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A Strategy For Lengthening and Increasing Your Strawberry Harvest (11/22/00) Charles R. O'Dell Recently in regional strawberry educational workshops I learned of a crop cover manufacturer in Alabama that makes several weights of UV-protected crop covers in widths of up to 50' and lengths of up to 300 feet or more, that may be useful to strawberry growers interested in 1) extending the fall growing season to help mimic warmer areas of the SE to aid development of robust branch crowns of plants growing further into the fall; 2) for winter protection; 3) for frost protection during bloom; and, 4) for earlier and longer harvest season. Additionally, 5) these covers are less then one-half the cost of comparable weight covers available in this area. These covers have worked to advance and spread the harvest by leaving them over the plants right up to bloom. Warmer day and night temperatures beneath the cover advances fall and winter crown development, then advances early spring plant growth and thus earlier harvest by almost 2 weeks compared to fields or portions of fields left uncovered during late fall, winter and spring. The high initial cost of covers commonly sold in this area has prevented most growers from trying this strategy, yet most growers desire relief >from a glut of berries all at one time at peak harvest. By having at least a portion of a field covered during winter and spring, including right up to bloom time, harvest peak will occur earlier for that portion that was covered. There have been many reports of total yields being greatly increased by the two extra weeks of harvest from this strategy. In other words, the covered portion began picking 2 weeks earlier, but picked just as long as did that portion that had not been covered. We know that the onset of late spring heat quickly shuts down the further fruiting of our strawberries, so lengthening the season forward does not incur a penalty, they will continue to bloom and set fruit for as long as temperatures remain temperate. When you see the plants beginning to produce lots of runners, the fruiting phase is about over, plants are going vegetative. Let's work to help them fruit for a longer time each harvest season! If you can gain an extra 2 weeks of earlier harvest per year by this strategy, in effect you have gained 4 weeks of extra harvest every 2 years, almost an extra harvest season's worth of berries and income! With the earlier, longer and more profitable season of large berries obtained, you can justify the high costs of the annual planting system to help reduce the threat and spread of destructive strawberry diseases such as Anthracnose, Phytophthora Crown Rot and others, by always starting each fall with clean, disease-free nursery-grown plants. By rotating strawberry planting sites plus soil fumigation you also will have the option every year of double cropping strawberry beds to vegetables, an excellent "recycling" practice to re-use the plastic mulch, the drip tape, fittings and manifold lines and the already prepared planting beds. To hold covers down over the berry fields during our windy late fall, winter and spring cold fronts we use 8 inch cinder blocks, seconds are lower cost, placing a cinder block about every 12 linear feet around the perimeter of each cover. We stack and store the blocks outside near field edges when not in use. We store the crop covers outside, also near field edges, by folding them up into piles several feet in width and length, then covering them with 6 mil black polyethylene silo covers available from farm supply stores. The black covers prevent further UV sunlight weakening of our crop covers over the summer months, while the heat generated by sunlight on the black silo covers evidently is uncomfortably hot, repelling rodents such as field mice in the summer. These covers were highly recommended for this strategy by Alabama Horticulturists in recent regional educational meetings: Atmore GG-40, 1.2 oz per square yard in colder areas, at 19 cents per square yard plus freight, phone 1-888-396-2566. Trade names are used for information purposes only. Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Virginia State University do not endorse those mentioned nor do they intend or imply discrimination against those not mentioned. click HERE to return to special reports & reviews page |
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