but we try. After the runners root in the late summer, thin the older crowns out of the bed and once again try to thin the rows and keep them narrow. It seems very wasteful to thin and toss the plants, but it needs to be done. Or try to rehome them to someone, but that is not necessarily the best idea as strawberries become diseased quite quickly and no one wants that in their patch. I haven't tried "vertical" or pyramid beds for them. So I can't recommend either way on that, maybe someone else has experience growing them in those circular pyramid beds. I can't envision your pvc idea, but it doesn't sound like enough room for them to me.
if you want to grow up instead of out,,try taking a plastic trash can, (any size) and drill holes in the bottom for drainage and larger holes around the sides then layer compost/potting mix with old hay or even dry leaves all the way to the top. then you can plant the top as well as each individual hole same as a strawberry pot. hay or leaves will rot and enrich the soil as you grow strawberries.
