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I remember eating the most flavourful and fragrant alpine strawberries in Germany a few years ago, and I'd like to try growing them in my garden in South Africa. The climate is obviously quite different here, most notably the temperature never goes below 0 degrees in my area.

Do alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca, also known as wild strawberry or woodland strawberry) require any particular climate in order to grow and bear fruit? Some berries require below-zero temperatures, and I wonder whether this is also true of alpine strawberries? For the record, ordinary strawberries grow quite well here, so this question pertains to alpine strawberries in particular.

Richard Keller
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  • I'm not sure, which variety an "alpine strawberry" is: it's not the woodland strawberry ("Walderdbeere" in german language), is it? Perhaps you can give more information on this. – Christoph Mühlmann Jul 24 '12 at 15:47
  • Yes, "Walderdbeere" is exactly the name by which I remember it, also known as the woodland strawberry or *Fragaria vesca*. I've updated my question. – Richard Keller Jul 24 '12 at 22:37
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    I found no information related to _Fragaria vesca_ specially. I would assume, those things related to culture strawberries _Fragaria_ x _ananassa_ (daylength, minimum need for coolness) are valid for the woodland strawberry, too. – Christoph Mühlmann Jul 25 '12 at 07:24

2 Answers2

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No, the don't require freezing temperatures, but they don't tolerate heat and drought well. They will tolerate a bit of shade. I suggest planting them in a semi-shaded spot. If it gets too warm, they'll stop producing and eventually die.

Commercial strawberries are nearly all 'all at once' types, meaning they give their harvest at about the same time, sometimes several distinct times of the year. Alpine strawberries give a steady harvest over time. With a bit of luck, you might get strawberries all year round.

Patrick
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    My alpine strawberries have died during the drought conditions in my area while the commercial strawberries just had a reduced crop. Patrick's answer is the same as my experience. – kevinskio Aug 07 '12 at 13:54
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In Melbourne, Australia, I've sometimes had a pitiful tasting crop of alpine strawberries during summers in which temperatures fluctuated a lot, or we had late warm weather. They also become tasteless with too much fertilizer, just like their bigger cousins. Don't let them dry out, and good drainage is also needed. In the wild they grow at edges of forests or small clearings. Maybe you can mimic these conditions for your cultivated plants.

J. Musser
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Chris
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