Nursery Chill: MacDoel - Week of October 25 - Strawberries and Caneberries

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Nursery Chill: MacDoel - Week of October 25

Author: Mark Bolda

Published on: October 28, 2021

This is the third and final picture of a field of Monterey variety strawberry being grown by Crown Nursery in MacDoel.

Total accumulation of chill by 10/25 in Macdoel when this picture was taken was 468 hours (thank you Lassen Canyon Nurseries for tracking this info and posting it) between the critical temperatures of 33 and 45 degrees, offset by 301 + 61 hours above 60 degrees since Sept 1 (that being 61-80 degrees and 80-100, respectively).

That's a lot of chill! Looking at the photo below, we can see how the plants are really setting up for harvest (which will take place quite soon).

Thanks Doug!

Strawberry plants of the variety Monterey, week of Oct 25 in MacDoel.

Comments: 2

Comments:

by molly shaw

on October 31, 2021 at 6:26 PM

Hi Mark,

I'm wondering if you could share your formula for calculating chilling? Here in NZ the runner plants don't get chilled at all in the nursery, but fruiting plants are planted in autumn and get chilling in the fruiting beds. I'm curious to run a few numbers and see if we're getting enough chilling. We grow mostly california varieties like Monterey.

thanks,
Molly

by Mark Bolda

on November 1, 2021 at 8:55 AM

Molly, you should go to the UC Davis Fruits and Nuts website and look under chilling. There are several models explained there, I favor the "Utah model" which emphasizes chilling hours between 34- 45 degrees F, with less emphasis on the slightly cooler and warmer. Really warm detracts from chill, so that is why I have been noting the temperatures above 60, which fortunately in our case have been early in the process and not later.

I have found when working with growers that the idea of chill reversal in very warm temperatures gets disputed, although to me it makes a lot of sense. It would be similar to be woken up from sleep in the middle of the night, maybe even several times. You would not at all feel rested in the morning!