When should we plant strawberry plugs?

Strawberries

March 13, 2025

Traditionally, we plant strawberry plants in late May or early June, because that is when the bare root runner plants are available from the propagators. Data from years past comparing plug plants and bare root plants both established in May/June has shown that the plug plants do not automatically yield earlier or better than bare root plants, when both are established in the late autumn/early winter.

With the rise of plug plants, fruit growers can have flexibility about when they establish their plants. This could have some distinct benefits for early fruit production, which is aimed at the high spring prices. Summer planting of plugs could also enable more autumn fruit production.

Geoff remembers a time when Auckland fruit growers used cloches to get fruit to market early (2007ish). At that time the extra production early resulted in a reduced early fruit price. Remember that the forces of supply and demand still apply when aiming for off-peak fruit prices!

Last autumn we set up a trial to try and quantify the impact of planting early. We started with small (75 ml) plugs that were vegetative and unchilled, and planted them in Auckland in March, in April, and in May, aiming to assess the plants for early yield potential.

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We encountered some challenges, and learned some lessons.

Starting a few plants on their own means the that fertigation zone wasn’t running yet, and while there was ample water, the plants got hungry.
Early flowers were damaged by frost, so our plan to measure fruit to assess the impact of planting timings didn’t work.

Given the challenges above, our trial lacked empirical data on fruit production. However, we can still see from the photos that the potential was there for earlier fruit.

Below the photos of Monterey were all taken on 23rd September and show the advanced development of plants established in March versus in April and in May.

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We still believe that there could be an advantage to early plug establishment, but to realize this potential growers should consider our lessons which we learned the hard way.

Set up the early plants on their own fertigation zone.
Focus on early genetics, like Ventana.
Make sure frost protection is in place to get those early flowers through to quality early fruit.

Some of the plug propagators do have early plants available, and there are several new plug propagators operating.

List of NZBP licensed plug propagators:

Chameleon Orchard, Whanganui
Rupex Growtech Ltd, Pukekohe
Te Puke Nurseries, Te Puke
Waimea Nurseries, Nelson
Tharfield Nursery Ltd, Katikati
Berts Berry Farm, Ltd, Paeroa
Annton Nurseries, Cambridge

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When should we plant strawberry plugs?

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