5 pp. / Strawberries are easy to grow. They provide the first fruit of the season, and are quick to bear. When harvested fully ripe in the home garden they have excellent flavor. In stores they can be expensive and are often harvested prior to being fully ripe. Various types of strawberries are available. Each type has specific environmental requirements such as temperature and hours of daylight for good production. With the wide range of climatic zones in Arizona it is important to choose the right type of strawberry for your growing conditions.

Strawberry cultivar performance affected by various cultural practices was investigated in two production systems. The first study investigated strawberry yield, fruit quality, and production timing of eight cultivars when using black and red plastic mulches in a high tunnel production system. The high tunnel increased air temperatures and advanced strawberry fruiting by four to six weeks compared to local openield production. The second study investigated plant growth, yield, and fruit quality of 10 cultivars fertilized with organic or conventional fertilizer and irrigated once or twice daily with the same total irrigation volume in a container system. Strawberry cultivars varied in their yield and quality variables including soluble solids contents, firmness, and titratible acidity in the two production systems. Mulch color, fertilizer type, and irrigation frequency had varying effects on the growth microenvironment, fruit yield, and certain quality variables.