When Do Day-Neutral Strawberries Start to Produce?

First Year

• Unlike June-bearing strawberries, day-neutral strawberry plants produce a crop the first season after planting. Although they'll produce fruit from mid-summer on, it's better to remove the flowers for the first six weeks after planting. This allows the plants to focus their energy on root formation and leaf development. Thereafter, you can allow the plant to flower and produce fruit from early to late fall. In subsequent years, day-neutral strawberry plants produce fruit from early summer to fall.

Temperature

• Day-neutral strawberry plants are not affected by the length of days, as June-bearing varieties are. Their fruit production is determined by the air and soil temperature. Day-neutral varieties begin flowering in the spring when the air temperature rises above 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The fruit ripens about 30 days after the plant blooms. Day-neutral berry plants continue bearing all summer long, but dwindle if temperatures rise above 85 F. As temperatures cool in late summer, the plants often produce another crop. The first frost in the fall marks the end of the season.

Quantity

• Day-neutral strawberry plants tend to produce the largest crop in June, or early summer, followed by smaller harvests throughout the summer. The harvest often occurs in spurts every six weeks. A well-tended berry patch can produce about 1 quart of berries per foot of row.

Care

• Day-neutral strawberries need rich, well-draining soil and full sun. Plant them out in early spring. Space the plants 4 to 9 inches apart in rows about 4 feet apart. The plants don't produce runners like June-bearing varieties, so you won't have a matted bed. Fertilize the plants with 1 pound of aluminum nitrate per 100 feet of row each month during the growing season. Keep the soil evenly moist and spread a mulch of weed-free straw over the plants in the fall. Day-neutral varieties are often plagued with disease, weeds and pest problems. Most growers remove the plants after two years and start a new patch in a different location.