ARS | Publication request: Harvesting strawberries in fall and early spring

Submitted to: Ohio Produce Growers & Marketers Association (OPGMA)
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: November 10, 2008
Publication Date: January 30, 2009
Citation: Takeda, F. Harvesting strawberries in early spring and fall. Ohio Produce Growers & Marketers Association (OPGMA)TODAY, winter issue, p.4-5, 2009.

Technical Abstract: New management strategies are needed to produce strawberry planting materials that will fruit in the off-season in the mid-Atlantic coast region. Also, a better understanding of mechanisms that control flowering in strawberries is needed to improve fall flowering in short-day type cultivars. When plug plants were made in early July and kept in propagation trays at high density until they were planted on September 1, fall flowering was induced in over 90% of transplants, but less than 30% of early August plugged transplants flowered in the fall. We attributed the high flowering response in July plugged plants to the absence of red light getting through to transplant crowns. In the present work, we maintained transplants at a high density in July and August, and illuminated the crowns with red light in August. The red light treatment caused a significant decrease in fall flowering. This knowledge will be used to produce strawberry transplants that will produce fruit from October to late December and following spring. These transplants will allow growers to have two harvests within a year from one planting.