9GreenBox Albion Everbearing Strawberry 25 Bare Root Plants - New! Extra Large & Sweet

Strawberries are a cool season fruit that generally does very well in cooler climates. They are hardy down to negative temperatures and once established, need no frost or freeze protection in most zones. I live in Southeastern North Carolina a few miles from the coast, so I had to do some research to find a variety of strawberry that could tolerate hotter, more humid summers. I also didn't want a Junebearer. I wanted small quantities of strawberries in intervals throughout the year, not a big crop all at once. I settled on the Albion, and so far I'm very happy I did.I ordered the bare roots from the seller Hand Picked Nursery on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 27, 2018. They arrived at my door in less than 48 hours the morning of Thursday, March 1. I knew immediately upon opening the package that these were a great quality product from a great seller. For bare roots, they looked strikingly decent - much better than the bare root strawberries you'll find in big box stores. I kept them in the package they arrived in on my kitchen table, unopened, til I had time to transplant them on Saturday.On Saturday, March 3, I opened the plastic package. I soaked the bare roots in a large mixing bowl full of warm water. After about 30 mins of soaking, I transplanted them into square 1-cup seed containers that come in 18-cell trays at any big box store. I planted them in pre-moistened Jiffy potting mix (I dump the potting mix in a 5 gallon bucket and pour a pot of boiling water into the mix and stir with a trowel to make sure any pathogens or fungus gnat eggs that come in the mix are killed, then let it cool before scooping it into containers and planting my seedlings or roots). Make sure you do not bury the crown of the strawberry. The crown is where the new growth comes from, and they must be slightly elevated or the center spear will rot. Note that I received 27 strawberries instead of the 25 I paid for. Bonus!I have a little pop-up greenhouse that I kept the trays in. They all sprang to life immediately, sending out new shoots from the center crown in a matter of days. Within a couple weeks, they were all completely viable plants. I was able to transplant them all by the middle-end of March. It is now April 22, and they are all loaded with huge clusters of strawberries. You're SUPPOSED TO prune your strawberries the first year to encourage growth because strawberries aren't supposed to put out a lot of fruit the first year. Well, somebody forgot to tell these strawberries that. I didn't prune anything. They're not putting out many runners, just huge clusters of fruit. Every plant is loaded.You can follow along the strawberry's journey from root-to-plant on the pictures I have included. The final picture of the large fruit in my hand are how all the plants look today. I only planted a little more than half because I received so many, and I gave the rest out as gifts. These are truly beautiful plants and strongly recommend this Albion variety and the seller (Hand Picked Nursery). I can't wait to see how they taste. I should know in a few weeks!EDIT: I am adding an addendum to this review due to the ignorance of several reviewers. These are not ready-to-plant strawberry plants. These are dry roots that have been cut back from existing rootstock. They need to be soaked and transplanted first, which will take several weeks to "wake them up" and generate enough growth to make them viable plants. If you do not want to wait, go to a big box store and purchase a plant that is ready to go. You will pay the same price for 4 ready-to-plant strawberry plants at a store than you will for 25+ bare roots. Know what you are purchasing and understand the process before you leave a negative review.

I tried to grow these strawberries. Follows how to plant the crowns as well as the type of soil.I have a patch of strawberries, the same plants, for over ten years. Last year I lost some to a rabbit who got loose. So I wanted more everberring strawberries to replenish.Sadly, only two grew, and neither are alive now. My other strawberries are growing. A few have flowers alreadyI am honestly unsure if I would try them again! I am attempting to contact the company and will see how it goes!Follow up: strawberry plants are perineal plants. Especially in southern Alabama. The few plants that did grow, did not come back. The company’s response was, “we use Amazon’s return policy”. We all know even Home Depot has a one year guarantee for this reason. I didn’t even ask for money, but a replacement.

As described. Received about 27, one was dead. Soaked in bowl of water a couple days and they were growing + reaching for light. Planted in small containers. Squirrels love to bite these in half so tossed on the roof and covered with chicken wire. Growing good so far. Big plant in the back is another everbearing (Quinalt) I've had for years so ignore that one. End of season stick them in your basement and let them hibernate. No reason to toss.Will these fruit this year? Doubt it but we'll see. Will update pics + review later as it progresses.Update 1 (see pics): they've been planted for about 20 days now and coming along fine. Found the first flower, popped it off to allow them to grow out more and not expend energy on fruiting. There were about 5 other buds on the same site so it seems like these will produce a good amount of fruit. Feeding schedule: giving nutrients (6-4-4 NPK) every other watering. I pH my water to ~6.5ish rather than use our tap which is neutral (7.0). Using 0.5mL pH Down to about 1-1.5 gallon of tap. Strawberries prefer slightly acidic water between 5.5-6.8. Will keep cropping the flowers until there's more foliage and the roots are more developed. Will update again later.

I had purchased ozark along with these Albion. Although I planted in completely separate areas of yard, I had soaked them nearby the ozark before planting. The ozark only had half leaf out then all seemed to get wilt or something and died within a month this summer. The albion seemed very hardy and hung in there but through bugs or something they too started behaving like the ozark and perished a couple hung in there passed the summer heat in semi shade. I will have to wait a year or two now before getting berries incase it was a containment disease. I gave three stars because they perished, but I am not convinced it was their fault, I really think the ozarks were bad.

Strawberries I ordered a delicious and come in very healthy. I have eight individual strawberry pot set up with probably 10 other starters going on right now expect to get quite a load there in the patio because they’re being winterized and they are doing very very well. this is the best yet enjoy

Out of 50 plants only about 7 of them actually woke up and started growing!!! I planted them all at the same time and same location but most of them never grew and I have it ample time to make sure and I am now certain 40 of them at least are dead!!! I want my money back or more plants to compensate me for this! I bought 50 plants and only have just a few.