THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240542
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Rejoice! Virginia and North Carolina strawberry fields came relatively unscathed through the raw winter. Farmers and extension agents hail prospects for a good crop. The cold weather's main effect was to delay picking of strawberries until during the first week in May. Last spring they ripened shortly after mid-April.
My fear had been that the output of the most fragile, short-lived of fruits would be drastically reduced.
The only reason Eve offered Adam an apple was that the strawberries were slow coming into season in that first Garden.
In Currituck, N.C., agent Alton Wood Jr. said mid-March cold did a bit of damage but, overall, North Carolina fields are in good shape.
North Carolina farmers have been more bothered by deer browsing in the fields than the weather.
To bar them from berries near Edenton, Miles Dunlow and his son Mike sometimes hot-wire the boundaries and tie on plastic grocery bags that inflate in the wind and slide along the wire, adding movement to the slight shock.
Dunlow said that pickers, usually starting April 27 or 28, would begin scrapping around May 1 and by May 10 or so would find ample berries.
``Deers are most persistent,'' observed farmer John Williams in Virginia Beach, ``and the world is full of them.''
In Virginia Beach, extension agent Mel Atkinson reports the fields look good. He expects berries to mature the first full week in May. They ripen more slowly when there has been a scarcity of sun shining on the black plastic through which they grow, he said.
Still, the plastic cover improves chances of a crop surviving extreme weather. Instead of setting out plants the old way, on their own in the spring, when they run the risk of wilting in summer heat as well as being unprotected in severe cold, many farmers now plant under rows of black plastic in late September or October.
Although the new technology assures better odds for a good crop, it is more costly and complex.
On the Henley Farm in Virginia Beach, the outlook is good for the first week in May, said Barbara Henley. On the family farm, she said, ``There'll be my husband and I and two sons, and we have a new daughter-in-law, so we're set!''
In Chesapeake, John Lindsay is phasing out grains and increasing sizable strawberry fields along with other produce. He is experimenting with reshaping a grain bin into a tank for raising fish.
At Hall Farms in Chesapeake, Herman Hall expects berries from plastic May 10. Old-style matted berries could be a few days earlier.
At Culpeper Farm, Billy Culpeper looks for a good crop of berries in the second week in May.
All augers well for the Pungo Strawberry Festival, May 25-26. For more information, call 721-6001. by CNB