DURHAM, N.H. (AP) – Strawberry season in the Northeast usually lasts only four to six weeks, but New Hampshire researchers have figured out how to stretch the harvest from July to Thanksgiving.
University of New Hampshire researchers harvested strawberries grown in low tunnels for 19 consecutive weeks. They also found the tunnels significantly increased the percentage of marketable fruit, from an average of about 70 percent to 83 percent.
Now in its second year, the research project by the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station is part of a larger, multi-state effort to optimize protected growing environments for berry crops in the upper Midwest and Northeastern states.
The university’s part is focused on improving berry quality and the role ever-bearing varieties may play in extending the length of strawberry season in the Northeast.