Articles
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT TRANSPLANTING DATES AND RUNNER TYPES ON QUALITY AND YIELD OF ‘ELSANTA’ STRAWBERRY
Article number
926_68
Pages
483 – 489
Language
English
Abstract
Strawberry module plants are fast replacing traditional bare-root transplants in Ireland as a source of plant material for fruit production under protected crop production systems.
Module plants offer many advantages over soil grown bare root plants especially the risk of infection by root diseases is reduced, plant nutrition can be totally controlled and higher fruit yields are readily achievable.
In commercial strawberry production transplanting date and runner types (primary and secondary) have a major impact on flower initiation, development, fruit yield and quality.
An experiment was set up to investigate the effects of different planting dates and runner types on the yield and quality of module produced strawberries.
Certified strawberry mother plants (cultivar Elsanta) were obtained from the UK and planted at a density of four plants per 20-L modules filled with ClonbrinTM peat compost with a pH value of 5.5 on 26 February 2009. The mother plants were grown in a glasshouse to produce runners for use as planting materials at Kinsealy Research Centre.
They were fertigated with liquid fertilizer (E.C. 1.8 µS) delivered via a drip system.
Primary and secondary runners were excised from randomly assigned mother plants and transplanted into similar compost at three intervals 15 days apart commencing on 9 July 2009. At this time, runner crown diameter was measured.
Prior to the commencement of full dormancy (cold storage at -1.7°C), flower initiation stage assessments, leaf number count and crown diameter measurements were made at two intervals; at the end of October and November.
The results show that the optimum time for selecting and propagating strawberry runners lies between early and mid July annually to maximise crown diameter, initiated flower number and development stage together with leaf number and crop yield.
Module plants offer many advantages over soil grown bare root plants especially the risk of infection by root diseases is reduced, plant nutrition can be totally controlled and higher fruit yields are readily achievable.
In commercial strawberry production transplanting date and runner types (primary and secondary) have a major impact on flower initiation, development, fruit yield and quality.
An experiment was set up to investigate the effects of different planting dates and runner types on the yield and quality of module produced strawberries.
Certified strawberry mother plants (cultivar Elsanta) were obtained from the UK and planted at a density of four plants per 20-L modules filled with ClonbrinTM peat compost with a pH value of 5.5 on 26 February 2009. The mother plants were grown in a glasshouse to produce runners for use as planting materials at Kinsealy Research Centre.
They were fertigated with liquid fertilizer (E.C. 1.8 µS) delivered via a drip system.
Primary and secondary runners were excised from randomly assigned mother plants and transplanted into similar compost at three intervals 15 days apart commencing on 9 July 2009. At this time, runner crown diameter was measured.
Prior to the commencement of full dormancy (cold storage at -1.7°C), flower initiation stage assessments, leaf number count and crown diameter measurements were made at two intervals; at the end of October and November.
The results show that the optimum time for selecting and propagating strawberry runners lies between early and mid July annually to maximise crown diameter, initiated flower number and development stage together with leaf number and crop yield.
Authors
G.T. Beyene , E. Kehoe, M. MacSiurtain , A. Hunter
Keywords
mother plant, daughter plant, primary runner, secondary runner, module plants
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