Evaluation of strawberry cultivars in Florida

Abstract

Field studies were conducted over two seasons to examine the performance of strawberry cultivars. During the 2007-2008 season, the cultivars tested were 'Winter Dawn', 'Florida Elyana', 'Florida Radiance', 'Ruby Gem', 'Strawberry Festival', 'Treasure', and 'Camarosa'; whereas in the 2008-2009 season, 'Winter Dawn', 'Florida Elyana', 'Florida Radiance', 'Strawberry Festival', 'Treasure', 'FL 05-73', and 'FL 05-107' were planted. During both growing seasons, 'Strawberry Festival' consistently produced the highest early and total fruit numbers among all tested cultivars. Similarly, the same cultivar had the highest early fruit weight. With regards to total fruit weight, 'Florida Radiance', 'Treasure', and 'Strawberry Festival' resulted in the highest values among all cultivars tested during both seasons. There was no consistency on specific cultivars producing the largest early fruit, while 'Florida Radiance' and 'Florida Elyana' had the largest total weight per fruit during both seasons. These results indicated that 'Strawberry Festival' is an adequate choice as a main cultivar for production under Florida's conditions, which could be complemented during low production periods with other promising and late producing cultivars such as 'Florida Radiance' and 'Treasure'. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.