Crop lessons · Fruit
Growing Strawberry in Florida
Rosaceae (rose family)
Florida grows strawberries in winter, not summer: plants go in during the fall, berries come from late fall into spring, and the plants are pulled when the heat arrives and replaced the next fall. Home gardeners do best with varieties bred for Florida, set on raised beds. Spider mites are the pest that most often wears plants down here.1, 2
Planting1, 2, 3
| How to start | transplant |
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| Spacing in the row (inches) | 12 to 16 |
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| Between rows (inches) | 12 |
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| Days to harvest | 30 to 60 from transplant (SP 103 table); Gardening Solutions says roughly 90 to 110 days after planting for the first berries |
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Planting windows: the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide gives October to November in North Florida, September 25 to October 25 in Central Florida and October in South Florida; Gardening Solutions gives September 15 to October 15, September 25 to October 25, and October 1 to December 1 respectively; EDIS HS1154 says late September to early November. Use disease-free plants of Florida-adapted varieties. HS1154 recommends double rows on raised beds covered with opaque (usually black) plastic, with transplants set through slits. Do not bury the crown or leave roots exposed. Bare-root plants with leaves usually need frequent sprinkling during the day for the first 1 to 2 weeks; plug plants need little. Gardening Solutions gives a wider spacing of 10 to 18 inches. Strawberries also grow in pots, planter boxes and barrels.
Varieties UF/IFAS lists for Florida1, 2
- Camarosa
- Florida Brilliance
- Sweet Sensation (Florida127)
- Encore
- Medallion
- Ember
Growing2
| Sun | Full sun, at least 8 hours a day; if not possible, a spot sunny through the morning and early afternoon |
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| Soil pH | 5.5 to 6.5 |
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| Water | Once plants are established, keep beds moist with drip tape or a soaker hose (about 1/2 to 1 hour at low pressure wets the bed). Early in the season once a week may be enough; later, as plants grow and weather warms, two or three times a week. |
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| Fertilizer | EDIS HS1154: before planting, mix 2 pounds of 10-5-10 (or similar) with micronutrients including boron into each 10 feet of bed, with about half the nitrogen in slow-release form. Rake one quarter into the bed surface and band the rest about 1 inch deep down the middle of the bed. |
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Flowers and fruit need temperatures of about 50 to 80 F and days of 14 hours or less, which is why Florida's cool season suits them. Fruit comes in two or three flushes from November into April or May. Flowers and fruit are damaged below 32 F, though hardened leaves and crowns usually survive into the low 20s; cover plants with sheets, blankets or frost cloth the afternoon before a freeze and anchor the edges. Each plant can yield 1 to 2 pints over the season.
Pests and diseases in Florida2
- Two-spotted spider mite: Usually the most persistent strawberry pest in Florida. Start checking leaf undersides in early December; if 5 percent or more of leaflets have mites, treat with a neem product, insecticidal soap or mineral oil, two or three times about 5 to 7 days apart.
- Caterpillars: Feed on crowns, leaves and young flowers in October and November; Bt or neem controls small ones, or pick them off.
- Aphids and flower thrips: Later-season pests of developing fruit. Natural enemies such as lacewings, lady beetles and minute pirate bugs often handle them; neem, soap or oil are the preferred home products.
- Powdery mildew: Several sulfur sprays usually control it; apply sulfur only below 80 F to avoid burn.
- Nematodes and soil-borne diseases: Move the planting so the same spot has had no strawberries for two or three years, and avoid ground just used for tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or other Verticillium-prone crops. Summer soil solarization helps.
- Birds: Exclude them from small plantings with bird netting.
Harvest2, 3
Pick when three quarters of the berry has turned red, and pick every two to four days, because fruit starts to decline soon after it is fully red. Snap the berry off by its stem with a twist of the wrist, handling it gently. Berries do not sweeten after picking and keep only a few days, so refrigerate them in a moisture-proof container or freeze them.
In an aquaponics system4
suited with care
The FAO manual names strawberries among the 'nutrient hungry' botanical fruits, with tomatoes and peppers, that are better suited to established systems with enough fish (p. 92), and shows strawberries grown in satellite media beds (figure, section 9). It gives no strawberry growing guidelines. SRAC 454 does not mention strawberries.
What this lesson doesn't cover yet
- No fetched UF/IFAS document gave the strawberry's scientific name; left null.
- The Gardening Solutions strawberry page lists an older set of varieties ('Sweet Charlie', 'Camarosa', 'Chandler', 'Oso Grande', 'Selva', 'Festival') that differs from SP 103 and HS1154; only the varieties named in those two documents are listed.
- Days to harvest conflict: SP 103 gives 30 to 60 days from transplant; Gardening Solutions says about 90 to 110 days after planting.
Your county extension office and its Master Gardener volunteers can fill these in for your garden.