Seasonal Strawberries — DutchGreenhouses

A concentrated harvest, grown for a defined market window

Seasonal strawberry, also called short-day or June-bearing, flowers in response to day length and produces a concentrated crop rather than a continuous one. It is grown for a defined market window, and where that window is valuable the concentrated harvest is the point rather than a limitation.

What the crop needs

The crop is grown on suspended gutters like the everbearing type, but the plant is managed to a different rhythm. Flowering is triggered by day length, so the planning question is when the window falls and how the crop is timed into it. The labour profile is concentrated rather than spread, which changes how a house is staffed.

What the greenhouse has to do

A concentrated harvest is a scheduling problem before it is a growing one. The crop arrives in a burst, so picking labour, cooling and pack capacity all have to be sized for the peak week rather than for the average — and then stand idle. Whether that pays is decided by the value of the window being supplied, which makes it a question for the brief.

The building is strawberry building: suspended gutters hung from the structure, waist-height picking, a controlled root zone and a canopy kept dry. What a seasonal crop adds is the chance to empty and reset the compartment between crops, which opens up options a continuous crop does not have — a second crop in the gap, or a cleaning window that a year-round house never gets.

DutchGreenhouses® designs the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the strawberry system and the market window being supplied, so the peak week is carried rather than survived. Get in touch to discuss a seasonal strawberry project.

Everbearing strawberries

Fruit across a long window rather than a single flush.

Hydroponics

Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation.

Climate

Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing.

Questions

Seasonal strawberry, asked and answered

What is the commercial argument for seasonal types?

A concentrated crop hitting a valuable window. Where the price in that window is high enough, harvesting everything at once is the point rather than a limitation.

What does a concentrated harvest ask of the house?

Peak capacity. Picking labour, cooling and pack capacity are sized for the busiest week and idle outside it, so the compartment layout has to make that affordable.

Can the compartment be used for anything else?

That is the advantage of a seasonal crop. The house empties between crops, which leaves room for a second crop in the gap or for a cleaning window a year-round house never gets.

From the knowledge base