There are good prospects for the English strawberry season thanks to sufficient chill units over winter with growers expecting a good entry point to the market after Spanish supply issues.
The first UK glasshouse strawberries hit retail shelves last week, while maincrop growers are expecting to start picking around April.
Grower Marion Regan, of Hugh Lowe Farms, said: “Last year there was concern over the June bearer crop that we didn’t have enough chill units on strawberries or raspberries.
“This year there has been plenty, so that’s great, and it’s put vigour into the plants and will lead to better fruit sizes. I am encouraged this, and glasshouse growers will also be pleased about this.
“I think it has been a cooler start, but it will catch up. In the south east in particular it has been cooler than the five-year average, though I am not expecting it to be a late season. We’ve had quite good light levels, so that has countered the cooler temperatures.”
Plantings for this season are primarily on track, said Regan, despite the odd delay due to a weather event like Storm Doris.
Managing director of Berry Gardens, Nick Marston, said the company is forecasting a “good volume of June bearer strawberries”, thanks to increased plantings of Driscoll’s Elizabeth.
“We expect a good season for homegrown berries,” he said. “This winter we have had the cold weather the plants like with a lot of winter sunlight, for the last few years we have had wet, mild winters, so it all looks positive.
“We picked our first British berries on 28 February, the earliest for quite a few years and surprisingly, rather than a grower based in the south of England the grower is in Lancashire.”
Regan said there are hopes British fruit will find “welcome buyers” after a slow start to the Spanish season caused by poor growing conditions, but others warned of an overlap when the Spanish crop gears up that could impact prices.
Malling Centenary takes Elsanta’s crown
Malling Centenary has emerged as the runaway replacement variety to industry stalwart Elsanta, with some growers halting production of the latter for the first time in decades.
Regan said her business has not produced Elsanta or Sonata for the first time in 30 years, a milestone that was marked by the firm on a company curry night.
“It’s been a major year for Malling Centenary as it’s become a mainstay of the British season,” she said. “We’re also expanding our production of premium Driscoll’s junebearer Driscoll’s Elizabeth, and we are looking at some new Driscoll’s everbearers this season.
“Malling Centenary did have a blip in production due to a hailstorm in the Netherlands last year, but propagators were really quick to close the gap and we didn’t see any effect from that.”
