Weather is a big factor in determining when strawberry picking can begin.
Last year’s strawberry season began early, due to warmer temperatures.
This year, given the cooler weather and freezing temperatures we’ve had, “my guess is there will be some picking late in the third week of April,” said Mark Danieley, county extension director and extension agent for the Alamance County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.
“The berries are a little behind, but the row covers have appeared to have prevented much damage,” he added.
A number of area strawberry farms have indicated that they will start picking either the first week in May or the last week of April, depending on how the weather is. Their best advice is to call ahead of time to make sure that the berries are ripe and ready for picking.
“It’s been a strange one,” Craven Smith of Smith Farms & Greenhouses in Gibsonville said earlier last week. Smith Farms applies row covers to its rows of strawberries. “Looking at them, we’ve had some heavy blooming and if you get an 85-degree day in there, it will definitely help them some. It’s still a good guess that we’ll have strawberries available the first week of May.”
Smith Farms & Greenhouses offers pre-picked berries only.
The threat of snow and freezing temperatures prompted High Rock Strawberries in Browns Summit to cover its crop.
“This weather has been something else,” said Roy L. Cook, owner of High Rock Strawberries. “Bees won’t pollinate when it’s this cold.”
Edward Apple, of Apple Farm, had to stay up late a few nights last week irrigating the berry crop.
“We don’t have covers so we have to irrigate,” he said. “The crop looks good. They’re growing really well now, and everything looks normal. I anticipate that we’ll be ready for picking the first week of May.”
McAdams Farm in Efland covered its strawberries as well.
“We tentatively hope to open to customers during the first week of May,” she said.
Lunsford Strawberry Farm in Prospect Hill was open the first week of April last year. This year, however, Helen Lunsford anticipated that the farm would probably be open around the next to the last week in April.
“They’re blooming right much,” she said of the crop.
The farm offers pre-picked and pick-your-own berries.
Last week, Fred Greeson of Greeson’s Strawberry Farm in Julian said that “we have blossoms and green berries now. We’re going to play it by ear, but it’s supposed to be 30 days from bloom to fruit, which means we should be ready for picking by the last week in April or the first week in May.”