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TWO NEW STRAWBERRIES FOR MINNESOTA: MESABI & WINONA
I don't grow strawberries but it's not because I don't enjoy eating them. I simply don't have good space for growing strawberries.
I like to pick strawberries and I have high regard for people who do all the right things to raise quarts of juicy, sweet berries.
I can't think of a more pleasant phone message than a friend who calls and says, "Hey, Cliff, I've got more strawberries than I can deal with...want to stop over and pick a few pailsful?"
In the interest of helping more of you raise abundant crops of strawberries so you can invite me over to pick your excess production, here is good news about what's happening on the strawberry research front.
The University of Minnesota strawberry breeding programs has two new Minnesota-hardy cultivars: Mesabi™ and Winona™. Both varieties are available at garden centers and catalogs this year, according to Beth Jarvis, University of Minnesota extension horticulturist.
Winona is the Dakota Indian word for "first daughter." It's an apt name, Jarvis says, because Winona marks the resurgence of the U's strawberry breeding program, a cooperative effort with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
The scientists who developed Winona say it is a late-season junebearing (short-day) variety that ripens later than Kent, Jewel or Glooscap and similar to Lateglow. The fruit is very large with a bright orange-red color and a conical to conic-wedge shape. The flesh is also orange-red and smooth and creamy in texture. The flavor is moderately intense with classic strawberry flavors and, sometimes, a hint of peach. The flesh is very firm. The berry skin has been sufficiently tough under most conditions but skin breakdown has been observed during very wet and humid seasons.
Winona plants are resistant to five common eastern U.S. races of the pathogen-causing red stele (red core) and also have shown good tolerance to black root rot in Minnesota. The foliage has been clean with respect to leaf spot, leaf scorch, leaf blight and powdery mildew.
Mesabi, the Ojibway Indian word for "giant," is described as a mid-season June bearing (short-day) type. It ripens with the North American varieties Glooscap, Cavendish, and Kent.
Mesabi fruit is medium to large in size with a glossy scarlet skin that does not tend to darken as much as Glooscap, and a uniform bright red interior color. The flavor is well balanced between sugars and acids with a characteristic strawberry aroma. The flesh is firm with a creamy, melting mouth feel. The skin is medium to tough but tends to become weak in hot weather.
Plants are resistant to five eastern North American races of red stele root rot and have moderate resistance to the common foliar diseases, leaf spot and powdery mildew, and moderate to high resistance to leaf scorch.
Mesabi strawberry has been among the most winter hardy and most productive of varieties tested in Minnesota and should be useful as a mid-season variety in areas with cool summers and cold winters. It will likely be most suitable for on-farm sales and local markets.
The University of Minnesota has a long history of breeding strawberries for Minnesota. The first three cultivars were released 1920. Four more cultivars followed in 1921. Then several more were released in the mid 1940s then one in 1958, another in 1960, then nothing until 1982 when Northland was released. None of these is available commercially today.
Jarvis says it can take 12 years to produce a new strawberry cultivar and the average cultivar's life span seems to be about 20 years. The older ones fall from favor with the introduction of more disease-resistant, hardier, better-tasting or bigger-fruited cultivars.
In 1980, the ARS, in Beltsville, Maryland, helped rekindle interest in developing Minnesota strawberries. Strawberries bred in Maryland weren't sufficiently cold hardy for Minnesota's harsher climate. The cooperative research project involved growing out various crosses of prospective cold-hardy parents in Grand Rapids and Excelsior, Minnesota,
The lengthy strawberry research process dictates that promising strawberry cultivars are not distributed to nurseries for field propagation until the 10th year of research and generally are not available to the public until the 12th year.
Twenty five years ago, the Minnesota strawberry crop was 90% pick-your-own. Today, only two-thirds is pick your own with the remaining portion sold as pre-picked at farm stands, farmers markets, small co-ops, grocery stores and local restaurants. Minnesota-grown strawberries are not typically found at the mega grocery stores.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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