Strawberry Pineberry

Description

This rare and incredibly delicious new fruit, ripening in spring and summer resembles a strawberry, but has a pineapple-like flavour. When ripe, this cross between Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana, is a creamy-white, but has attractive red "seeds" patterned across its surface. It is exceptionally disease resistant, and when sold is very highly priced, having been first bred in South America around 2002. We believe we may have been the originators, as we collected seeds of Fragaria chiloensis on our seed collecting trip to the the Chilean Andes in 1994, seed collected on the beach sand-dunes of Chiloe island was subsequently distributed to our seed shareholders! Please be aware that the genetics of the two parent species means that seedlings may vary, and you may get similar but different fruits on some of the plants...but all will be edible and tasty.

Sowing Advice

For best results, sow seeds as soon as you receive them onto a good soil-based compost. Cover the seeds with fine grit or compost to approximately their own depth. These seeds can be very slow indeed to germinate, and may wait for spring before emerging whenever sown. Do not use artificial heat to try to germinate them as it will simply disrupt their germination mechanism. Please be very patient, and do not discard the seed pan.

Key Facts