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Strawberry Production Season Extension Using Low Tunnels

– Kim Lewers, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD

 

·        Extend season all summer… longer with frost protection

·        Excellent quality, no Botrytis fruit rot, no powdery mildew, no angular leafspot

·        Plant dormant bare-root plants available from nursery in March

·        Option to cover tunnels with bird netting

·        Anthracnose controls: resistant cultivar some day, drop tunnel sides,  fungicides

 

 

 

Tunnels (no frost protection)						Amount			Cost
3/16" Stainless steel rods						50 12 ft pieces 3/16			$164
5' T-posts for ends						two			$14
Spring tensioners for ends						two			$11
Reusable costs for one 200-ft tunnel									$188
Clear poly plastic 12' x 240'						one 240 ft roll			$130
"Stoppers" (HD 100 SIDR 15 PE 3408 CS-100 PSI PR water at 73°F						100'			$30
Tyrite 9600-170 polypropylene baler twine						50 x 15' pieces = 750'			$3
Per planting costs for one 200-ft tunnel									$163
Total for one 200-ft tunnel									$351
Frost protection						Amount			Cost
misters						20			$53
1 1/2 ft 3/4 in pvc to raise misters						20			$36
Reusable costs for one 200-ft tunnel									$89
blue-stripe mister line						200 ft			$42
Per planting costs for one 200-ft tunnel									$42
Total for one 200-ft tunnel									$131
Bird and fox protection						Amount			Cost
bird netting						3/4" 14' x 200' cut in half			$61
Reusable costs for one 200-ft tunnel = Total									$61
	Annual plasticulture	Tunnel	Frost	Birds	Tunnel and frost		Tunnel and birds	All three
Re-usables		$188	$89	$61	$277		$249	$338
Per-planting	$68	$163	$42		$273		$231	$273
Total	$68	$351	$131		$551		$480	$612

 

Total strawberry yield from 200-ft low tunnels, late May to early December 2011
Cultivar	Lbs./tunnel
Portola	463
Monterey	348
Seascape	323
Albion	232
Evie2	224
San Andreas	209
12 in between plants, 14 in between rows in a bed = 400 plants/tunnel.