Grow Your Own Pineberries: The White Strawberries with an Amazing Pineapple Flavor

If you’re anything like me, you would be rushing off to find these.

This fragrant fruit is a bit of a strawberry but also a bit of a pineapple, aptly named the Pineberry, or Fragaria x Annanassa.

It’s non-GMO/GE, female in cultivar with a dominant white coloration, sometimes a faint yellowish or pinkish tinge is present.

The seeds are red on the outside and it gives these tasty fruit quite the appearance.

Pineberries will most likely not be found in your local supermarket, but the fruits are very easy to grow at home in your very own garden.

Pineberries are 100% safe to eat (unless you suffer an allergy to strawberries of course) and originate from natural crossbreeding techniques – these originating in the 1750’s from the crossing of North American red strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) with South American white strawberries (Fragaria chiloensis) by Netherlands based breeder, Hans de Jongh with the idea of producing a better yielding crop and the outcome was a delicious thriving fruit ever since the 90’s.

Mass production of Pineberries has never really taken off because the species isn’t self-pollinating, so most farmers prefer red species who are much easier to grow. The solution is to plant a male species nearby and let nature do it’s thing, allowing bees, butterflies and the wind to naturally produce the most delicious strawberry variety ever. This process does not affect the flavor and has been shown to increase yield and lengthen the growing season.

Pineberries are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, folic acid, are full of natural antioxidants and can be used in a variety of ways in our diets to obtain the wonderful benefits the fruit offers. Pineberries contain a noticeable amount of fiber too.

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Growing your own Pineberries

Pineberries are slowly gaining popularity in the USA, but are proven quite difficult to find in retail outlets, with a short shelf-life of 1-2 days, it makes sense that larger grocery chains may be hesitant to stock something so perishable. They are best eaten immediately after purchase or first prize – eaten straight from the plant.

They thrive best in the USDA hardiness zone 4-8 and need other varieties nearby to pollinate. They grow better from starter slips than seeds and you can start them off in pots or soil patches.

To obtain a pH soil level of 5.5 to 6.5 in the pots, a great combination of soil types goes as follows, according to tips from Natural Living Ideas:

• 10 parts sterile potting soil
• 10 parts peat moss
• 8 parts perlite
• 4 parts compost
• 1 part sand

The pots need sufficient drainage and consistent moisture with 6 hours of direct sunlight or 8-10 hours in indirect bright light a day.

Choose an area in your garden where strong-flavored plants haven’t recently grown and weed the area thoroughly. Till small ridges or double beds and add a strong organic composting to the patches. Place shallow holes roughly 12 inches apart and bury your Pineberries in them. Ensure the crowns are still however visible as the leaves need adequate sunlight to photosynthesize.

Pat down the soil gently and offer a generous amount of water from a watering can or hose with a soft set nozzle.

Like the potting positioning, make sure the are you have selected gets the correct amount of sunlight daily.

Offer the plants NPK fertilizer every 3-4 weeks and water the plants regularly, taking care to not damage the plants in this process. Try your best to stick to biological methods to control pests and weeds rather than harmful chemicals and note that Pineberries are susceptible to crown rot, leaf spot, scorch, root rot, fruit rot, gray mold and a few viruses.

The fruits will be ready for harvest when they begin taking on a pinkish or yellowish blush.

You can order your very own starts here and have an amazing time growing your own Pineberries – one awesome fruit!

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