By Clint Thompson
Strawberries are nearing harvest season in Southeast Alabama. Neil Kelly, Alabama regional Extension agent in Southeast Alabama, provided an update on the current season and what growers are doing now in preparations for harvest time.
“What we’re trying to do right now is stick all of our blooms from this point forward. We start at the middle of February trying to stick blooms, putting out frost blankets and that kind of stuff,” Kelly said. “Typically, you’re going to be somewhere around 30 days and then you’ll start to get into a mature fruit that you can harvest. I figure by the middle of March, next couple of weeks, we’ll start having some red berries. We won’t be in the big swing of things until a couple of weeks after that.
“We usually get about six good weeks of harvest. They’re getting close, but we’re still probably three weeks out.”
Kelly said his growers feel good about this year’s crop even amid the threat of Neopestalotiopsis (Neo) disease. It was problematic last season, coming in on the transplants. However, the Neo threat should be lessened this year, according to Ed Sikora, professor and Extension plant pathologist in the department of entomology and plant pathology at Auburn University.
Most growers obtained bare root plants out of California and Idaho where the disease is not believed to be present. That’s led to a more positive outlook on the upcoming harvest season.
“We’re optimistic at this point. There’s a lot of worry and concern over Neo and whether or not it shows up in your crop. We’re getting some good early season growth. There was good crown development last fall before they went dormant for the winter,” Kelly said. “We’re cautiously optimistic, maybe. That would be a good way to put it.”