From plots to platforms


Season for fresh strawberries now averages fivemonths in greenhouse tunnel.


By Grant Ullyot I


twasn’t long agowhen the BC strawberry season lasted about six weeks fromlateMay or early June


tomid-July.Now,with plants growing on raised platforms in tunnels to cultivation in greenhouses, the season continues into earlyNovember. It also meansmany strawberries today are grown hydroponically. Wenro Farmin Chilliwack, owned


and operated by Pete andWendy Wenro, is among the leading-edge farms that have converted their operation fromfield plots,which required bending over or kneeling down to harvest the berries, to growing all their strawberries on a raised platform about ametre high in a tunnelwith minimumexposure to natural outdoor conditions. An added bonus is that now pickers can stand up to pick the berries. Askedwhy they decided to growtheir


strawberries on a raised platform WendyWenro laughingly replied, “We didn’t like bending over.” “Originallywe startedwithwhatwere


called stackers,which had four styrofoampots on top of each other and looked like a tower. The systemalso camewith amanual that outlined how to growberries in themandwhatwe had to do tomaintain them.Weworked with a consultant for about a year.” TheWenros grewtheir berries in the


pots for the next four years, bywhich time they discovered the bottompots just never didwell. “To try and offset this situation at first


we gave themmorewater, but in the endwe came to the conclusion that the problemwas a lack of sufficient light. Andwhenwe gotmore strawberry plantswe had toomany to fit in the stacker pots sowe just put themin other pots and left themon a table where they grewquitewell, sowe ended up doing thewhole greenhouse that way. “Nowwe growour strawberries in a tunnel,” statedWendy. “We have no


GRANT ULLYOT


Wendy and Pete Wenro in their Chilliwack strawberry tunnel where there is little worry about weather or back strain.


issueswith theweather –we do not get any rain on our strawberry plants.We do try to protect the plants from sunburn and I amhappy to say our growing systemworks verywell.Our customers lovedwhatwewere doing; they thought itwas the coolest thing ever.” Wenro Farmdoes not allowany u-


pick, for good reason, notesWendy. “Whenwe pickwe also do some crop


work,” she explained, “and I just don’t like the idea of a u-pick. Inmy opinion it can create amessy environment that could cause bug and disease problems for us. “Our berries are all grown


hydroponically. They are fed all their nutrients through thewater systemand they getwatered about four to eight times a day. Ifwe havewater issues to look after and the ground became slippery our customers picking berries could slip and fall and hurt themselves which could create problems for us. So I preferwe do the picking ourselves.” The extended growing seasonmeans


the strawberries are planted about the middle of April and picking starts about themiddle of June and runs through to


either themiddle or end ofOctober depending on the temperature. AtWenro farmthere are strawberries


available every day.However, the amount for sale on a given day can change. “We growan ever-bearing berry,” said


Wendy, “sowe don’t have a lot of berries all summer long.We havewhat are called flushes—whenwe have a lot of berries ripening. In-between flushes we have a smaller number of berries available. Typicallywe have about three flushes each season. Every day about a third of theWenro


crop is picked, but the day’s supply is often all sold by 11 a.m. On any farmthat grows produce


growers keep awary eye open for possible disease problems. TheWenros take pride in the fact they


don’t have any slugs to dealwith, nor are birds troublesome because the berries are under cover. However, asWendy pointed out,


Thrips and SpottedWingDrosophila aremajor concerns. The invasion of SWDlast yearwas considered theworst ever by berry and soft fruit growers. “Experts have told us the onlywaywe


British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2014 13


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