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Geoff Langford
It has been an interesting trial in 2025/26 this season, and there is still a way to go. In Lincoln we have a new site, a covered structure, and new management (mostly Molly rather than mostly me), so it has been a year of many changes. The trial was planted in September and harvest started in November.
Climatically, it has been an unusual year. Extreme heat in November (13 days over 30 in the tunnel), early December (4 days over 30), late December (3 days over 30) and early January (6 days over 30) but only 3days over 30 since then make it a very unusual year. Learning how to manage the watering and the EC has been quite a challenge and it is possible that the combination of conditions and management has affected some varieties’ performance.
We had two new University of California varieties to test out as well, Keystone and Golden Gate, both day neutrals. Neither looked exciting in the Auckland trial but both are doing really well in the Lincoln trial. The response to the heat by the plants has been really interesting with only Golden Gate, Keystone and Cabrillo seeming to tolerate it. Royal Royce went on an extended holiday of about a month and all the others took a bit of a break. We understand that other day neutral commercial producers have also had that experience this season.
What is exciting is the performance of Golden Gate in particular. It didn’t perform in Auckland and I have some concerns about the amount of smallish fruit it produces but the sheer amount of production is very impressive. When most of the other plots were “on holiday” Golden Gate kept our “customers” happy. It also has really good flavour. Keystone was also good but the colour of this one is a bit unusual being orangey red and it wasn’t quite as good in performance as Golden Gate.
I expect the size to improve over the next few weeks as we are just starting the next flush of fruit and the king fruit of the next truss will provide a lift.
If you are a southern strawberry grower, there is enough early evidence to substantiate giving Golden Gate a trial. Available numbers will be limited this first year so it might be next season before you can get plants to trial, but we think it’s worth having it on the radar.
The question about berry size versus production is an interesting one. Growers won’t notice the extra costs associated with a slightly smaller average berry size but substantial differences can have a big effect. Ask growers who have Ventana from late November!