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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Holding Dormant Strawberry Plants

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Holding Dormant Strawberry Plants
  • Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:36:48 -0400

I have frequently had strawberry plants show up when the weather was too cold or too wet to finish the beds and get them planted. I hold them in an old produce cooler out in the barn, at temperatures in the low to mid 30's; and have had them keep as long as several weeks.

If your root cellar's fairly cold, I think it would work just fine; even if it's warmer than the 30's I think they'd be OK for a week or so. If the root cellar's in the 40's or warmer, and you can clear out your refrigerator vegetable drawers and fit them in there, that might be even better; but the main part of an ordinary refrigerator will probably dehydrate them too much. I'd choose a root cellar even in the 50's over taking a chance on dehydrating them. -- You want them damp, but not sopping wet: check the package every couple of days and add just a little water on the roots if necessary.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale


On Mar 26, 2011, at 8:22 AM, Allan Balliett wrote:

Folks - I got in a shipment of 1000 dormant strawberry plants
yesterday. Because of the weather, I don't have the beds ready and,
because of the weather, I probably can't get beds made (properly) for
another week.

Has anyone has luck holding dormant strawberry plants that long?

I'm not seeing instructions at Nourse and from that get the
implication that holding them without a 28 degree cooler and such is
simply not going to work.

(I think I'm just asking for someone to tell me to put them in the
dark of the root cellar and plant them when I get to them.)

What would you do?

Thanks

-Allan in WV where we had high 70's a week ago (and, yes, I got a lot
of other stuff done then) and snow predicted for this coming week.
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