By Clint Thompson
Strawberry season has already brought a wide range of emotions to one Alabama producer. Taylor Hatchett, a grower in Chilton County, discussed this year’s crop at the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and Trade Show in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
“This is going to be an interesting strawberry year. This year we had problems with the Neopestalotiopsis disease, and we had to make a last-minute change on our plants. We normally procure plug plants, and those are a horse of one color, and instead we got in trimmed berry plants from California, horse of a totally different color. We’ve also had snow and 9 degree temperatures, these things that are not normally our weather pattern in central Alabama,” Hatchett said.
“Right now, the plants look they’re in need of a little TLC. We think what we’re seeing is cold injury and that’s going to recover. New leaves are pushing out. Our crowns are looking great.”
Hatchett has a different mindset about her crop when compared to last fall; the time she was preparing for planting season.
“Had you asked me this on Oct. 15 when I was having to turn down the plug plants that I drove to pick up out of another state, I was not optimistic. At that point, it was strawberries are done, and we’ll never do them again,” Hatchett said. “But here in February, it’s looking like the potential for a good season.”