What if you could grow high-quality, everbearing strawberries year-round—without dormancy slowing you down

Grodan and Fluence, two leading horticultural solution providers, have completed an innovative demonstration trial aimed at exploring the opportunities for year-round cultivation of everbearing strawberries in a controlled environment. The results show that the use of stone wool growing media in combination with cutting-edge LED technology makes it possible to stay out of dormancy and maintain high-quality plants with a high yield throughout the winter. These findings have the potential to redefine the best practices for high-tech cultivation of everbearing strawberries, enabling growers to consistently supply retailers and consumers with fresh, high-quality strawberries all year round.

As popular premium fruits among consumers, strawberries are an interesting proposition for growers, especially if they can be cultivated in winter when prices for off-season fresh produce are at their peak. An ever- higher number of strawberry growers are discovering the benefits of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), which helps them to meet market demands by making them less dependent on the outdoor weather conditions. In Europe, high-tech strawberry growers traditionally use junebearing varieties for lit cultivation in winter cycles because of the dormancy issues that are associated with everbearing varieties. However, junebearers mean that growers see a two month growing period followed by two month harvesting period. “These strawberry growers are forced to make a choice because the planting time determines the harvesting period, essentially you can only produce two months in the same greenhouse during winter,” says Thomas Peters, Business Development Manager at Grodan.

Summary of the final results for strawberries planted on August 22, 2023 till May 16, 2024. • The strawberry plants maintained their active growth and stayed out of dormancy during the dark Dutch winter season • 16.5 kg/m (based on 6 plants per linear metre) and 15 kg/m2 (5.2 plants/m2) • Over 90% of the total yield were class 1 fruits • Production peaks were flattened, giving a minimum weekly production of 200 g/m • The heat input was kept to a bare minimum: less than 2 m3 of natural gas was needed to heat the greenhouse

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