There are many hobbies, but the only one that interests me is horticulture. The particular aspect that I like is the growing of flowers and strawberries.
After I had gardened for a few years, there was one thing I wanted to do with flowers, and that was to select one kind and work on its improvement in some way.
Strawberry Plant “Baron Solemacher”
After considerable thought, I finally decided on trying my luck with a strawberry plant named “Baron Solemacher”.
While this plant would not be considered in the category of flowers because it is a fruit, it could be used as a flower because of its adaptability as a border plant.
Its small, white blooms, together with the red fruit, make it an ideal border plant.
When spaced alternately with blue lobelia, the red, white, and blue effect are beautiful. These plants have no runners, so the border will keep within bounds.
My First Grown Strawberry Plant Seeds
The description of this plant was so interesting in one of the seed catalogs that I purchased some of the seeds about 8 years ago.
I first grew these plants in a small nail keg for several years, and as the plants died, they were replaced with seedlings that sprang up around the keg.
Some of these plants bore heavily, and the berries were delightfully sweet and delicious in flavor like our wild strawberry.
I thought that if these plants could be improved so that they would bear heavily and have large fruit, it would benefit the person looking for a strawberry that would have the flavor of the wild field berry of his youth.
When The Varieties Bloom
This variety of plants starts to produce fruit on 2-year-old plants early in the summer and continues to bear until the frost kills the bloom.
One-year-old plants started from seed in February or March, if properly grown, will produce fruit in late July or August and bear heavily during late September and October.
When I started to improve this berry, I first selected a plant that was everbearing and whose fruit was larger than the Baron Solemacher, as my problem was to increase the size of the berry.
Then I selected plants of the Baron Soleinacher that bore heavily and these plants are a perpetual everbearing variety, that is, a continuous crop of berries from spring until fall.
Everbearing Strawberry Fruit
Everbearing strawberries bear fruit early in the spring, and then after a rest period, they bear again in the late fall.
These selected plants were cross-pollinated with the everbearing variety and seedlings were started early the next spring.
Plants were allowed to grow the first year naturally, and no effort was made to cross them again.
The first year the fruit was of normal size and flavor, but the second year, about the first of July, larger berries appeared in different shapes and sizes than the Baron Solemacher.
Shape Of Baron Solemacher
The usual shape of Baron Solemacher is tapering, and the new berries were somewhat of this shape only much larger.
Some were like regular strawberries except that they were slightly pointed, but the flavor was the same as the Baron Solcmucher. Seedlings obtained from these plants also bore large berries.
Several Ways To Start Baron Solemacher Seeds
There are several ways of starting these seeds, but my favorite method is to use a bulb pot with a smaller pot plucked in the center with the hole plugged either with putty or a cork.
This inside pot is filled with water, and the clay pot’s capillary action will keep the larger pot’s sand sufficiently moist to germinate the seeds.
Use not-too-coarse building sand for the bottom of the pot and the top for about one-half inch of fine sifted sphagnum moss or vermiculite. This will prevent damping off.
Starting Fertilization
For a starting fertilizer, I use a half teaspoonful of saltpeter to a half cup of water for each square foot of surface, and this gives sufficient nourishment to the seedlings until they develop their first true leaves.
If you can control the temperature, an 80° degree Fahrenheit for the day and 08 at night will give excellent germination.
I transplant when the first true leaves appear, using two-inch plant buns to grow them in. Light sandy soil is ideal for these seedlings, with a small amount of fertilizer added.
Secret To Starting Seedlings
Here is the secret to getting an early start for these seedlings — I use hotkaps when I set them out in the garden early in April here in southern Massachusetts. This boosts them, and they will start to bear fruit early in July.
One word of caution, however, regarding hotkaps — if there is a long hot, dry spell, be sure your plants are watered in some way or another. I make a small slit in the hotkap and water through that.
After these plants start to bear fruit, they fertilize heavily, as they are strong bearers and must be fed accordingly.
With second-year plants, and also in the Fall with one-year plants, I use a fertilizing solution consisting of 3 ounces of a complete fertilizer and 2 teaspoonfuls of potassium muriate to a gallon of water.
Apply about a half cupful to each plant once in 2 weeks. Be sure your soil is wet before applying.
Planting Of Seedlings
In planting, these seedlings should be spaced in rows 2’ feet apart and 18” inches between each plant, as they have a spread of 12” to 16” inches and grow 12” to 14” inches high.
This hybrid will stand some shade, as I grow most of mine under old tobacco shade cloth because some of my bird neighbors like their flavor.
If leaf spot attacks any plants, use a fungicide solution, or, better yet, have a spraying program in the Spring and continue to use it through the Summer, as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The flavor of these berries is distinctive, much like that of the wild strawberry; in fact, these berries originated from the wild alpine berry.
Large Berries On Baron Solemacher
Not every berry will be large, but you will find many large berries on the plants. My plants started to bear large berries on July 9th, 1948, although they still had some large berries in October.
In the mild winter of 1948, I picked 13 good berries on November 8th from a plant to which I had given some protection.
The average of the first year for plants started under hotkaps is about 125 berries, and I had one plant that, in its second year, bore 275 berries, and in 1949, its third year, bore 202 or approximately 602 berries.
Picking Berries Without Hulls
There is one thing about these berries that the housewife appreciates — they pick without the hulls, the same as the raspberry.
All that is necessary to prepare them for the table is to wash and coat them with sugar.
When the fruiting season is over, and the ground is frozen a couple of inches, it is best to mulch these plants with salt hay or straw, being careful not to cover the crown too heavily to smother them.
The fun is still ongoing, as I have backcrossed these plants a couple of ways, and now it will be two years before I know what the results will be.
But it is like fishing — lots of anticipation and sonic realization.
44659 by Charles O. Dean