Abstract

Yields of ripe, marketable strawberries from single, once-over, hand-mown harvests (intended to simulate mechanical harvests) varied from 12% to 60% of the total marketable yields obtained by conventional methods. The proportion was greatest for high-yielding cultivars and, except for ‘Crusader’, was greater for mid-season and late harvests than for early ones. The fruit crop in the year following the once-over harvesting was not depleted unless crowns were damaged by close mowing. In responsive cultivars the harvest mowings effectively replaced post-harvest defoliation.