Alpine strawberries growing conditions

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.