Three new strawberry varieties from the breeding programme at East Malling Research (EMR) have been named. Malling Pearl and Malling Opal are two everbearing varieties, while Judibell is a June-bearing type. All three varieties will be launched at this year s Fruit Focus held at EMR on 27 July.

Both Malling Pearl (formerly EMR286) and Malling Opal (formerly EMR287) are high-yielding varieties and produce large, attractive fruit with excellent colour. In trials both have produced 60 per cent of their crop in July-August and 40 per cent in September-October. The fruit quality of Malling Pearl and Malling Opal has been consistently appreciated in taste tests conducted with representatives from the supermarkets, having a sweet flavour and juicy texture.

Judibell (formerly EM965) is an exceptionally late season June-bearer, being significantly later than all other June-bearing varieties, including Pandora and Sophie. At East Malling the crop is actually produced in July and early August, the 50 per cent pick date being some five weeks later than Elsanta. Judibell also has good tolerance to Verticillium wilt and powdery mildew, similar to Florence, and will be particularly interesting for PYO growers.

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