Seedless strawberries?

[ChingfordHarry]

hi

a good proportion of my strawberries (Honeoye) appear to have no seeds - I'd guess about half at the moment. All the seedless ones are a darker red than the normal ones, so appear to be riper (but don't necessarily taste any riper). The seedless ones are mostly a bit smaller than the biggest of the normal ones.

now, I've been growing strawberries on and off since the early 1970s, but I don't recall having ever seen this before. The plants are ~2 years old and all come from runners from a single plant given to me some years ago. They're in a bed on my allotment - heavy clay, under bird netting.

i was wondering - is this common?

[ameno]

Could you post a picture?
You won't be able to post one direct yet as your post count isn't high enough, but you can upload one to an external image hosting site then post the link here.

[ChingfordHarry]

I just took out a hand lens for a closer look (should have done this first). It seems that the strawbs aren't seedless - just they were "hiding in plain sight" - the flesh around the seeds has swollen considerably, and the seeds are a dark red rather than the normal green/tan colour on the normal berries, and look like they might be a bit smaller

How embarrassing.

However, the berries certainly do look weird... see attached

[Snoop Puss]

Hello and welcome, Harry.

I know nothing about strawberries, but do they taste nice? And is the texture nicer?

[Bren In Pots]

First I'll say hello Harry and welcome to the vine

I think those strawberries look rather good so enjoy.

[ChingfordHarry]

Hi Snoop Puss
They taste, well, like strawberries. The texture is much the same as for normal strawberries. The only real difference is that they are a darker red and the seeds were trying to hide :-)

[Snoop Puss]

Hi Snoop Puss
They taste, well, like strawberries. The texture is much the same as for normal strawberries. The only real difference is that they are a darker red and the seeds were trying to hide :-)

I wondered whether you might have a new and highly desirable new variety on your hands. The colour is probably commercially very appealing, as they'll look good and ripe in comparison with lots you see.

[ChingfordHarry]

I'm supposed to be working, but this captured my attention. I've found some photos on the interweb of berries that look like these, that are labelled (among others) "framberry" (available from Primrose) and "strasberry" (wikipedia tells me Fragaria × ananassa 'Mieze Schindler' is a variety of the garden strawberry, with a raspberry-like appearance, originally developed by the German breeder Otto Schindler in 1925).

All very weird, because these are all from runners from a single plant... there is an overgrown bed of a raspberry cross (Tayberry? Loganberry?) not far away on a neighbour's plot, but I'm somewhat sceptical that a cross could have occurred without human intervention, and then given me fruiting plants without me noticing.

[Snoop Puss]

I must admit my first thought was a strawberry that had crossed with a raspberry, but I too thought it unlikely.

But if you google for strawberry raspberry hybrid or cross, there are actually quite a lot of hits.

Intriguing, in any event.

[ameno]

I wondered whether you might have a new and highly desirable new variety on your hands. The colour is probably commercially very appealing, as they'll look good and ripe in comparison with lots you see.

Probably the opposite, actually.
Apparently the deep red strawberry varieties are not wanted by supermarkets as most customers supposedly mistake them for being over-ripe. Mid-red with yellow seeds is what customers want.

[ChingfordHarry]

Hi Ameno
this is truly depressing, but is what prompts me to grow my own fruit. As must have been said here many, many times, if you grow your own you can pick and eat it when it's just right for eating, and not subject to someone else's idea of what it should look like (rather than what it tastes like).
I'm coming round to the idea that either the previous plot holder planted some framberries that managed to survive my initial cultivation, or a volunteer arrived with the idea of confusing me. I'd have to say that they look hugely more appealing than the Honeoye I thought they were, and my neighbours have already asked for runners...

[Snoop Puss]

I'm coming round to the idea that either the previous plot holder planted some framberries that managed to survive my initial cultivation, or a volunteer arrived with the idea of confusing me. I'd have to say that they look hugely more appealing than the Honeoye I thought they were, and my neighbours have already asked for runners...

Brilliant.

[Nicos]

Hi there Harry, and Welcome to the Vine from me too.

Have to say that I think those look absolutely delicious!
I’m not surprised people are already asking for runners.

[ChingfordHarry]

Hi folks

A lot of searching around indicates that "Mieze Schindler" is a female-only variety that needs a pollinator (and appears to be the one called "Strasberry"), and "Framberry" was developed from this to be self-fertile (i.e. it must bear both male and female flower parts), and marketed from 2013. They seem to be very popular amongst gardeners on the Continent.

I _still_ get excited by things like this!

[Snoop Puss]

Hi folks

A lot of searching around indicates that "Mieze Schindler" is a female-only variety that needs a pollinator (and appears to be the one called "Strasberry"), and "Framberry" was developed from this to be self-fertile (i.e. it must bear both male and female flower parts), and marketed from 2013. They seem to be very popular amongst gardeners on the Continent.

I _still_ get excited by things like this!

Who wouldn't? Plus, it's nice to have things to share.