2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Day-neutral strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) has excellent flavor and consistent yield. Out-of-season day-neutral strawberry is profitable as it has a chance to fetch a higher price. The objectives of this study were to identify cold protections from low tunnels and suitable planting date for day-neutral strawberry production in high tunnels. Two day-neutral cultivars Albion and San Andreas were planted on September 1 (D₁) & 29 (D₂), 2016 in an organically managed high tunnel (30’W x 96’L, single-layer polyplastic) in Greensboro, North Carolina. Low tunnels (galvanized metal wire hoops covered with 1-mil perforated plastic) were installed in the 3^rd week of October. The experimental design was a CRD conducted as a split-split plot deign with three replications. The low tunnel treatments served as the main plots, planting dates as the split plots, and cultivars as the split-split plots. Biomass (dry weight) were measured monthly starting from October. Flowering and yield data were collected twice a week. Cold damage was evaluated after major frost events. Results are based on data from October 2016 to February 2017. Significant cold damage to flowers and fruit occurred in the 2^nd week of January. Low tunnels significantly reduced the flower damage, a rate of 11% with low tunnels vs 60% without low tunnels in January, and 10% vs 29% in February. Low tunnels also significantly reduced fruit damage, a 4.6% rate with low tunnels vs 4.8% without low tunnels. Plants under low tunnels produced significantly higher marketable and total yield (51.3 and 67.4 g/plant) than those without low tunnels (40.4 and 52.0 g/plant). The D₂ plants flowered (50% bloom) earlier than D₁ plants by 74 days, although low tunnels did not affect the flowering date. D₂ plants also had significantly higher marketable and total yield (27.4 and 64.3 g/plant) than the D₁ plants (36.9 and 82.4 g/plant), however, the biomass of D₁ plants was actually higher than that of D₂ plants from October to February. For example, D₁ plants had 31.7 g/plant dry weight and D₂ plants had 20.4 g/plant. As for cultivars, San Andreas had higher marketable and total yield (53.2 and 94.1 g/plant) than Albion (38.5 and 86.7 g/plant). The project is ongoing. Results from data of the entire season will be discussed when the study is concluded in May 2017.