Strawberry Crop Report (Blog)

click here for a description and picture of the varieties we have grown

Click here for an idea of when the strawberry season will start and how long it will last

Updated 6/14/2008

June 14, 2008:  The continuous wet conditions from  Friday morning thru early Saturday morning fog further aggravated the berry spoilage of earlier rains making picking very slow and difficult.  Berry loss in our upper area is becoming  worrysome.

June 12, 2008:  Loss of our lower area for use in the normal picking rotation has put  excessive customer picking pressure on our upper area.  We are routinely closing our strawberry fields each day well before our normal closing time to prevent the upper field from being over picked.  There was some berry sunburn during the intense heat of Sunday June 8 and Thursday June 12 as high winds prevented effective irrigation but customers who are coming early in the morning seem to still to be finding plenty of good berries.

June 8, 2008:  Berry wilt is very obvious now throughout our lower level with the very high temperatures and winds.  This wilt is most likely caused  by black root rot compounded by the excessive rains this spring.   Plant vigor, berry size, and picking conditions in our newer upper level Cabot continue to look excellent but we may need to consider alternate day picking if this area does not support the current  flow of customers.

June 6, 2008:  Customers picked thru the the lower area much faster than I had anticipated and we were forced to stop letting people in the gate after 9 AM.  In the future, we probably need to give the lower area more than two day's rest between pickings.

June 5, 2008:  Excellent picking conditions, large berry size in our upper level area and we were finally able to stay open until our normal closing time of 11 AM ( a first for this season)

June 4, 2008:  This was our third day of Strawberry picking.  Our lower level had three days of rest between picking and  finally showed some good, ripe berry color.  Customers continue to come faster than the berries are ripening up and we had to close at about a hour before our normal closing time of 11 AM.  The intermittent rains of the last few days do not appear to have had a negative impact of our berry crop so far.

June 1, 2008:  Our first day of Strawberry picking was over about an hour after opening.  Customers came a little faster than I expected for a Sunday and our supply of ripe berries was low (which is typical scattered first day picking).   Cabot size appears much larger in the newer upper area.

May 27, 2008: Strawberry picking has begun (for the birds) which means opening day is not far off.  No adverse effect of the excessive rain is evident but the lower parts of our fields are still soggy.

May 21, 2008:  Still no ripe berries but some early color.

May 14, 2008: The cool, wet weather over the last two weeks has slowed down strawberry ripening -- we are probably looking at a record late starting date.

April 29, 2008:  The strawberries endured a long night of frosty temperatures but our irrigation system seemed to protect all the tender blossoms and green fruit.  The additional 1" of water sprayed on the plants was definitely not needed and (combined with the frequent spring rains) could contribute to future root rot problems.

April 27, 2008:  Our Cabot on the upper area continue to lag several days behind the lower level -- this is just the opposite of what is normal.  Our third and final block of new Cabot strawberries were planted in muddy conditions similar to last week.

April 18, 2008:  We planted two blocks of Cabot strawberries that will first fruit in 2009 -- field conditions were muddy and cold but the planting is already 4 weeks later than normal due to the cool, wet conditions we have had all spring.

April 17, 2008:  Finally!  Some warmer weather -- the first scattered strawberry blooms are evident in thinly mulched areas.

April 12, 2008:  The strawberries are continuing to come along much slower than normal due to the colder temperatures we have had over the last two weeks.

March 27, 2008:  Strawberries in all areas continue to be dormant due to the cold spring.  It will most likely be a later harvest than normal.

March 15, 2008:  Straw was removed from the mulched strawberry beds.   The lower level Cabot that were first harvested in 2007 continue to look less vigorous than the newly planted Cabot on the upper level.  Black root rot problems are the likely culprit.

June 3, 2007: Today was our last day for picking strawberries.

June 1, 2007:  Continued wet conditions have caused picking in our upper area to deteriorate to the point where we have closed this area for the season.  Our lower level is still in somewhat better shape but can't support every day picking by itself so we may have to move to alternate day picking.

