Fall Transplanting Date Affects Strawberry Cultivar Performance in South Carolina

Abstract

Berry size, earliness, and marketable yield are important considerations in strawberry production. Since cultivars differ in time of production, that is, early, main, or late season, it is important to understand how fall planting dates affect the timing of spring harvests. Field experiments were reported over for three years from 1999 to 2003 on ‘Chandler’, ‘Bish’, ‘Gaviota’ and ‘Camarosa’ cultivars that were field planted on 10, 20, or 30 October each year. Early harvest included mature berries harvested from the first harvest through the second full week of April. Main harvest occurred from the third week in April to the first week of June. The most productive, early cultivar was ‘Gaviota’ yielding the most on all three planting dates. ‘Camarosa’ yielded more than ‘Bish’ and ‘Chandler’ on the first and second planting dates. On the third planting date, however, ‘Camarosa’, ‘Bish’ and ‘Chandler’ yielded similarly, but less than ‘Gaviota’. ‘Chandler’ and ‘Bish’ yielded similarly on all planting dates. All four cultivars planted on 20 October produced the greatest main season yield followed by significantly lower yields from the 10 October planting date, and lowest yields of all with the 30 October planting date. Crown development diminished significantly with each consecutive fall planting date through the month of October.

Key Words:

• Early harvest
• main harvest
• berry size
• defects
• yield
• spring harvest
• Fragaria ×ananassa