Growing Winter Strawberries?

Question: Growing Winter Strawberries?

Gerard Caron asked:

What an interesting site. I am not clear on your descriptions of June bearing/shortday ? June bearing happens to be during the longest day of the year while shortday descrtiption is used for winter strawberries mainly grown in Florida.

Answer to: Growing Winter Strawberries?

Gerard,
June-bearing strawberries are generally considered to be the type of strawberry plants that produce one crop of large strawberries per year. This was traditionally a late May to early June occurrence in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere where strawberries are grown. However, as the strawberry industry developed and strawberry cultivars were refined through breeding programs and selection, several varieties proved to grow quite well with fewer daylight hours. These have allowed farmers to grow strawberries in winter more effectively. The winter varieties were still considered June-bearers due to their traditional production characteristics, but due to the fact that they were able to be grown during seasons with less daylight (namely winter), they earned a new moniker: short-day. So, the varieties that do well in Florida and California during the winter months are called short-day June-bearing strawberries, even though they are producing strawberries outside of the months of May/June. Growing winter strawberries in warmer regions (that are sometimes too hot to allow highly productive growing during the peak heat of summer months) keeps folks supplied with strawberries virtually all year ’round! Some other links that might be helpful or informative on this topic are: short-day june-bearing strawberry plants, growing strawberry plants commercially, plasticulture strawberries. I hope that helps!

Learn more on how to grow strawberries in cold weather.

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