May 26, 2007:  The intermittent rains and humid conditions of the last few days are starting to take a toll on our berries.

May 24, 2007:  This was our fourth day of Strawberry picking and the first day high customer turnout forced us to close earlier than our normal closing time of 11:00 AM.  Restricted picking will be in effect for Friday, May 25, and Saturday May 26.  

May 20, 2007:  We are getting very close to the start of strawberry season; it is becoming obvious that there is a big difference in berry size versus last year.  The size of the normally huge Cabot will be more like Earliglow and 2007 picking speeds will be much slower than 2006 because of the uneven impact of the Easter freeze -- some areas will look great and others will have almost no berries at all.

May 15, 2007: We are finally starting to see some berries begin to color up.  

May 9, 2007:  The bloom season is pretty close to wrapping up for the year so this means that it will be a pretty short season.  Some minor freeze damage is evident on a few green berries but this does not appear to be very widespread.  There appear to be a good number of green berries but berry size continues to look smaller than normal, however.  Strawberry foliage appears to be making good recovery which augurs well for next year's crop -- crown damage is minimal.

May 1, 2007:  All of the strawberry blossoms opening now appear undamaged by the Easter freeze, assuming the light growth of green foliage can support the fruiting load.  The very high temperatures of the last few days will probably advance peak picking into late May or early June and create a picking season much shorter than normal. 

April 25, 2007:  Roughly half the strawberry blossoms that are opening now appear to be OK.  This means that we should have a modest crop starting in late May.  We did lose roughly the first 1 or 2 weeks of production.

April 18, 2007:  There were a few undamaged strawberry blossoms open today that seemed to survive the Easter freeze; this is a good sign that we could possibly have a modest strawberry crop very late (June) in the season.  Almost all of the blossoms that are currently opening now have been damaged by the freeze, however.

April 10, 2007: Five straight nights of subfreezing temperatures have taken their toll on our strawberry crop for 2007.     All strawberry blossoms that had begun to emerge for the strawberry crown have been killed.   There may possibly be some slower-to-develop strawberry plants left so it still possible that we could have a light crop late in the season.  Fortunately,  there appears to be no crown damage on either the "fruiting" or newly set strawberry plants so far. 

While irrigation is usually successful under normal frost/freeze conditions, the strong gusty winds and low wet bulb temperatures during the coldest period, late night and early morning, create a situation where evaporative cooling and root rot caused my the excessive water usage  can cause more damage than not irrigating at all so no irrigation was attempted except for the night of April 5.  

April 7, 2007:  Last night's temperatures close to 20º F at ground level with strong gusty winds of 15 to 25 MPH for several hours caused significant damage to both strawberry blossoms and unopened flower buds and we still have two more nights of freezing temperatures forecast for Saturday and Sunday night.

April 1, 2007: We are starting to see scattered strawberry blooms (much too early for my comfort)

March 24, 2007:  The warmer weather these last few days has "told" the strawberry plants to break dormancy and start to grow. 

March 17, 2007:  4000 New Cabot strawberry plants that will first fruit in May 2008 were planted today amongst falling snow in 35ºF weather.  A bone chilling day for workers but excellent weather for the newly set strawberry plants !

March 10, 2007:  Straw was raked off the still dormant strawberry rows -- winter kill to the leaves looked much more severe than normal.  I have not yet checked strawberry crowns for damage to this year's flower buds.

June 10, 2006:  This was our final day of strawberry picking.  Strawberry picking was very difficult but customers coming early and willing to work a little harder were rewarded with some of the deepest red and best flavored Cabot of the season even though berry size was significantly smaller than earlier in the season.

June 5, 2006:  The rains of the last few days have been very rough on our strawberries.  Ripe  berries exposed to moisture for a prolonged period are subject to cracking and spoilage.  There are still lots of good berries but customers must be selective which makes picking slower than I would like to see.   Our supply of berries for the remainder of the season appears to be inadequate  for the current flow of customers so it is likely that we may need to close earlier than our normal closing time each day.

