By Clint Thompson
Strawberry planting season is under way across South Florida. Matt Parke, farm manager of Parkesdale Farms in Plant City, Florida, started planting his crop last Thursday. He outlined his list of concerns heading into this production season.
“Making sure we’ve got the right (plant) stock, no diseases, make sure those H-words (hurricanes) stay away from us until the season’s over,” Parke said. “The biggest concern to me is just making sure the plants are as healthy as they can be, giving us a good start. That’s 90% of it right there. If you’ve got good plants when you plant them, then you’re in good shape. Hopefully, the market holds up for us, and we can make a little bit of money.”
New University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) varieties are expected to dominate the industry landscape. This includes ‘Ember’ and ‘Encore.’
“We’re kind of in a transition period, as far as what varieties that we’re planting. We’ve got these new varieties that came from UF. Everybody is gung ho on them. I’m liking it so far,” Parke said. “This will be the first year we’ve got them in mass production setting. Last year we had maybe 1,000 acres of the new varieties, maybe 2,000 acres of them in the industry. This year I would imagine it will be two-thirds of the industry.”
According to UF/IFAS, ‘Ember’ possesses excellent disease resistance and is less susceptible to Neopestalotiopsis. ‘Encore’ is aptly named because it is considered an improved version of ‘Florida Brilliance,’ with improved tip pollination and larger fruit size.
Parke intends to plant half of his crop this year with ‘Ember’, one-fourth ‘Encore’ and one-fourth ‘Sensation.’