The Best Strawberry Varieties For Every Growing Zone

Are you planning to grow strawberries but are torn between the million different varieties that are out there?

Well, today, you’ll be learning about what choice to make depending on your growing zone. And, trust me, growing zones never fail a gardener.

Let’s dive right into it!

The Best Types Of Strawberries

Let’s start with the best types of strawberries, at least for me haha!

June-Bearing: June-bearing strawberry varieties can provide large harvests around early summer.
Everbearing: Everbearing varieties can produce multiple smaller harvests throughout the harvesting season.
Day-Neutral: Day neutral strawberry varieties fruit continuously as long as the conditions are right.

The Best Strawberry Varieties For Every Growing Zone

Zone 3-4 (Cold Climates)

Fort Laramie: Fort Laramie is an everbearing strawberry variety known for its large, juicy berries. These berries will typically be on the sweeter end of the spectrum and thrive in colder climates.
Ogallala: Ogallala strawberries are known for their drought-tolerance and they can thrive in mild to cool climate conditions like that of zone 3-4.
Honeoye: Honeoye strawberries can withstand cold climates with great ease and produce tart berries in impressively large numbers.

Zone 5-6 (Temperate Climates)

Earliglow strawberries — Earliglow Strawberries

Jewel: This June-bearing variety is famous for its shiny, sweet berries that lack the typical sourness that other berry varieties have.
Allstar: Allstar strawberries offer that typical berry sweetness and tartness. They thrive in milder temperature conditions and are incredibly disease resistant.
Earliglow: Another June-bearing variety that doesn’t fail to surprise with its sweetness. Earliglow strawberries are known for their rich red berries. They’re sweet, firm, and super easy to maintain.

Zone 7-8 (Mild Winters, Hot Summers)

Chandler: This June-bearing strawberry variety thrives in moderate climate conditions but can do even better with some warmth.
Seascape: Seascape strawberries can do quite well in pretty much all climate conditions because they’re an everbearing variety.
Camarosa: If you’ve ever seen camarosa strawberries, you know just how large and plump they are. This June-bearing strawberry variety thrives in warm conditions and produces large harvests in the summertime.

Zone 9-10 (Warm & Tropical Climates)

Monterey strawberries — Monterey Strawberries

Albion: Like Camarosa, Albion strawberries are known for their surprisingly large size and delicious, sweet taste. In most cases, this variety is completely disease resistant, making it ideal for gardeners who may be dealing with fungal issues in the garden.
San Andreas: San Andreas strawberries are the conventional berries we all know and love. What’s incredible about them, however, is that they produce impressively high yields in the fruiting season.
Monterey: Monterey berries are a perfect mix between sweet and tart. They’re everbearing and produce multiple harvests throughout the season, meaning vigorous growth and impressive yields.

Tips For Growing Healthy Strawberries

Use nutrient-rich, fertile soil that contains a healthy blend of all essential nutrients. Nutrient deficiencies can result in poor fruit development or excessive leafy growth, which you definitely do not want.

Heavy soil that’s overly compact or clumped together isn’t ideal. It will limit root growth and cause drainage problems. You want to loosen up the soil before planting, or plant in raised garden beds for better drainage.

Most strawberry varieties need plenty of water to thrive. Don’t deprive them of hydration, especially in dry weather.

Remove small runners and weeds around your strawberry plants to allow for complete nutrient and resource absorption. This will result in better plant growth and, eventually, improved fruiting.

Conclusion

Growing strawberries can be a daunting task, especially when there are so many different varieties to choose from. I mean…where does one even begin?

To make things simple, gardeners use the USDA Zone Map to help navigate around this confusion and make choices simple. My mom was the one who taught me about this and now I’m passing on that knowledge to you folks.