Strawberries

OUR STRAWBERRIES

This season simply moved too fast for us to take on strawberries the way they deserve. Even so, our experience with the tabletop system gave us some valuable insights.

The biggest challenge appears to be timing. To get strong production, plugs really need to be started in February, or plants need an already well-developed root system going into the season. In parts of Europe, growers can purchase spring-ready plants, but here in the Midwest, that typically means producing them ourselves. With more time and capacity, a small hoop house would likely make that possible.

We also experimented with several overwintering methods in the troughs, but none proved reliable. Among the varieties, day-neutral strawberries showed the most promise, offering steady production and decent spring yields. However, by mid-summer, pressure from spotted wing drosophila—a relatively new invasive pest—became significant. Later in the season, yellowjackets added another complication, which doesn’t pair well with a u-pick setup.

If we revisit, or the new buyer might pursue, strawberries next year, we may explore sourcing high-quality spring starts from a grower to improve establishment and timing.

Our Tabletop Story - OzBF grows strawberries on tabletop systems, which allow both you and us to pick and care for the plants without constant bending. We’re one of just a few farms in Missouri using this outdoor tabletop method and have even shared our experiences with strawberry researchers at the University of Minnesota.

Here’s how the journey has unfolded:

• 2021: Our first year brought a good spring crop. Albion even produced until the first fall frost. Mid-summer pests (fruit flies and yellowjackets) forced us to halt U-Pick but the learning continued.

• 2022: We shifted to focusing solely on a spring crop to avoid summer pest pressures—a successful strategy that solved one major challenge.

• 2022/23 Winter: Unfortunately, harsh cold and a few missteps caused significant damage to the fruiting crowns, resulting in poor 2023 production.

• 2024: Using a corral system to protect the plants, most of the crop overwintered well. Though a brief drought affected some plants, we also added cold-tolerant varieties to test weather resistance, taste, and yield.

• 2025: We narrowed our varieties to the best producers and the overwintering seems to be in control.  We are investigating a new planting sequence and fertilization routine to see if production levels per plant can be improved.