THE STRAWBERRY NURSERY INDUSTRY IN THE NETHERLANDS: AN UPDATE

The strawberry nursery industry in Europe covers around 4500 ha of certified plantmaterial.
The Netherlands and Spain each produce respectively 1100 and 1200 ha of certified strawberry runner plants.
On top of that The Netherlands has expanded in the last decade its certified waitingbed plants from 350 ha to 600 ha and has increased the production of certified trayplants from 30 ha to 135 ha.
About 80% of the strawberry plants produced in The Netherlands are being exported within Europe.
With the ban of methylbromide motherplants are being treated by controlled atmosphere (CATT) prior to planting.
To avoid nematode infections the propagation fields are submitted to well thought off crop rotation.
By using techniques such as planting time and plant type, mowing and disking at specific times the number and crownsize of the runner plants are influenced.
Trayplants are carefully monitored nowadays in the nursery by flower dissection early September to adapt the nitrate nutrition during flower differentiation and to influence the development of the inflorescences.
Flower dissections at the end of the growth period are conducted to estimate the production potential of trayplants in order to make decisions on planting date and plant density by growers.

VII International Strawberry Symposium

P. Lieten

Fragaria ×ananassa, certification, trayplants, frigoplants, waiting bed

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1049.7