Influence of cultivar, planting date, and planting material on yield of day-neutral strawberry cultivars in highland areas of Korea

This study was conducted to evaluate the yield performance for University of California (UC) cultivars ‘Albion’ and ‘San Andreas’ during summer and fall fruiting season in the northeastern highlands of Korea at 750 meters elevation. We investigated the effects of cultivar, planting date and planting material on fruit productivity in a bench-top peat substrate system. For both cultivars, we compared the yield performance of frozen (−2.2°C) bare-root plants (FBR), potted frozen bare-root plants (PFBR), and potted fresh plants (PF) on four dates: 30 Apr., 15 May, 30 May, and 15 Jun., 2010. Fruit harvest commenced in early June and terminated on 2 Dec. For each cultivar and type of planting material, fruit were harvested twice a week and fruit weight and numbers of marketable and non-marketable fruits were determined for each harvest. Both cultivars performed well in summer and autumn production in high land, although marketable fruit yield for ‘San Andreas’ was significantly greater than that of ‘Albion’. Plants planted on 30 Apr. produced the earliest fruit and the greatest marketable yields, 521.0 and 487.0 g/plant, 24.1 and 23.3 ton/hectare for ‘Albion’ PFBR and FBR plants, respectively, and 618.3 and 529.6 g/plant, 28.6 and 24.5 ton/hectare for ‘San Andreas’ PFBR and FBR plants, respectively. Generally, PFBR had higher marketable fruit yield than FBR and PF had the lowest. PFBR is recommended especially for late planting and FBR is acceptable for early planting, while PF is not suitable for this production system. The relationship of fruit productivity and vegetative growth was significantly correlated.