May 30, 2006:  Strawberries are now at their peak and picking was the best of the season so far.  We ended Tuesday picking  at our normal closing time (12 Noon) and have an excellent supply of berries for tomorrow.

May 29, 2006:  We had record setting crowds for  Memorial Day so check out lines were longer than I would prefer.  With the warmer weather the berries are finally beginning to show good color and ripen up nicely.   Intermittent irrigation during the hot afternoons of May 28 and May 29 was necessary to prevent berry sunburn and "cooking".

May 27, 2006:  Rachel picked a new record setting Cabot strawberry --- 109 grams.

May 24, 2006:  With the warmer nights ripe strawberries are looking more plentiful now -- we were  able to stay open to our normal closing time of 12 noon for both Monday and Wednesday.  We did incur some sunburn injury on Sunday, May 21, and slugs and birds continue to be a problem on ripe berries so our overall berry supply is not yet up to normal levels.  Post cards to customers who picked last year will all be mailed out  and should be received by this weekend.

May 20, 2006:  Our first Saturday open -- Customers came out early in droves and all the ripe strawberries were pretty well picked by 8 AM. and the strawberry patch closed early.  We will close all day Sunday to give the Strawberries a chance to ripen up better.  It still looks like the peak of the strawberry season will be that last week in May and the first week of June when the berries will literally "jump in your box". 

May 18, 2006:  The cooler weather is slowing down ripening of the berries but Isabel  Kramer managed to  pick the largest berry ever found at Lakeview Farms -- 99 grams!

ay 16, 2006:  We opened for strawberry picking today in the Darselect variety. Although the weather this last week or so has been very cool with spotty showers, the strawberries seem in pretty good shape.  It is very early in the harvest season so the ripe berries are a little more scattered than they will be in a few days but this is normal.

May 7, 2006:  We are starting to see some scattered red berries so this confirms that our strawberry season will be a little earlier than normal.  Both Cabot and Darselect seem to be ripening on the same schedule -- the Darselect appear loaded with berries !  The cool weather of the last week is "made to order" for strawberries.

April 27, 2006:  Both the Cabot and Darselect are in full bloom now.  The Darselect continues to look better than the Cabot which may be due to grubs (the same critters that chew on your grass roots) or possibly winter injury.  We have even had mice/voles take up residence in some our nicely mulched strawberry rows and cause extensive damage with their tunnels--this is very unusual for strawberries and more of a problem in fruit trees.

April 13, 2006:  We are starting to see some scattered blooms in both the Cabot and Darselect which means the strawberry season will be a little earlier than last year.

April 11, 2006:  The cooler weather of the last few weeks has slowed down strawberry development but the warmer weather forecast for this week could change things.  The older Darselect and Cabot look good but the 2005 planted Cabot still look a little thinner than they should be for this time of the year.  There have been a few scattered blossoms in poorly mulched areas but these were pretty well frosted out last Sunday morning.

March 15, 2006:  Some of the Darselect seem to be breaking dormancy -- slightly ahead of last year.

March 12, 2006:  We completed planting 3400 new Cabot strawberry plants for 2006.  Unless something changes, we will harvest exclusively Cabot in 2007 with roughly half located in our lower level that is usually reserved for pumpkins & corn.  Some expansion of lower level parking could be required and our 2007 harvest season will start a few days later than normal since we will have eliminated our earlier variety, Dar Select.   I have heard some favorable reviews of a new variety called  L'Amour from Cornell so we may plant a few of these for trial harvest in 2007.

March 4, 2006:  Straw was removed from the strawberry rows today -- there appears to be some winter damage to the new Cabot planted in 2005 but it is still too early to tell for sure.  The older Dar Select and Cabot seem to have survived the winter in excellent shape, however.

June 14, 2005: The heavy rains of the last few days were evidently very tough on the berries and picking was very difficult so we were forced to closed a few days earlier than expected.

