Three new June bearing strawberry varieties with a romantic tilt from the breeding programme at East Malling Research (EMR) will be among those featured on the EMR stand at this year’s Fruit Focus.
The varieties - Vibrant, Cupid and Sweetheart - will be on show at the event to be held at EMR on 20 July.
Vibrant is an early season variety a good seven days earlier than Elsanta, with an exceptionally high Class 1 percentage and large berry size. Vibrant is currently approved by Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
Cupid is a late season variety, which is exceptional in having multiple resistance to four of the major strawberry diseases. Cupid also displays good fruit quality, including bright orange/red colour, good skin strength resulting in a good shelf-life and a regular conic berry shape. Sweetheart is a mid-season variety suitable for both retail sales and the amateur market. Recent retail listings include Asda and The Co-operative. Its shelf life is said to be better than that of Elsanta and is particularly suited to production in less intensive growing systems. In trials, it has performed well as a two-year-old plant and is well adapted for perennial production.
The EMR varieties Elegance, Fenella and the everbearer Finesse will also feature on the stand. These three varieties are becoming well-established in commercial production due to their favourable fruit quality attributes and good productivity.
Dr David Simpson, head of the strawberry breeding programme at EMR, said: “The varieties that we develop at EMR are available to all growers and our objective is to produce a range covering different seasons and suited to different growing systems. Vibrant is earlier than all the other recent releases from EMR and the plant habit is particularly well suited for table-top production. Sweetheart and Cupid have overlapping seasons and will be a good combination for growers wishing to use more traditional, low-input systems.”
Elegance is particularly productive in 60-day culture and also produces impressive main crop yields. Fenella and Finesse set themselves apart from other varieties by displaying resistance to Verticillium wilt and crown rot, making them ideal for re-plant situations. All three varieties are widely accepted by UK retailers.
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