Cold stored and fresh multicrown strawberry plants for autumn-winter production in eastern Spain

Abstract

Waiting bed plants, used succesfully in Holland and Belgium, reduces the time between planting and harvest and could facilitate the production of strawberries during the winter in the warm climate of the Spanish mediterranean coast. Experiments were designed to investigate the behaviour of different types of multicrown plants of the cultivars Chandler, Pajaro and Vilanova, cold stored plants (CS), fresh plants from high elevation (HE) and fresh plants from low elevation (LE). These were planted in soil under a large polyethylene tunnel. Planting took place at the end of summer for CS plants and at the beginning of the winter for LE and HE plants.

Harvesting from CS plants started at the end of November, continued during the winter and spring, with a cumulative total of more than 700 g/plant at the end of May. HE and LE plants started production at the beginning of March with both giving significantly lower production than CS plants, with no differences between them. Average fruit weight was significantly higher in HE than in LE plants.