Strawberries - Ever Bearing, Day Neutral, June Bearing

Strawberry plants are often described on the internet as ‘June bearing’, ‘everbearing’ or ‘day neutral’. Even though we usually don’t use these terms in Australia we are starting to see them more often and people sometimes ask me about them so I thought I would write a post explaining the differences.

Before I start, try to keep in mind that this distinction is not absolute, not all varieties fit neatly into any one category, some varieties switch categories depending on the growing conditions, many can send up an occasional flower throughout the growing season, also being in Australia means that internet descriptions such as ‘June bearing’ may be confusing as they will more likely crop in December.

Strawberries will not flower or fruit if the temperature is too high or too low. If your climate is too hot or dry or cold you may not actually be able to tell the difference between any of these three as the possible fruiting window may be small. If you live up in the tropics or down south will also change fruiting time drastically.

Now that is out of the way, let me explain the differences between June bearing, everbearing, and day neutral strawberries.

Various Strawberries