been replaced by the more productive annual hill plasticulture system for the commercial production of strawberries in most regions ( Butler et al., 2002 ; Samtani et al., 2019 ). Currently, sulfentrazone has a special local needs label for Ohio
A number of strawberry cultivars and breeding line selections have been tested in the annual plasticulture system. The only two cultivars currently recommended based on cultural and economic performance ate 'Chandler' and 'Oso Grande'. Plant type (fresh dug, plug, etc.) and nursery source have also been evaluated. Fresh dug plants with leaves intact generally perform better than those with leaves removed. Rooted runner tips in cell packs (plug plants) look very promising and outperform fresh dug plants in most situations. Plastic mulch treatments included clear (CLR), black (BLK), laminated white on black (W/B), laminated black on white (B/W), IRT-76 (IRT), AL-OR brown (ALOR), and a bare ground (BG) check. In the first season the highest yields for 'Chandler' were obtained on IRT, followed by CLR, ALOR, B/W, BLK, W/B, and BG. The highest yields for 'Selva' were on CLR followed by BLK, ALOR, IRT, B/W, W/B, and BG. In the second season the highest yields for 'Chandler' were on W/B followed by BLK. ALOR, IRT, B/W, CLR, and BG. In the case of 'Selva' ALOR was the top performing treatment followed by IRT, W/B, BLK, B/W, BG, and CLR.
The effect of seven types of plastic mulches on total, early, and late season yield was evaluated for three years in the annual hill strawberry production system. Black plastic mulches differed only from the significantly reduced yields found on unmulched bare ground treatments. Although not significantly different in any year, the top performing mulch treatments varied with production year and cultivar. In the wet and warm harvest season of 1991, the highest yielding treatments were IRT-76, clear, and ALOR-brown. In the dry and cool 1992 season, the top performers were white on black, black, and ALOR-brown. For the cool and moderately wet 1993 season, the best performance was recorded on black, white on black, and clear. Average soil temperatures from warmest to coolest were found with black, black on white, clear, IRT-76, ALOR-brown, red, silver, white on black, and bare soil treatments.
Our previous work on modifying strawberry plant morphology used either mowing to remove the leaf laminas and part of the petioles on `Camarosa', or a new reduced-risk gibberellin synthesis inhibitor, Prohexadione-Ca (ProCa), to restrict cell elongation in `Sweet Charlie'. These early studies showed promising results in acheiving desirable plant size and increasing fruit yield in annual hill plasticulture. Therefore, in the growing seasons of 2001 and 2002, we used `Camarosa' to explore the possibility of combining mowing and ProCa as a means of modifying strawberry transplant morphology in the nurseries, and studied its effect on fruit production in annual hill plasticulture. Plants were mowed and treated with 62.5 μL·L-1 of ProCa in a nursery field in Nova Scotia (45°26'N, 63°27'W). Treatments consisted of either mowing, the application of ProCa, or a combination of mowing and ProCa on one of two dates, 5 or 19 Sept. ProCa application early in the growing season had increased the production of daughter plants in the nursery. All plants were harvested in early October, and immediately transplanted in Dover, Fla. (28°00'N, 82°22'W). Fruits were collected twice weekly from late November to February or March. At time of harvest, both mowing and ProCa reduced plant height and total leaf area; plants which were treated with ProCa and mowed were the shortest. On average, treated plants had higher fruit yield as compared to untreated plants. In 2001, early fruit production in December was increased significantly in treated plants.
