What are Day-Neutral Strawberries?
Day-neutral strawberries continue to fruit as long as the weather holds. This means that, unlike the familiar June-bearing cultivars that only fruit for a short time, day-neutral strawberries fruit into the summer and fall, which is great news for strawberry lovers. They also have firmer and larger fruit than June-bearing strawberries.
When Do Day-Neutral Strawberries Grow?
As long as temperatures remain between 40 and 90 F. (4-32 C.), day-neutral strawberries will continue to produce throughout spring, summer, and into autumn, usually from June to October.
Additional Day-Neutral Strawberry Information
There has been some confusion over the terms ‘day-neutral’ and ‘everbearing’ strawberries because they often seem to be used interchangeably. Everbearing is an old term for strawberries that fruited throughout the summer, but modern day-neutral cultivars are more consistent in producing berries than the older ‘everbearing’ cultivars, which tended to produce fruit early in summer and then again late in the summer with a big, non-bearing gap in between. Day-neutral strawberries have been categorized as either weak or strong because each cultivar varies in its ability to flower during the summer. Strong, day-neutrals are said to produce both runners and blooms sparsely during the summer, have flowers form on the runners, and plants that are smaller with fewer crowns. Day-neutrals that have a stronger tendency to produce runners, flower more profusely, and become larger plants are called intermediate or weak day-neutrals.
Growing Day-Neutral Strawberries
Day-neutral strawberries thrive in raised beds covered with black plastic mulch that suppresses weeds and warms the soil. Ideally, they should be watered with a drip system to keep excess moisture from the leaves and fruit. Day-neutral strawberries should be planted in fall and are usually grown as annuals, although they may be held over for a second year.
