RADIO TRANSCRIPT
March 31, 2025
Matt Rodriguez

This is Matt Rodriguez, horticulture agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Burke Center.

Today’s program is on Strawberries, a beloved fruit that many grow in their gardens. It's a fairly easy plant to grow that will throw out runners to create a nice mat of green. These runners are considered “daughter” plants and will fill the open space between the “mother” plants. Strawberries ,like most plants, prefer well draining soil with a pH between 5.5 to 6.0. If planting in Clay soils, add compost to improve soil structure. It is the Junebearer type of strawberry that does well here in the south. Junebearer will actually produce a crop in May, varieties include ‘Earliglow’, ‘Titan’, ‘Atlas’, and ‘Apollo’. Harvest time for strawberries is about mid to late may for our area. You’d most likely have to pick berries every other day or about 3 times a week. As always the best time to harvest fruit is in the morning and remember to only pick the red berries.

This has been Matt Rodriguez, horticulture agent with North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Burke Center. For more information, call us at 828-764-9480