Profitable day-neutral strawberry variety and planting date combination for year-round strawberry fruit production in the Southern Cape

South Africa’s strawberry production is currently limited to winter and spring production. Strawberry growers have not been able to extend the growing season for year-round strawberry production primarily due to variety- and climatic limitations. Consumers world-wide, however, demand year-round supply of strawberries on their markets. Delayed planting and robust day-neutral varieties may allow growers to extend the marketing season. To investigate the most profitable variety and planting date combination for season extension in the Southern Cape, trials were conducted at Groeneweide Farm, George. Day-neutral strawberry varieties Monterey, San Andreas and Albion were planted at 30-day intervals from April to September for 3 seasons. They were planted in single layer, standard coir grow-bags at a density of 75 000/ha. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed on vegetative growth stages (crown and runner formation), yield (flowering and fruit yield), fruit quality (fruit mass and total soluble solids content) and gross income. The analysis encompassed variety, month and planting month × variety interaction. ‘Monterey’ significantly outperformed ‘San Andreas’ which in turn significantly (p