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Lon or others:
Any thoughts on how I can maintain the plants
without new virus infections for as long as possible? The USDA describes
'Fairfax' as particularly sensitive to viral infection. Pots in a
screenhouse would not be my 1st choice. I've got a garage full of dormant,
potted material already. And I don't have a sceenhouse handy.
On the other hand--maybe I shouldn't worry about
it: I don't suppose that the plants will become infected at such a
fast rate that I couldn't get many good years of fruit out of them. I
imagine that the original pox-ridden accession Corvallis began with
would have passed through the hands of dozens or even hundreds of farmers
before ever making it to Oregon, braving exposure to all manner of different
viruses I don't have here on their journey. If I am only infected
occasionally by a local virus it may not make a huge difference
in productivity or quality--just a very gradual decline over the decades---with
the various infectious species causing little harm individually,
but having a cumulative negative effect. I can't imagine that I have
all or even many of the possible contaminants living here already.
Alternatively, maybe there are a couple
of widespread viruses that routinely infect strawberries everywhere and
rapidly put an end to their useful life-- Dunno.
Lon, could the Peruvian plants not have been
exposed to the most damaging viruses? I imagine that there is a
degree of isolation that may have prevented exposure--or perhaps the 12000 foot
altitude of the Peruvian highlands would not have as many leaf-hopper
and aphid vectors, preventing exposure to many things.
Steve Herje
Lone Rock, WI USDA zone 3-4
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 2:16
PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fairfax
strawberry
Strawberries are one fruit that doesn't seem to last long
enough to become an heirloom. Of all the interest groups in NAFEX, the
strawberry group has never taken hold because no one maintains any old
varieties. Strawberries take more work to maintain than other fruits. Leave an
apple tree for 20 years and there's a good chance it will still be there.
Leave a strawberry for two years and it will usually have been crowded out by
weeds or will die from disease. Even when old varieties have been kept going,
they are almost always mislabeled. So it's up to places like the NCGR at
Corvallis, Oregon to maintain them. There, the plants are held in pots in a
screenhouse. Flowers and immature fruit are kept removed so no accidental
seedlings will arise in a pot. And the plants are either available as runners
or by tissue culture.
Still, strawberries CAN last a long time. Go to South
America and you can find strawberries in places like Peru that have been
maintained for many decades, if not centuries by the local people. The
interesting thing about this is that those old selections are often full of
virus, but show no effects. Over the centuries, types have been selected that
have amazing tolerance to the diseases, as that was the only way they could
last.
Point of all this rambling? Not much, except to hope that a few
explorers here might look for old, forgotten varieties and outstanding wild
plants that could be of use to produce types for N. America that have similar
ability to last a long time and perhaps to bring in that wonderful wild
flavor.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape
Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers
Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
For even more grape
lessons, go to http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape,
http://www.vitisearch.com
On Nov 28, 2007, at 7:56 AM, road's end farm
wrote:
On Nov 28, 2007, at 7:17 AM, loneroc wrote:
Check with
the germplasm repository at Cornwallis. Yesterday I received runners
of the 'Fairfax' strawberry that I requested from them via e-mail last
spring. No cost whatsoever and they were Fed-Exed overnight to my
door. Good work USDA!! (I don't have cause to praise them too
often.) I stuck 'em in pots--should be no trouble--roots were already
forming.
Steve
Herje
Lone
Rock, WI USDA Zone 3-4
PS:
Thanks to whoever suggested Fairfax. It's is one of the parents of
Sparkle--my favorite commonly available berry and it's supposed to be even
better. It's supposed to grow well in (part?) shade--which is
something I can always
use.
Great
news!
How many runners did they send you?
Are you considering
getting Fairfax back on the market?
Let us know how they do --
--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5
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