June 10, 2005: While strawberry size has gone down in all four varieties, berry color and flavor has improved with the warm sunny weather we have had for the last few days.  Our berry supply situation still looks excellent!  Fortunately, we missed all of the heavy rains that hit the St. Louis City area yesterday and conditions remain dry (except when we irrigate).  

June 1, 2005: Today we had record strawberry sales for a weekday -- only slightly less than the Saturday before Memorial Day.  Picking continues to be good and the cool, dry weather is what a strawberry grower would order (if he could).  Cabot size is still very good but Darselect, and Mesabi are now only  medium sized.  The size of Mira, for some unknown reason continues to run smaller than it should but these berries look exceptionally pretty.  Mesabi continues to display a very pretty dark color and excellent flavor but we have only three rows left from 2005.

May 27, 2005:  We started with what looked like a good supply of strawberries for the day but our customers evidently wanted to get a head started on the memorial day weekend and we had to close off picking for the day by about 10:00 AM.  Today was the first picking for Cabot and they looked great!   We set aside a large area (which includes a block of unpicked Cabot) for picking tomorrow, Saturday, May 28, so the people that arrive early should find some pretty good picking.  The Cabot size is really HUGE -- Darselect and Mira size is now medium.

May 25, 2005:  The weather was ideal, berry picking was great, and the flow of customers  just right for the supply of berries -- this combination almost never occurs!  We picked Mesabi for the first time this year and I regret having plowed up a whole block last year after its disappointing performance under the wet  2004 conditions -- this berry looks and tastes really good (unfortunately we have only three rows left).  Darselect is at its peak right now and is our main picking variety.   Our first picking of Mira confirmed my suspicions on berry size -- the Mira are significantly smaller than the Darselect.  Cabot is starting to color up and we may be able to pick this variety over the Memorial Day weekend.  There are some REALLY big Cabot out there in the field.

May 23, 2005:  The "Show Me St. Louis" people from Channel 5 were at our farm -- this will air Tuesday, May 24 at 3:00 PM.  If you missed the broadcast you can go to the ksdk.com website for some pictures and the storyline: http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=79787 .

May 21, 2005:  Today was our first day of strawberry picking.  Although picking was scattered ( which is typical of first day) it looks like the Darselect will be ripening up real well for some good picking on Monday May 23.  Darselect flavor is similar to last year -- mild & less tart (acidic) than a berry like Earliglow.  Berry size and color on Darselect look good.  The Cabot, Mira, and Mesabi are still a few days away from being ripe.  

May 11, 2005:  The hot weather of the last few days is really moving the strawberries along -- no freeze damage is evident  from the nights of May 4 & 5.

May 4, 2005:  The cool, frosty weather of the last few days have forced us to irrigate several nights now to protect the tender strawberry blossoms.  Darselect, Mira, and Mesabi are in full bloom and Cabot is getting close.

April 19, 2005:  A four strawberry varieties (both midseason and late) are roughly at 10% bloom.  Size on Cabot & Darselect looks good but our 6 "test rows" of Mira may be small again like last year.  

April 12, 2005:  We are starting to see scattered strawberry blooms throughout the strawberry patch in areas that were poorly mulched or blown off by wind.  Frost protection will probably be needed for the next three weeks.   

March, 30, 2005:  The strawberries are FINALLY starting to break dormancy and beginning to leaf out. 

March 21, 2005:  We have removed the straw from all the strawberry beds now.  The plants seem to have made it thru the winter in good shape but still appear dormant due to the cooler weather we have had for the last few weeks.   Our 2005 season will probably be a little later than normal unless we have some very warm weather in the next month or so.  

June 12, 2004:  Today was our last day of strawberry picking.

June 9, 2004:  There is still some scattered picking of Mira and Cabot available  but I am not sure what impact the rains today will have on berry quality for picking on Thursday.  Call Thursday morning for a report.

