North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lee Reich <leeareich@gmail.com>]

Hi Henry,

I first learned about musk strawberries decades ago and then, while working 
at the Fruit Lab of the USDA, wanted to try them. They were unavailable in 
this country then, but I was able to import them and waited for their 2 year 
quarantine. I know that other people have gotten fruit from them but I never 
got more than very few, very small fruits. The variety I had (and still have 
a few of, from years of runnering, which it does prolifically) is Profumata 
di Tortona, which was was grown commercially in Italy. I did have a male 
pollinator also, called Capron.

I consider this strawberry to be one of the best tasting, sort of like 
strawberry and raspberry. But I don’t know why it’s yield and size were so 
poor. 

By the way, I devoted a chapter to musk and alpine strawberries (the latter 
of which I do grow, the white variety, which is delectable) in my now out of 
print book Uncommon Fruit for Every Garden.  It will be updated and back in 
print in a few years.

Both alpine and musk strawberries survive my Zone 5 winters.

Lee
Lee Reich, PhD
Come visit my farmden at
http://www.leereich.com/blog <http://www.leereich.com/blog>
http://leereich.com <http://leereich.com/>

Books by Lee Reich:
•The Ever Curious Gardener: Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better 
Garden
•A Northeast Gardener’s Year
•The Pruning Book
•Weedless Gardening
•Uncommon Fruits for every Garden
•Landscaping with Fruit
•Grow Fruit Naturally
°New!! Growing Figs in Cold Climates

> On Aug 5, 2022, at 12:16 PM, Bors, Bob <bob.bors@usask.ca> wrote:
> 
> Hi Henry,
> 
> The musk strawberry Fragaria moschata is super cold hardy.
> In my grad school days in Ontario, I recall we had a freak early winter 
> rainfall that fell on frozen ground.
> Plants stayed imbedded in ice most of the winter.
> This killed off a huge % strawberries, but not  F. Mochata. It did fine.
> 
> Its musky flavor is somewhat like concord grapes.
> Berries can be as big as an inch.
> It has 6 chromosomes while regular strawberries have 8.
> Although an accession or two have complete flowers, mostly they have male 
> and female plants. So that would be problematic to sell both types.
> I'm not sure where to get them commercially.
> I got some from the genebank in Corvallis years ago.  I don't have them 
> anymore.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> Bob Bors, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Head of the Fruit Program
> Dept. of Plant Sciences
> 51 Campus Drive
> Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8 Canada
> www.fruit.usask.ca
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nafex <nafex-bounces+bob.bors=usask.ca@lists.ibiblio.org> On Behalf 
> Of Henry via nafex
> Sent: Thursday, August 4, 2022 9:33 PM
> To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters 
> <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Cc: Henry <treehugger53ah@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [nafex] strawberry info
> 
> CAUTION: External to USask. Verify sender and use caution with links and 
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> 
> 
> I buy plants for the Friends School Plant Sale in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
> 
> Strawberries were very popular last year and sold out quickly, so we want 
> to add some new varieties.
> 
> A customer requested the European musk strawberry, but none of us know 
> anything about it.
> 
> Specifically, we want to know if it would be a good candidate for 
> mid-continental Zone 4.
> 
> --Henry Fieldseth
> Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
> http://www.FriendsSchoolPlantSale.com
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