Fig. 1. The picking right now in Florida is “fast and furious.”  Normally, the Plant City region is well underway with harvest by late January,  but this has been a very strange year (record heat in Nov, and near record heat in Dec), and picking did not really get going until a few weeks ago (before Valentine’s). The variety being picked in this field is Winterstar.

Good morning!

Boy, when we sent out the “Outlook” on Sunday evening (7 p.m., 2/21) from this website, I don’t think anyone had a clue as to just how “weird” and dangerous yesterday would be across the Southeast (on Sunday, we said: “Wed. will be a weird one with Western parts of NC  cooling down, and eastern areas quite mild. Then,  a significant cool down  begins Thursday for our region, bringing temperature significantly below normal.”)

I hope you had no damage at your place yesterday from tornadoes. I was down here in Plant City, FL, and weather was also quite crazy. And, I know the growers here were not too happy with all the rains yesterday, as this is truly “crunch time” for Florida strawberry growers. After some picking in December 2015, the harvest simply “stopped” and did not resume until just a few weeks ago! No one in this region can ever recall a “gap” that lasted this long. Normally, Florida is picking great volume by early February, but this year picking did not really get going again until two weeks ago. Now, the bushes are loaded! Picking is “fast and furious.”  And, my guess is that FL will be shipping large (maybe record) volumes of berries right on through the month of March. Will March 2016 be the “new February” for Florida berries?

Fig. 2. Winterstar is now picking excellent volume in Florida’s Dover/Plant City area. More information about FL varieties: http://gcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/fruit-crops/strawberry-cultivars/

Fig. 2. Colder temps coming to SE this weekend

Lets’ cut right to it!

So, everyone knows that I have been closely watching my SkyBit’s for Clayton, and this morning I got my report indicating that we will now see a low in strawberry canopy of 24 F on Saturday morning (air temp at weather shelter is 28 F). Is that cold enough to kill emerged flower buds? According to our critical temperature chart (Fig. 3), it definitely could. I realize that most growers have determined that just about all of their emerged flower buds were killed by very cold temperatures in early January, and there really wasn’t much to be saved by Valentine’s Day (when we had a very cold morning in teens). Today, you need to check your crop and see “where you are with your crop stage?”  Do you have newly emerged buds? In Figure 3, it indicates that this stage can be killed in mid-20s. Fig. 3. This should be a familiar chart to most growers. In this chart you can see that once new leaves are emerging from crown, the critical temp of an emerged flower bud is likely in the range of 20-25. Unfortunately, at Clayton, it could be right on the line for damage this Saturday morning with minimum in canopy of 24 F. Remember, none of your other weather services provide a canopy temp. But, if someone tells me that I am going to have a SkyBit minimum at strawberry canopy level of 24 F, then I am able to say, you better take protective measures! Don’t rely on weather forecast air temperatures that often do not relate well to what is going on at ground level.

AWIS 10 day forecasts for NC, VA, SC and MD (these are weather shelter air temps)

NC

10-DAY DETAILED HOURLY WEATHER FORECASTS

SC

10-DAY DETAILED HOURLY WEATHER FORECASTS

VA

10-DAY DETAILED HOURLY WEATHER FORECASTS

MD

10-DAY DETAILED HOURLY WEATHER FORECASTS

I will be posting another advisory tomorrow morning (returning from FL later today). Before I leave you, I wish to share a comment from veteran strawberry advisor, Bob Rouse:

(Feb 22)

Have a good day!

Barclay