FRESH SHORT-DAY TRAY (‘FRESDAT’) PLANTS FOR GLASSHOUSE CROPPING OF STRAWBERRIES

The potential for a novel type of Junebearer plant, the Fresh Short Day Tray (‘Fresdat’) plant, for autumn, followed by spring cropping under glass, was examined using three cultivars: Elsanta, Emily and Eros.
Fresh tray plants of the three cultivars were propagated using runner cuttings from mother plants grown under glass.
After hardening off and growing on outdoors, a 10 hr short-day (SD) treatment for three weeks was given from the end of June using a simple polythene blackout.
Half the plants were then given two weeks post-SD chilling at 4 °C in a cold store, before all were planted in peat bags under glass in early August.
A commercial source of cold-stored tray (CST) plants of Elsanta was included as a control.
For the autumn crop, CST and Fresdat Elsanta produced similar numbers of flowers and total yield, but some flowers from Fresdat plants were of poor quality, resulting in more malformed berries, and a lower yield of Class 1 fruit.
Poor quality flowers were also produced from Fresdat Emily, and to a lesser extent with Eros.
Fresdat Elsanta cropped later than CST Elsanta.
The post-SD chilling treatment in Fresdat plants did not improve yields, but further delayed cropping.
Emily was relatively early, and Eros too late for all its autumn crop to ripen.
In a second experiment using a later batch of Elsanta cuttings, an early September planting date proved too late to achieve a worthwhile crop from either Fresdat or CST plants.
All treatments from both experiments, produced good Class 1 yields when cropped again the following spring.
The Fresdat plant has shown potential but requires further research to overcome problems with flower quality.

IV International Strawberry Symposium

C.M. Burgess, D.R. Taylor

Fragaria x ananassa, Junebearing, flower initiation, extended-season production