Soft Fruit Production Techniques

1. Soft Fruit Production Techniques Training Presentation June 2012

2. STRAWBERRIES

3. Strawberry Supply by Country

4. Strawberries There are 2 types of strawberry plant • Short Day • Everbearers

5. Short Day Strawberries • A short day plant starts to initiate flowers for the following year’s production in the autumn, once day length starts to decrease; hence the name, short day. • A short day plant is used when growers refer to main crop, 60 day and Autumn crops. • Berryworld’s primary growers, Hallhunter, R&V Emery, E Vinson, are based in the South of England. The main crop peaks around the 1st week of June – hence the importance of June to the Berryworld strawberry calendar. Although we have growers further north, G.Leeds, Busby Partners, TW Busby/Dearnsdale, from the middle of June Berryworld’s strawberry volumes decrease. • Elsanta and Sonata are examples. • Glasshouse crops in England and Holland are generally Elsanta or Sonata crops

6. Short day Strawberries • Main Crop– Term given to the crop of short day variety (generally Elsanta or Sonata), harvested at their natural point – without cold store interruption. The main crop is more often than not a growers 60 day crop from the previous season. • 60 day– This is a cold stored plant (short day variety). A mother plant is planted in April, through the summer this plant sends out runners which produce separate plants. This is usually grown in a field situation creating a carpet. The young plants are lifted in December/January. After lifting the plant is put into chill (-1°c)in and brought out/planted 60 days before you intend to have your first harvest. The 60 day crop in generally used to fill the gap between the main crop and everbearer peaks. • Autumn Crop – A 60 day crop planted late june, to crop in September. This will generally be cropped again as next years main crop, the same as a standard 60 day crop.

7. Typical Short Day Time line Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 April Mother plants are planted into soil December Young plants lifted from soil July 60 day crop. Although this can be autumn crop – September & same principles apply Mid May & June Peak Main Crop – the importance of June to Berryworld Autumn Flower initiation Late April Cold stored plant is plantied into chosen medium Autumn Flower initiation Compost heap – dispose of plant when time permits

8. Strawberry Plant Production Waiting bed field production of Elsanta - Traditional propagation method for short day varieties Tray plant production of Elsanta, a tray plant is more expensive to produce, but generally achieves a better plant = higher yield

9. Typical UK Strawberry Year End of the Everbearer crops are weather dependant – Plants will continue depending on conditions Everbearer 60 Day – Autumn table top production Autumn Glasshouse Glasshouse Main Crop 60 Day

10. EverbearerStrawberries • Day Neutral initiates flowers regardless of day length • Will keep cropping until the light levels and temperatures do not allow fruit ripening to continue; hence their other name Day neutral strawberries. • Examples that Berryworld growers produce include Sweet Eve, Eve’s delight and English Rose. • Other everbearer varieties available in the UK market place are Driscoll Jubilee, Albion and Premier

11. EverbearerStrawberries • Due to the longer cropping season – breeding focus in recent years has focused on day neutral varieties. A longer season from one plant means less input costs. • Agronomic innovation focuses achieving an earlier start and a later finish from the everbearers.

12. Table tops • Easier picking – increased productivity of pickers • Generally later – temperature around the roots in the bag – can be up to 2 weeks difference between standard soil grown crop • Initial cost of installation

13. Substrate Production • Generally in the last 4 years many more growers have moved to substrate production – Why? • Cost of land – ideally if you had enough land to run a successful crop rotation program, a grower would use this over substrate. However there is only so many years you can crop the same soil – pest and disease pressures, soil vigor – eventually the soil runs out of ‘oomff’, everything needs a rest. • Polytunnel planning issues – such are the issues with gaining planning approval that you may not be granted permission for all your fields. Therefore a high intensity production technique with maximum yield from minimum space is critical. The best method of doing with is in substrate to enable crops to be moved in and out easily. The field may have been cropped for many years or the soil isn’t great, a heavy clay for example.

