Article 12987 of rec.gardens:
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Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Everbearing Strawberry Yield
Message-ID: <1993Jan18.171520.1@rhea.arc.ab.ca>
From: thacker@rhea.arc.ab.ca
Date: 18 Jan 93 17:15:20 MDT
References: <psmith.727031086@cunews>
Organization: Alberta Research Council
Nntp-Posting-Host: rhea.arc.ab.ca
Lines: 53

In article <psmith.727031086@cunews>, psmith@alfred.carleton.ca (Peter Smith) writes:
> I would like to know what a good-yielding variety of everbearing will
> give from one plant over an entire season (assuming normal conditions
> for Eastern Ontario, near Ottawa).
> 
> If that is too difficult, I'd be happy with a best guess or an
> estimate of, say, a 20 foot mattted row of a specified width.

In Edmonton I grow Ogalla (Ogalalla?).  Two years ago I put in 12 plants
in a 10 ft by 10 ft. bed, with plants spaced about 2 ft apart in the row,
2.5 ft between rows.  Around August the plants began to produce some
berries and millions of daughter plants.  The yield that year was only
from the original 12 plants, amounting to about 0.5 litre per week at
first, increasing to 1-2 litre per week by October.  In mid-October,
27 cm of snow buried the plants, but when it melted away a week later
another couple of litres had ripened (though taste was getting a bit
bland).  The daughter plants got semi-established to form a dense matted
row at least a foot across.  Plants were mulched with several inches of
straw for the winter.

In the next year the "June" yield (July here) was very good - 30 litres
of berries (about 8 U.S. gallons).  The biggest berries were on the 
outside of the row, the ones inside were pretty small and a pain to pick
(I thinned the rows to about 8 inches across or so this fall).  The plants
began to produce a small crop of berries in August, but an early killing
frost in August ruined the fall crop.  

I think it is fairly typical of "everbearing" to produce a heavy "June"
crop, then a lighter crop extended into the fall.  I think it is "day-
neutral" types that are more even in berry production through the year,
but they aren't reliably hardy here (I think they might be hardy in
Ottawa).

> I realize yield is less than June-bearing, but there is heavy
> competition for that market in my area.  Furthermore, a late frost
> means disaster if one only has ever-bearing.

The late frost problem can be controlled by leaving the straw mulch on
for a while in the spring.  Here, the early spring weather can fluctuate
from summerlike to winterlike so you don't want the plants to start 
growing too early and then get caught by a killing frost when in bloom.
I forget when I took off my mulch (I have it written down at home I think,
if you're interested), but I would guess about mid-April.  (Early April 
had temps as high as the low 20s C (low 70s F) and as low as -16C (3F).
Mid-April is probably good for Ottawa also (I use to live there so I know
the weather).
> Thanks in advance

BTW, some other posters had asked about sun or shade - definitely full
sun, and someone had suggested that freezing temperatures could be fatal -
I find the plants very hardy when they are in a dormant state - it can
approach -40 (F or C) here in winter, although heavy frosts can of
course take their toll on berries and blossoms on growing plants.



