Growing strawberries in tunnels Wenjing Guan Clinical & Engagement Assistant Professor Jan 12, 2017
Matted row and Annual plastic systems June-bearing and day-neutral varieties June-bearing: Require short day for flower bud initiation Day-neutral: Flower bud initiation is insensitive to day length
2015-2016 HT strawberry trial at SWPAC Crop season: Aug. 27 2015 to May 31, 2016 Day neutral: Albion San Andreas Sweet Ann June-bearer: Festival Chandler Camarosa Sweet Charlie Benicia Camino Real Radiance
Day-neutral strawberries and two June-bearing varieties had a small fall harvest Variety Flower date Fall Yield lb./plant Albion Sep 20 0.17 San Andreas Sep 24 0.08 Sweet Ann Oct 2 0.10 Sweet Charlie Oct 13 0.09 Radiance Oct 16 0.09
4-Apr 6-Apr 8-Apr 10-Apr 12-Apr 14-Apr 16-Apr 18-Apr 20-Apr 22-Apr 24-Apr 26-Apr 28-Apr 30-Apr 2-May 4-May 6-May 8-May 10-May 12-May 14-May 16-May 18-May 20-May 22-May 24-May 26-May 28-May 30-May lb/plant Spring harvest started in mid-april and lasted to the end of May Yield ranged from 1.42 to 2.86 lb/plant 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Albion Benicia Camarosa Camino Real Chandler Festival Radiance San Andreas Sweet Ann Sweet Charlie
Growing strawberries in high tunnels Planting https://strawberries.ces.ncsu.edu/strawberries-plasticulture-considerations-plantmaterial/ Even though plugs are more expensive, they are easier to manage and establish much faster
1:00:00 5:30:00 10:00:00 2:30:00 7:00:00 11:30:00 4:00:00 8:30:00 1:00:00 5:30:00 10:00:00 2:30:00 7:00:00 11:30:00 4:00:00 8:30:00 1:00:00 5:30:00 10:00:00 2:30:00 7:00:00 11:30:00 4:00:00 8:30:00 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 inside high tunnel Variety Percentages of dead plants Albion 1.5 Benicia 21.2 Camarosa 10.6 Camino Real 0 Chandler Albion 4.5 Festival 0 Radiance 4.5 San Andreas 1.5 Sweet Ann 15.1 Sweet Charlie 0 Avoid late summer high T Maintain bed moisture
12:00:00 1:00:00 2:00:00 3:00:00 4:00:00 5:00:00 6:00:00 7:00:00 8:00:00 9:00:00 10:00:00 11:00:00 12:00:00 1:00:00 2:00:00 3:00:00 4:00:00 5:00:00 6:00:00 7:00:00 8:00:00 9:00:00 10:00:00 11:00:00 Management Temperature 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Under Cover w/o heating cord Strawberry Outdside Cover Outside HT B Fall: applied at nights when T < 32 ºF Winter: taken off during days when T >70 ºF Spring: applied at nights when T < 50 ºF
Temperature Recorded temperatures (F) under row covers in the 2015/2016 trial Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Low 49 33 31 33 26 31 35 37 43 High 111 92 82 77 77 93 89 98 108 Avg 75 61 53 49 46 49 57 63 68
Management Spacing Runners were pruned weekly in the fall Control plant size in winter Source: USU 2010-01pr Pollination: by wind
Fertility management Preplant 60 lb/a Nitrogen 60 lb/a phosphate (soil test) 120 lb/a potash (soil test) (Source: southwest regional strawberry plasticulture production guide) Fertigation start in Feb. based on plant tissue test (two-week interval) N recommendation 0.5-0.75 lb/a/day
Pest management Powdery mildew Gray mold Torino, Quintec, Rally Captan, Scala; prunning
Pest management Yellow stripped armyworms Two-spotted spider mites Agree WG, Brigade Two-spotted spider mites predatory mites, M-Pede, Oberon, Acramite; Prunning
Lb/plant Cultivars --- Driven by market goals 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Albion: earliest variety, recommend for fall harvest Festival: high fruit quality, produce many runners Radiance: longest harvest season, very high yield potential San Andreas: high yield day-neutral Sweet Charlie: early spring harvest, but low yield potential
Lb/plant Cultivars --- Driven by market goals 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Benicia: good for early spring market, relatively tolerant to powdery mildew, plant decline in peak harvest Not recommended--- Chandler and Camarosa: small and soft berries
Economics Variety Marketable yield lb/plant Yield (lb) in High Tunnel (30 96 ) (900 plants) Revenue $ ($3.5/lb) Albion 1.70 de 1 1,530 5,355 Benicia 2.08 bc 1,872 6,552 Camarosa 1.42 e 1,278 4,473 Camino Real 1.89 cd 1,701 5,953 Chandler 2.17 bc 1,953 6,835 Festival 1.88 cd 1,692 5,922 Radiance 2.86 a 2,574 9,009 San Andreas 2.37 b 2,133 7,465 Sweet Ann 1.62 de 1,458 5,103 Sweet Charlie 1.62 de 1,458 5,103
Strawberries as a rotational crop to tomatoes Attract consumers to come and buy other produce Double cropping with tomatoes Direct selling value may not be able to compete with tomatoes Long crop season Strawberries are susceptible to Verticillium wilt, it can also be a disease of tomatoes.
Questions & Comments guan40@purdue.edu 812-886-0198