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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> Please explain the whole day neutral thing to me...
> 

Bev, this has probably been covered adequately but there are three schemes of 
strawberries:  June bearing, everbearing, and day neutral.   What has passed 
for years as "everbearing" really aren't.  They bear a big crop, usually in 
June, and then one or two (usually one)  smaller crops later on.

Both June bearing and "everbearing" strawberries, as you read, measure the 
length of the night and when it's short enough, they are triggered to blossom 
and fruit.

This trait is missing in day neutral plants.  As soon as it's warm enough to 
grow, the set on a flower cluster and mature the berries.  About six weeks 
later they do the same thing with pretty much the same size crop, and again, 
and 
again,  until frost nips the last blossoms and then they go dormant.

I've found the plants live a long time and produce a longs time, five years 
or more.  They set a lot of runners but sometimes as many as three out of 
four 
will be puny and make small plants of weak growth.  As soon as the runner 
roots, feel it's girth and if it's stem thin, get rid of it.  Same as they 
set 
berries periodically all summer, they set runners periodically all summer too 
(between crops usually) and you do a lot of elimination of runners.

The two varieties I've grown are Tristar and Tribute.  Both are excellent 
berries, modest sized as berries go but unlike some which are hollow or white 
inside, both these varieties are dark red to the center and solid.  The 
Tristar 
plants petered out after the second year and so I've not replaced them but 
rather have all Tribute plants now.  Too bad, too, those were really good 
strawberries.  I have some fourth generation plants in the bed and I can't 
tell much 
difference between those and the originals (provided I grub out the little 
ones).