Organic Farmer Network: Network Discussion Summary

Topic: Strawberry

Favorite Strawberry varieties:

Charlie - Delmarvel

Wiedigers note they will have ripe strawberries in their hoophouses in April, a month earlier than strawberries being grown outdoors.

Ken wants to know about growing strawberries in the hoophouses: “I have done a few the last 2 winters, trialing. Not convinced the yield justifies the space. What variety are you planting, what spacing, planting date etc? They seem to be very susceptible to botritus in the humidity of indoors. I have them in a house with numerous other crops. Suspect I could manage better if they were the only crop per house and maintained cooler and less humid conditions. We did pick the first strawberry last year in February, but this year the early blooms froze when it was 4 degrees.”

Wiedigers respond: “We planted Chandler ("the" strawberry for plasticulture, or one of the top few) in September. They came as large plugs, already rooted from a place in Maryland, I think. We used the wall beds in the tunnel, because they are a little too cold for many of our winter offerings, and we thought it might be a good use of space. We are a little too far north for outdoor plasticulture, and reasoned that the small amount of protection that the tunnels provide might make a difference. We spaced them a foot apart, mostly because that's how our drip is set up, and it makes for easy transplanting. We have seen no disease so far - but we don't have berries yet - only plants. They stayed green all winter, and are growing VERY rapidly now. We aren't sure about profits margins yet - plants are expensive, and so are bees, but we have no fuel expense - so we'll see!”

Ken compares his strawberries to conventionally grown strawberries: “…I saw in somebody's fridge a carton of California berries, you know those things that look like strawberries and crunch when you bite them? I took a bite, just to see, and confirmed why poeple love what we grow. When I first started growing Chandler berries on plastic, I was disappointed that they didn't taste like the berries my Grandfather used to grow. I was a bit apologetic to my customers for a week or two til they started coming back and saying these were the best berries they had ever eaten. So I quit apologizing and started planting more berries. Did ya'll know that:
1- conventional strawberries are the most heavily sprayed fruit or veg crop grown in the US?
2- California berries are picked green, shipped east and then gassed with ethylene, just like tomatoes?

I get regular emailings from our state strawberry specialist. I can see why conventional growers think you can't grow strawberries organically. Every few days there is info about some pest or other and what to spray, not to mention the methyl bromide used last fall preplant to kill everything in the soil. They are being told to use fungicides for anthracnose in case it might be there, (we're talking up to 10 sprayings here.) Also to monitor and spray for spider mites, crickets, slugs, , etc, etc, and then there will be fungicide for botrytis when the berries ripen. We have been growing them organically for about 7 years. We have crimson clover and chick weed blooming in the row middles, lots of beneficials and I have never seen a spider mite. If it rains a lot at harvest we will lose some fruit to botritis, but then so do the conventional guys.

Strawberries are a mighty popular item at market, even though our market is overwhelmed with conventional berries, we can sell about 30 flats of pints on a good Saturday. We have the only certified organic berries there.”

Charlie adds: “Our strawberries are full of blossoms [late April] and we are anticipating a good season. This year we have a new patch started last spring, half Delmarvals, and half Lateglows. We put in another 1000 plants last week, half Earliglows and half Lateglows. My customer response to our berries is like Ken's, folks say they are the best they've ever had. Many of our CSA subscribers are becoming knowledgeable about how conventional strawberries are grown, and they are very grateful for those of us who are producing them without the toxic sprays. The major drawback I've experienced with strawberries is late frost. There have been a couple years when we have gone out by flashlight putting down row cover to protect from frost and have still had some loss.”