ABSTRACT

Strawberries are only seasonally available in Nebraska (NE). If an affordable heated structure can be designed, then opportunity exists to increase on-farm income by producing strawberries off-season during high-value market periods. A series of university greenhouse trials were conducted from 2010 to 2012. The varieties Evie-2 and Seascape were identified as being most productive under a low technology growing scheme. A new research project, which ran from fall to late spring (2013–2014), was designed to determine if this production scheme would translate to a commercial grower. Varieties Seascape and Evie-2 (each at two grades indicated by +) and San Andreas plants were grown simultaneously at the university research greenhouse and a cooperative specialty crop grower greenhouse, similar structures and production timelines. Top performers for both experiment locations were ‘Evie-2ʹ, and ‘Evie-2+’ plants, with average harvest berry weights (marketable) per plant (pp) of over 0.454 kg, and ‘Seascape’ with 0.390 kg. ‘Seascape+’ plants performed well at the cooperator location (0.399 kg pp), but not at the university location. ‘San Andreas’ plants performed well at the university location with 0.454 kg pp but not at the cooperator location. Productivity was greatest during the winter-spring season, which accounted for more than 82% of the total berry mass harvested at the cooperator site and 88% at the university site. The results support the concept that the growing system used within a controlled university research setting is representative of the crop productivity a specialty crop grower might expect, particularly when strawberries are grown in late winter and early spring. However, securing low fuel costs, eliminating delivery and having a secondary market for culls is key for profitability.

摘要

草莓仅在内布拉斯加州 (NE) 季节性供应。如果可以设计出负担得起的加热结构，那么就有机会通过在高价值市场时期生产淡季草莓来增加农场收入。从 2010 年到 2012 年进行了一系列大学温室试验。品种 Evie-2 和 Seascape 被确定为在低技术种植计划下产量最高。一个新的研究项目从秋季持续到晚春（2013-2014 年），旨在确定这种生产计划是否会转化为商业种植者。品种 Seascape 和 Evie-2（分别以 + 表示两个等级）和 San Andreas 植物在大学研究温室和合作特种作物种植温室中同时种植，结构和生产时间表相似。两个实验地点的最佳表现是“Evie-2ʹ”和“Evie-2+”植物，每株植物的平均收获浆果重量（可销售）超过 0.454 千克（pp），“海景”为 0.390 千克。'Seascape+' 植物在合作者地点（0.399 kg pp）表现良好，但在大学地点表现不佳。'San Andreas' 工厂在大学场所表现良好，达到 0.454 kg pp，但在合作者场所表现不佳。冬春季节的生产力最高，占合作伙伴站点收获的总浆果质量的 82% 以上，占大学站点的 88%。结果支持这样一个概念，即在受控大学研究环境中使用的种植系统代表了特种作物种植者可能期望的作物生产力，尤其是在冬末和早春种植草莓时。然而，确保低燃料成本、消除交付和拥有剔除二级市场是盈利的关键。