PERFORMANCE OF EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS IN A NORDIC CLIMATE

In the Nordic strawberry industry only single-cropping cultivars are used. Several everbearing cultivars have been tried, but neither yield nor quality has been satisfactory. In 2005, new everbearing cultivars were collected and an experiment was established in a polyethylene tunnel. Yield and runnering capacity were recorded in two seasons. The cultivars were the English ‘Flamenco’ and ‘Everest’, the Dutch ‘Elan’ and the Norwegian ‘Rita’, ‘Rondo’, ‘Ridder’ and ‘Rosa’. Plug plants were planted in double rows on low ridges mulched with plastic at a plant density equivalent to 50,000 plants per ha. A block design with 20 plants per plot and four replicates was used. The field was harvested two to three times a week during the whole season from June until the beginning of October in both years. Berry size was recorded at all harvests while taste and general performance were evaluated using a scale 1-9. In the first year, the everbearing cultivars had significantly higher yield than the single-cropping cultivars due to more inflorescences, but this was levelled out the second year. While the cropping season of the single-cropping cultivars is only about four weeks, the everbearing cultivars were picked from late June until beginning of October, in both years. The highest yields were obtained by ‘Everest’ (729 and 844 g) followed by ‘Rita’ and ‘Ridder’. The cultivars ‘Elan’ and ‘Rondo’ scored highest both in taste and general performance. ‘Everest’ also performed well, but flavour was not acceptable.