14. Polytunnels – The Good • Earliness • Rain protection – all weather picking • Crop protection and guarantee • Reducing chemical applications (mainly for fungal problems) • Lateness

15. Protected cropping 8 line tabletop production in telescopic tunnel. Maximum use of space with high technology. Telescopic tunnels allow increase in leg length and therefore air volume. Early, mid and late season temperatures can be accounted for. Haygrove’s new Sola Tunnel design – very similar to a traditional ‘French’ tunnel. Low air volume and therefore earlier fruit

16. Polytunnels – The bad Environmental impact - Visual pollution? Planning issues – Problematic neighbours

17. RASPBERRIES

18. Raspberry Supply by Country

19. Raspberries There are 2 types of raspberry plant • Floricane • Primocane

20. Floricane • Flowers and fruits on 2nd year wood • 1st year – grow the cane • 2nd year – the cane produces laterals which bear flowers and then fruit. • Examples of Floricane – Tulameen, Glen Ample, Octavia and Glen Lyon

21. Floricane • Biennial Cropping - For continued year on year production of floricane, you need to stimulate new cane whilst continuing to manage good quality fruit growth. Is it better to introduce a biennial cropping programme? 1st year grow cane, 2nd year fruit production, 3rd year grow cane, 4th year fruit production and so on... • Long cane production – similar to 60 day strawberries. The cane is grown in the first year, then in December the cane is lifted from the ground (or it is grown in a pot) and put into chill (-1°c). Could also be called 80 day production, generally takes an average of 80 days from planting to 1st pick. Targeted for production in late July and august to fill gap between Main crop floricanes and the Primacanes/Autumn raspberries.

22. Premium UK Raspberry Season Main Crop Longcane Autumn Glasshouse Glasshouse

23. Primocane • Flower’s and fruit’s on same year’s growth • Also know as an autumn raspberry – as flowers and fruit naturally in the autumn, due to taking a number of months to produce sufficient cane growth. • With sufficient forcing under polytunnels can be harvested earlier, august, however needs more than 6 months under plastic – the polytunnel can then no longer be called a temporary structure – planning issues... • Examples include T+, Polka and all the major Driscoll varieties, most notably Maravilla

24. Primocane • Double Cropping– an autumn raspberry generally fruits from September onwards. The amount of cane producing flowering laterals is generally the top 3rd. After the final harvest the section of cane that produced flowering laterals is removed. The following spring the remaining 2 thirds of the cane stimulates into flower/fruiting. During this period the raspberry starts the new cane growth for the autumn crop and the cycle is repeated. The old cane is removed after the spring harvest.

25. WR Essentials UK Raspberry Season Waitrose don’t grow essential raspberries in glasshouse, therefore this is ‘essentially’ Spanish volume Long cane production Glen Ample Glasshouse/Spanish Octavia Primocane season

26. BLACKBERRIES

27. Blackberry Supply by Country

28. Blackberries • UK blackberries all Floricane varieties – flower and fruit on 2nd year wood/cane • Example varieties – Lochness, Loch Tay and Chester • Biennial cropping techniques – Year 1 – grow cane, year 2 – harvest, Year 3 – grow cane • Longcane – Cold storage of plants and planted with view to cropping in window of opportunity (i.e. Autumn before Mexican season)

29. Blackberries Tupi variety production in Mexico Loch Ness variety in substrate production within the UK

30. BLUEBERRIES

31. Blueberry Supply by Country

32. Blueberries • Need free draining, moist, acid soil. As these conditions are not easily available or expensive to achieve on existing farms, the majority of UK blueberries are grown in substrate in pots. • Blueberries do not achieve peak yields until the 6th or 7th year. • Flowering/fruiting occurs on 2nd year wood, it is important to achieve good growth in the current year to be sure of a successful crop the following season.

33. Whether a blueberry variety is either Northern highbush (NHB) or Southern highbush (SHB) relates principally to the amount of chilling hours (hours below 6c) it requires to flower. Northern require more chilling hours to initiate flowering and are generally later fruiting than the southern which require less. Southern Highbush and Northern Highbush Duke, NHB variety Jewel, SHB variety

34. Generally SHB varieties are grown in Northern Chile, Uruguay and most Argentinean regions. In the northern hemisphere SHB are grown in Spain and Morocco.NHB are (generally) grown to the south of Santiago in Chile (this is over 90% of Chilean blueberry production) and to a small extent in southern Argentina and South Africa at altitude. In the northern hemisphere NHB are grown in the UK, Poland, France, Italy. Other countries such as Holland, Germany and Romania have NHB fruit, but these are not as important in the current UK market place. Southern Highbush and Northern Highbush NHB variety Brigitta SHB variety Misty