June 5, 2004:  We are into our final week of strawberry picking now.  Darselect is finished but Mesabi is finally starting to look good.  Customers picking today actually preferred Mesabi, our latest berry, over Cabot. 

June 4, 2004:  We still have a fair supply of strawberries but the picking ( for customers who waited for ideal weather ) will be a little more challenging  because of larger crowds and fewer berries.  

May 28, 2004:  The continued rainy weather is finally taking a toll on our strawberries -- particularly Mesabi.  Picking is slower because of the need to sort out berries that have soft spots due to excessive rain. I would estimate that about 50% of the ripe Mesabi today had some sort of water damage.  The Cabot and Darselect seemed to be holding up a little better.

May 25, 2004:  Despite the rainy weather, we starting to see some of the best picking so far this season with all four varieties showing excellent color.  Our supply of berries going into tomorrow's picking (Wednesday) looks excellent.  While there are a few berries spoiled by the wet weather, picking today was some of the best picking so far this season.  

May 21, 2004:  Customers are coming a little faster that the berries are ripening up (which is not that unusual for early in the season) and we have had to close earlier that our schedule  for the first time this season.  Darselect picking has been excellent but Mira and Cabot are still not as ripe as I would like to see.   Customers seem to think that the best tasting berry is Mira but I am a little disappointed about the Mira size which (to me)  looks no better than Earliglow.  Our first picking on Mesabi will probably me tomorrow (Saturday) -- the Mesabi size looks good but the berries have been very slow to ripen so far.

May 17, 2004:  Today was our first day of picking.  Picking in the Darselect was typical of first day --- some rows were pretty good; other rows were pretty scattered -- but customers were generally seemed to be doing pretty well.  Darselect size was good but berry flavor, while good,  does not compare with Earliglo.  The Mira and Cabot are ripening pretty fast and we may be able to pick some tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday at the latest.  Mesabi looks like it will not be ready until this weekend (at the earliest). 

May 12, 2004:  It looks as if all four varieties of  strawberries are just about finished blooming -- this means that we will have a much shorter than normal harvest season.   Don't miss out!

May 11, 2004:  There are some advantages to being a strawberry farmer -- you get first dibs (sharing with the birds of course) on the first strawberries to ripen up.  Here are some of the first Darselect that will go into my Wednesday morning cereal.     Except for those people that prefer a very tart (acidic) berry like Mira, most customers will think that Darselect is a very good tasting berry.

May 3, 2004:  All four strawberry varieties are now in full bloom so peak picking will probably be that first week of June.  Darselect size should be excellent.  We have seen lighter colored green foliage on Mesabi and are not quite sure what this means.  Since Mesabi was developed in Minnesota,  it should love the cold, wet weather we have had for the last few days.

April 22, 2004:  We are starting to see some Cabot blooms which means all four strawberry varieties will be in full production for the Memorial Day weekend.  Since this is their second year of production, berry size may be a little smaller than last year.  Last month (March) we planted another acre of Cabot which will fruit in 2005.  

April 17, 2004:  The exceptionally warm weather of the last few days is really speeding up the blooming process and I have had to move our expected opening day ahead by several days.  Mesabi is at roughly 10% bloom and Darselect is at 5%.  Just a  few Cabot & Mira blooms are evident yet.  Darselect size should be excellent but Mira may be a little disappointing sizewise. 

April 14, 2004:  We had a good frost last night but running the irrigation system from midnight to 7:30 AM prevented any damage to the very tender strawberry blossoms. 

April 11, 2004:  We are starting to see a few scattered blooms in the Mesabi, Mira, and Darselect.  These strawberries from these early blooms usually end up frosted out, eaten by the birds, or used in Farmer Carl's breakfast cereal.

March 25, 2004:  The very late Cabot Strawberries are just starting to break dormancy -- right on a schedule similar to last year.

March 20, 2004:  It looks as if the Darselect strawberries are just starting to break dormancy -- right on schedule.  Winter survival on all varieties looks good and seasonal timing should be normal.