Three cold-climate strawberry production systems, conventional matted row, advanced matted row, and cold-climate annual hill plasticulture, were compared for consumer preference in a pick-your-own (PYO) setting. Replicated 6 × 15 m plots were established in 2002 in Maryland and cropped in 2003 and 2004. To simulate PYO marketing, volunteers were recruited to harvest 3.6-m plots in each of the three production systems and to complete a five-part questionnaire. The questionnaire collected demographic information and allowed volunteers to compare the three systems both prior to and after their harvesting experience. Harvests were carried out twice weekly, with 75 participants in 2003 and 45 participants in 2004. The 2003 season was cool and wet, with frequent rainfall and a high incidence of fruit rot. Spring 2004 was unseasonably hot, resulting in an unusually short harvest season. Consumer preference differed between years and among harvests within a season. The annual hill system was favored early in the 2003 season, with preference shifting to the other systems as the season progressed. The advanced matted row was favored early in the 2004 season. Many of the participants' comments, both positive and negative, were directed at the plastic mulch and raised beds. In several cases, participants indicated that their preferences after picking from each system did not match their initial impressions. Implications of this research to the social components of sustainability will be discussed.
Anticipating the phaseout of methyl bromide, the USDA-ARS small fruit breeding program at Beltsville, Md., discontinued soil fumigation in strawberry breeding and selection trials in the mid 1990s. To address resulting weed and pathogen pests, a modified or advanced matted row system was developed. This system uses matted row-type culture, established on raised beds with subsurface drip irrigation and organic mulch. The mulch is the residue of a killed cover crop that fixes some nitrogen and provides an economical, biodegradable mulch for suppressing weeds and reducing erosion. Since 1996, the small fruit breeding program has conducted replicated performance trials on both advanced matted row and a regional adaptation of annual hill plasticulture. Both of these systems were managed without methyl bromide fumigation or fungicide application. Data from these trials were used to compare advanced matted row and plasticulture for yield, fruit quality and harvest season. Yield for the two systems was genotype dependent, and the advanced matted row system had later production and slightly lower fruit quality.
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) `Chandler' plants from three sources were grown in the annual hill plasticulture system during two growing seasons (1996-97 and 1997-98). These trials evaluated the yield and vegetative performance of bareroot plants from Prince Edward Island and Ontario, Canada, and plug plant tips that were rooted in North Carolina but obtained from Ontario Canada. At the end of the season, total and marketable yields and fruit weight were not different among the plant sources. In addition, plants from all three plant sources produced equivalent yields on a weekly basis. Monthly whole plant harvests revealed that plant source did not affect leaf area, root, crown, leaf, flower or fruit dry weight during most of the growing season. In addition, plant growth parameters (specific leaf area, leaf area ratio, leaf weight ratio, and root to shoot ratio) in general did not differ among plant source in any 1 month. Plant growth did show shifts in dry weight allocation and leaf area as the season progressed that were uniform among plant sources, with the majority of the growth occurring in the spring in the two months prior to harvest. This uniformity among plant sources will allow future research to emphasize plant production practices that may reduce the risk of pest and disease problems or optimize production practices favored by growers.
Five strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) cultivars in the 1995-96 season and four cultivars in the 1996-97 season were grown in the annual hill plasticulture system, with and without preplant soil fumigation (98% methyl bromide/2% chloropicrin at a rate of 240 lb/acre [269 kg·ha-1]). These trials were established on land that had been cropped with strawberries for 20 years. Significant cultivar by fumigation interactions were not detected for either yield or average fruit weight. Plants grown in nonfumigated soil produced 54% and 68% of the yield obtained from the plants grown in fumigated soil in 1995-96 and 1996-97 respectively, and the average fruit weight from plants grown in nonfumigated soil was also reduced, compared to that of plants grown in fumigated soil. Plant mortality was ≤3% in the nonfumigated plots. These results indicate that strawberry productivity in Florida can be substantially reduced by growing plants in soil that has not been fumigated prior to planting, even in the absence of lethal pathogens.
use the annual hill plastic mulch production system known as “strawberry plasticulture” ( Poling, 2004 , 2008 ). In North Carolina, strawberries grown in this system are locally marketed (selling by pick-your-own, prepick, roadside stands, and farmers
Strawberries presently rank fifth in the United States behind bananas, apples, oranges, and grapes in fresh fruit consumption. Over 95% of the strawberries in the United States are cultivated as an annual crop in coastal California and in central