PRELIMINARY VARIETY TRIALS IN FINLAND: -IDENTIFYING PROMISING STRAWBERRY VARIETIES FOR FURTHER TESTING

Testing of foreign strawberry varieties is carried out in two phases in Finland. First, varieties are screened in preliminary trials at two locations, and then the most promising ones are tested in larger-scale trials on 30 berry farms in different locations. In 1996 and 1997 30 strawberry varieties were planted in preliminary variety trials at the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland (MTT): Institute of Horticulture in Piikkiö (60°23´N and 22°33´E) and at Ecological Production in Mikkeli (61°40´N and 27°13´E). On the basis of the preliminary trials, four varieties, ‘Kent’, ‘Inga’, ‘Lina’ and ‘Emily’, were selected for the subsequent field trials.