Everbearing strawberry flowers and fruits repeatedly rather than in one short burst, which is what lets a glasshouse crop supply a market continuously instead of for a few weeks. It is the basis of the Dutch fresh crop under glass, and the extended picking window is the commercial reason to grow it under protection at all.
What the crop needs
The crop is grown on suspended substrate gutters at working height, with drip irrigation and drain recirculation. The root zone is small relative to the fruit load, so water and salt management do most of the work of holding quality, and the crop is sensitive to interruptions while fruit is filling. Picking at height is what keeps the labour sustainable across a long season.
What the greenhouse has to do
Strawberry under glass is grown on suspended gutters, and that choice runs through the whole building. Picking happens at waist height instead of ground level, which changes the labour plan more than any other decision on the crop; the gutters have to be hung from the structure, so the load path is designed in from the start rather than added to a finished house.
A long picking window is what the house is paid for. Quality has to hold from the first flush to the last, which puts the weight on climate stability rather than on peak performance — screening and heating that keep the plant productive through the shoulders of the season, ventilation that keeps the canopy dry, and irrigation with the buffer to carry a fruiting crop through hot weeks.
DutchGreenhouses® specifies the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the strawberry crop, its picking window and the local climate, so quality holds across the whole period rather than the first flush. Get in touch to plan a strawberry greenhouse.
Other strawberry varieties and the systems behind them
Ripe fruit, week after week
An everbearing crop is picked continuously rather than in one burst, and that changes what a local grower can promise. Ripe strawberry has a short life and cannot be stored to cover a gap. Supply has to arrive at the rate it is eaten, or the shelf gets filled from somewhere further away.
A plant that keeps flowering solves that. It puts fruit into the market in a steady rhythm across a long window, so the same short journey applies every week rather than only in the peak. Vitamin C, sugar and aroma are all highest in fruit that ripened on the plant, and a continuous crop makes ripe picking the ordinary case instead of the lucky one.
The window is where the value sits. Fruit grown under glass near its market covers the shoulders of the season, when the alternative on the shelf has travelled a long way and was picked accordingly. Continuity is not only a commercial argument. It is what keeps the fruit on offer at the quality the crop is capable of.
Nutrition facts
Strawberries, raw
Per 100 g
- Energy
- 32 kcal
- Fat
- 0.3 g
- Carbohydrate
- 7.68 g
- Sugars
- 4.89 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Protein
- 0.67 g
- Sodium
- 1 mg
- Potassium
- 153 mg
- Vitamin C
- 58.8 mg
Everbearing strawberry, asked and answered
Why grow strawberry on suspended gutters?
Picking at waist height instead of ground level, and a root zone that can be controlled. The gutters hang from the structure, so the load path belongs in the design of the house rather than in a later fit-out.
What does a long picking window ask of the greenhouse?
Stability rather than peak capacity. Quality has to hold from the first flush to the last, so screening, heating and ventilation are specified for the shoulders of the season, not for its best weeks.
What limits fruit quality late in the picking window?
Plant condition and climate control through the warm months. A canopy that stays wet or a root zone that swings shows up in the fruit that is picked weeks later.
Reads you might find interesting
Grow Like a Pro: Starting Smart, Growing Strong
How Grow Like a Pro combines smart farming, CEA technology and local partnerships for eco-friendly, profitable, pesticide-free greenhouse pr
Read article
Maryland Cannabis Greenhouse: Year One
One year on: how the Maryland cannabis greenhouse, paired with an adjacent indoor facility, cut the energy bill and lifted both yields and q
Read article
The Case for a College Greenhouse
Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing studen
Read article
The Case for a High School Greenhouse
Why every high school greenhouse matters: how it makes STEM tangible, builds responsibility and teamwork, and helps students discover their
Read article
Greenhouses in Education: The Case for Schools
Greenhouses in education reconnect students to reality — the full case for why every school, high school, college and trade program should h
Read article
The Origins of Greenhouse Horticulture: My Backyard
A tour through greenhouse horticulture history: from 19th-century Westland fruit walls to the “City of Glass” and today’s international high
Read article