RIPENING: STRAWBERRY CROUP SHOULD BE OF QUALITY

It's strawberry picking time, but many area growers say the crop may not be as plentiful as last year because of an early freeze in November and a series of warm and cold cycles this spring.

However, the growers said overall quality of strawberries should be equal to that of last year.

Horticulturists at the University of Illinois said unseasonably cold temperatures in early November froze the crown, or main stem, of many strawberry plants before they were able to go dormant for the winter. The four days of lows in the teens came before growers could cover the plants with straw to prevent freeze damage.

Jo Ann Illers of Illers' Strawberry Patch south of Jackson said the November freeze killed many of their plants. Those that survived were stressed again this spring by the warm and cold temperatures, she said.

Illers said the quality, taste and size of this year's Earliglow strawberries is as good as last year.

Illers said the berry patch opens at 7:30 a.m. and remains open each day as long there are berries to pick. She advised to call first to see if the berry patch will be open.

Berries that customers pick sell for 60 cents a pound. Illers said picked berries will be ready for sale at 85 cents a pound later this week.

"We plan to have picked berries for sale at Thursday's Farmer's Market, if the weather cooperates," she said.

J.E. Deevers, who has a berry patch along Upper Bend Road north of Cape Girardeau, said the warm-cold weather of spring has cut down on the size of his crop, but size and quality of the berries are good. Deevers said they started picking last week and should have berries through Memorial Day weekend.

Jack Smart, executive director of Mid-America Teen Challenge Center on Oriole Road north of Cape Girardeau, said the center is now taking orders for picked strawberries, but they will not be filled until Monday.

Smart said last year's hard freeze and the warm and cold weather this spring didn't seem to affect the strawberry plants that much.

He said the picking season will kick off with this weekend's annual Strawberry Festival at the Teen Challenge Center.

"Once the season gets going, we expect a bigger crop than last year," said Smart. "This year we may have 7,000 to 8,000 more quarts because we've expanded our strawberry patch to 5 acres. In the past, we were not able to meet all of the demand."

Smart said Teen Challange strawberries will be on sale at the center and at local food stores and produce markets."

Smart said the price of berries will remain the same as last year, $1.10 per quart.

In Southern Illinois, Rosie Stadelbacher of Blueberry Hill Farms on new Route 51 north of Cobden, said they began picking strawberries last week. "We'll be in full swing by the middle of next week," she said.

Stadelbacher said there won't be as many strawberries this year because of weather conditions, but the size and quality will be as good as last year.

Growers said warm weather in early March caused the plants to grow earlier than normal. They said protective straw cover could not be removed in late February and early March because of the possibility of freezes later on. The freezes did occur in March, April and this month. During the warm weather, the plants began to grow, causing some to develop rot under the straw.

Growers said a soaking, one-inch rain this week would help finish the ripening berries.

Because of the smaller size of the crop this year, growers said the strawberry season probably end around Memorial Day. Last year picking was still going on as late as mid-June.