Individual berry weight for day-neutral strawberries

As part of this project, we calculated individual fruit size, in grams, of each cultivar by randomly choosing 20 berries per treatment at each harvest.  At the WCROC, the average berry weight (g) across cultivars within the low tunnel was 15.56 g while the open field average was 14.27 g.  At the St. Paul site the average berry weight (g) of each cultivar in the low tunnel was 12.62 g per individual fruit.  The St. Paul non-low tunnel was 11.85 g per individual fruit.  By comparison, 2010-2011 data from the WCROC June-bearing variety trial shows the average berry weight was 11.45 g per individual fruit.  At this point in the project, the day-neutral study is proving to have larger individual fruit size when compared to June-bearing strawberry trials.

Average Berry Weight

LT = low tunnel; PL = open field on raised beds with plastic; SM = straw mulch, raised beds no plastic

Many thanks to the North American Strawberry Growers Association (NASGA) which helped to sustain this project.