Cold Snap Helping Strawberry Crops
MILAN, Tenn. – Growing strawberries is like anything else in life. There Is an art and science to it. The plant is set in the fall and then harvested by mid-spring. Denton Parkins is a farmer at Green Acres Farms and explained when you are dealing with the weather and farming, “It is like a box of chocolate, you don’t know what you’re going to get.” Parkins told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News that this crop is tough and is more tolerant to weather changes than other crops. “Like tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, the strawberry plant… the difference they bloom much earlier,” said Parkins. Right now, farmers are seeing blooms and this is a good sign that in 30 days it will be time to pick the strawberry. When temperatures are below 30 degrees this is a critical time for farmers to act. “We have a little more protection. We irrigate the crop and we got row covers, frost protection from the cold so we really have more safe guard to protect a crop better,” Parkins explains. Looking back at last years season, the mild spring weather produced smaller strawberries. Parkins said this season is promising. “We’ve had more normal weather this year then in the past when weather is like what we’ve had the strawberry bloom is able to mature slowly and go through the whole process.”
