soft fruit production techniques
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Soft Fruit Production Techniques. Training Presentation June 2012. STRAWBERRIES. Strawberry Supply by Country. Strawberries. There are 2 types of strawberry plant Short Day Everbearers. Short Day Strawberries. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Soft Fruit Production Techniques
Training Presentation June 2012
STRAWBERRIESYear Tonnage Value
2008 14,646 £49,478,9202009 18,431 £62,661,5772010 18,290 £66,583,7772011 20,354 £78,220,893
Grand Total 71,721 £256,945,167
Strawberry Supply by Country
02/01/2011
16/01/2011
30/01/2011
13/02/2011
27/02/2011
13/03/2011
27/03/2011
10/04/2011
24/04/2011
08/05/2011
22/05/2011
05/06/2011
19/06/2011
03/07/2011
17/07/2011
31/07/2011
14/08/2011
28/08/2011
11/09/2011
25/09/2011
09/10/2011
23/10/2011
06/11/2011
20/11/2011
04/12/2011
18/12/2011
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Strawberry Supply by Country 2011
2011 - Belgium 2011 - Egypt 2011 - Great Britain 2011 - Holland 2011 - Israel2011 - Morocco 2011 - Portugal 2011 - Spain 2011 - unallocated
Strawberries
There are 2 types of strawberry plant
• Short Day
• Everbearers
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
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.
Year 1 Year 3Year 2
AprilMother plants are planted
into soil
DecemberYoung plants lifted
from soil
Late April Cold stored plant is plantied into chosen
medium
July 60 day crop. Although this
can be autumn crop – September & same
principles apply
Mid May & June PeakMain Crop – the
importance of June to Berryworld
Typical Short Day Time line
Autumn Flower initiation
Autumn Flower initiation
Compost heap – dispose of plant
when time permits
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
Typical UK Strawberry Year
April May June July August September October November
Glasshouse Main Crop 60 Day
Everbearer
End of the Everbearer crops
are weather dependant –
Plants will continue depending on
conditions
Autumn Glasshouse
60 Day – Autumn table top production
Everbearer Strawberries
• 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
Everbearer Strawberries
• 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.
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
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.
Polytunnels – The Good
• Earliness• Rain protection – all
weather picking• Crop protection and
guarantee• Reducing chemical
applications (mainly for fungal problems)
• Lateness
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
Polytunnels – The bad
Environmental impact - Visual pollution?Planning issues – Problematic neighbours
RASPBERRIESYear Tonnage Value
2008 2,554 £18,734,5022009 2,032 £16,757,6242010 1,767 £15,960,3772011 1,871 £15,485,998
Grand Total 8,224 £66,938,501
Raspberry Supply by Country
02/01/2011
16/01/2011
30/01/2011
13/02/2011
27/02/2011
13/03/2011
27/03/2011
10/04/2011
24/04/2011
08/05/2011
22/05/2011
05/06/2011
19/06/2011
03/07/2011
17/07/2011
31/07/2011
14/08/2011
28/08/2011
11/09/2011
25/09/2011
09/10/2011
23/10/2011
06/11/2011
20/11/2011
04/12/2011
18/12/2011
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Raspberry Supply by Country 2011
2011 - Chile 2011 - Great Britain 2011 - Holland 2011 - Mexico2011 - Morocco 2011 - South Africa 2011 - Spain 2011 - unallocated
Raspberries
There are 2 types of raspberry plant
• Floricane
• Primocane
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
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.
Premium UK Raspberry Season
May June July August September October November
GlasshouseMain Crop Longcane Autumn
Glasshouse
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
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.
WR Essentials UK Raspberry Season
May June July August September October November
Waitrose don’t grow essential raspberries
in glasshouse, therefore this is
‘essentially’ Spanish volume
Glen AmpleOctavia Primocane season
Long cane productionGlasshouse/Spanish
BLACKBERRIESYear Tonnage Value
2008 1,310 £9,358,2092009 1,310 £8,226,0862010 1,166 £6,815,2692011 1,077 £6,949,509
Grand Total 4,207 £31,349,073
Blackberry Supply by Country
02/01/2011
16/01/2011
30/01/2011
13/02/2011
27/02/2011
13/03/2011
27/03/2011
10/04/2011
24/04/2011
08/05/2011
22/05/2011
05/06/2011
19/06/2011
03/07/2011
17/07/2011
31/07/2011
14/08/2011
28/08/2011
11/09/2011
25/09/2011
09/10/2011
23/10/2011
06/11/2011
20/11/2011
04/12/2011
18/12/20110
10
20
30
40
50
60
Blackberry Supply by Country 2011
2011 - France 2011 - Great Britain 2011 - Holland 2011 - Mexico 2011 - Spain 2011 - unallocated
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)
Blackberries
Tupi variety production in MexicoLoch Ness variety in substrate production within the UK
BLUEBERRIESYear Tonnage Value
2008 5,542 £39,259,6412009 6,753 £45,603,2722010 7,460 £54,062,6412011 8,114 £59,382,602
Grand Total 25,063 £198,308,156
Blueberry Supply by Country
02/01/2011
16/01/2011
30/01/2011
13/02/2011
27/02/2011
13/03/2011
27/03/2011
10/04/2011
24/04/2011
08/05/2011
22/05/2011
05/06/2011
19/06/2011
03/07/2011
17/07/2011
31/07/2011
14/08/2011
28/08/2011
11/09/2011
25/09/2011
09/10/2011
23/10/2011
06/11/2011
20/11/2011
04/12/2011
18/12/20110
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Blueberry Supply by Country 2011
2011 - Argentina 2011 - Chile 2011 - France 2011 - Great Britain 2011 - Holland 2011 - Italy2011 - Morocco 2011 - Poland 2011 - South Africa 2011 - Spain 2011 - unallocated 2011 - Uruguay
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.
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.
Duke, NHB variety Jewel, SHB variety
Southern Highbush and Northern Highbush
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.
NHB variety Brigitta SHB variety Misty
Southern Highbush and Northern Highbush