Impact of Stolon Removal Intervals and Nitrogen Source Ratios on Long-day Strawberry Propagation (Fragaria x ananassa cv. ‘Albion’) in Soil-less Greenhouse and Controlled Environment Systems
Xiaonan Shi, MS Final Seminar
Under the direction of Dr. Mark Hoffmann
Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at 9:00 am
Join Zoom Meeting: https://ncsu.zoom.us/j/91635378837?pwd=UWRXTHB2UGdGcXRhR2ZIOExKZENPQT09
Meeting ID: 916 3537 8837

Abstract
Approximately two billion strawberry plants (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) are asexually propagated in strawberry nurseries in the US every year and shipped to strawberry fruiting fields across North America. North Carolina has the second-largest strawberry nursery industry in the country, selling plants mostly to the Florida growers. Strawberry nurseries are multi-year and multi-location operations, and strawberry plants are replicated through several generations among different propagation fields to reach to a multiply ratio of more than 100,000 to 1.  The final generation of daughter plants is subjected to floral inductive conditions, often in special high elevation locations in North Carolina and California.  Plants are often sold as fresh-dugs or cut-offs and shipped to growers across North America. Strawberry cultivars with perpetual flowering traits (referred to “long-day” cultivars) produce daughter plants and flowers at the same time. While this feature is desirable in several strawberry growing regions as well as extended season production in NC, manual flower elimination and insufficient daughter plant production are major additionally cost-inducing factors for the U.S. strawberry nursery industry. Although approx. two billion strawberry plants are produced in the U.S. every year, optimizing nursery production practices rarely was the focus of past research efforts.