What's going on with Strawberries?!

Our customers have become accustomed to us opening our U-Pick fields as early as February but that just hasn't been the case this year. After closing the U-Pick strawberry field in 2020 during COVID, we have been eagerly awaiting an open date for our 2021 season. The simplest answer for the delay is weather. We've had more cold weather this winter, and for more extended periods of time that we are used to in South Georgia. That's great for Peaches, Plums, and Nectarines b/c it gave them the chill hours that they needed to bloom and hopefully make a decent crop this year (pray no more frost!). For the strawberries, or rather for us to have early strawberries, we need more warm days interspersed than we've had this winter. If the nights are cold, we need the days to warm up some so we can uncover them and let the pollinators do their job. With 2 months of rain/cloudy days and cold weather January and February, it basically slowed everything down with strawberry production. So, for the first time in a long time it may be the end of March or 1st of April before we are able to open for U-Pick.  We are picking over the field every other day to sell already picked in the store but we are as eager as you are for the U-Pick to open up, and believe me we will shout it from every platform we have to let you know when that day comes so stay tuned!