Be prepared. The amount of quality strawberries limited across the Upper Cumberland this year.
Local Strawberry Farmer Karen McCulley said the strawberry season starts in April and ends in early June. McCulley said she has been growing strawberries for 26 years and that this year has been the worst.
“We had about two and a half weeks of good picking early in around April 15-20,” McCulley said. “When it started training and it wouldn’t quit raining, we just started losing just buckets and buckets and buckets of strawberries.”
McCulley said strawberries already have a lot of water content already and that constant wet weather causes strawberries to suffer from fruit rot. McCulley said growing strawberries in the Upper Cumberland is doable, but more difficult compared to different regions across the state.
“It’s a little bit harder for us to grow strawberries here where we are, because we are a little bit colder than most places in Tennessee, so we have to freeze and frost protect, which brings on a lot more work,” McCulley said. “A lot of people use row covers to cover their plants to protect them from freezes and frost, but where we are, the temperature gets down so low that most of the time it wouldn’t save the blooms, and if you don’t save the blooms, you won’t have strawberries. We run water over ours, and that water turning to ice creates enough heat for that bloom to survive.”
The state of Tennessee released a statement that strawberry farmers are also dealing with a fungus called Neopestalotiopsis, or commonly known as “Neo”. The fungus originated in Florida and causes strawberry plants to rot.
“We’ve got some friends who had Neo, and I mean it will wipe your plants and they will be dead,” McCulley said. “Our plants are still green and vibrant looking, but the Neo, the plants just die, and then the fruit dies too.”
McCulley said she purchased strawberry tips from a different supplier this year because her provider knew the plants had the fungus.
McCulley said that with a diminished strawberry season, many locals who normally purchase strawberries have not done so this year. McCulley said she is hopeful that next year will be a much better year for strawberries.
