Market Farming

["Don Palmer" <berryman70 AT yahoo.com>]

On 02/09/00, ""Rose & Fred Lieberman" <pyrite AT clarityconnect.com>" wrote:
> Hi, folks.  Rose in upstate NY, Zone 5.
> If anyone would like to share what they know about strawberries, I'd really
> appreciate it...
> 1.    growing
 Hello
We have 1 & 1/2 acres of producing strawberries, We use the matted row 
system, with new plants set at 18" apart and let them fill in to make a 
matted row 18" to 20" wide, with 42" between the rows.Around 7000 plants 
per acre.
 We pick all the blossoms the planting year, that encourages a lot of 
runner plants and a nice full bed.
 > 2.    maintenance and disease and pest management
 Newly planted strawberries usually require irrigation, as the roots are 
only about 4" long and the plants will not survive lack of moisture. Weeds 
can be a major problem, we use a combination of hand weeding, mechanical 
cultivation, and herbicides. We cover the field with clean weed free straw 
after the plants go dorment, around 250hrs. of below 40deg. temps.in the 
fall. uncover in early spring. We also use irrigation for spring frost 
control, very important in our area (zone 5 western NY)
> 3.    harvesting
The season last around 3 to 4 weeks for us (early glow to late glow) It 
takes around 10 good pickers to keep an acre picked
> 4.    selling and pricing
We sell 60% retail at our roadside stand, 20% wholesale to a local super 
market and to a few other farmstands and 20% u-pick, our price starts at 
$3.00 per qt. and never drops below $2.50 retail,$1.25 per qt u-pick, 
wholesale price varies. We also make deals on flats of eight.
> 5.    what's productivity like  (I know it varies by a gazillion factors,
> but what's ballpark?  1 pint per 5 plants, 10 plants, 2 plants...
The NY state average (for the matted row system) is 5000 to 7000 qts. per 
acre There are other more intense growing methods that will produce a lot 
more.
> 
> Has anyone grown Earliglow or Northeaster?
> Early glow is my favorite variety,it's our earliest and has excellent 
> flavor, but it's a medium sized berry and the size drops after the first 
> couple pickings. Honeoye is our main crop, Allstar, Jewel, Delmarvel, and 
> Late glow do well in our area.
I hope this has been of help and wasn't two long of a post, but it is just 
the basics, strawberries are very labor intensive.

Don Palmer
Palmer's Fruits & Vegetables
Sinclairville,NY
Webpage: http://www.alltel.net/~dhkp