Cold, wet spring delays start of Nova Scotia strawberry season

Some Nova Scotia strawberry farmers are expecting smaller berries and lower outputthis year after a cold, wet spring.

"This is not a normal year," said Sam Quinn, the owner of Quinn's U-Pick in Millville, Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Quinn saidlittle sunshineand a difficult winter with no snow cover and heavy frost also complicated things. Hesaid a fair amount of winter kill meant the plants did not rebound like they should have.

"I've been at this 1988 and it seems to be getting more difficult every year. The climate certainly has an effect on the plants," said Quinn.

"The last couple of years now were exceptionally cool and plants don't seem to want to bounce back when the temperatures are not up to at least in the 20s."

Field hand Brian Greene works at Quinn's U-Pick. Heexpects the berries to mature within the next week.

"The plants are small. There's still lots of berries. There's a lot of green berries ...and white-tipped berries, but they're coming along," he said.

Strawberry season started on Monday, which is about two weeks later than usual in Nova Scotia. The delayed start wasbecause of the poor spring weather, saidEddie Rendell, the owner of Rendell's Farms in Point Aconi, Cape Breton.

The weather also delayed berryseason in P.E.I and New Brunswick.

Rendell said everything depends on the weather. The perfect temperature for strawberries hovers around 20 to 23 C. If it's too hot, all the berries will ripen at once.

Despite the late start, there has been a steady stream of visitors to the farm. Rendell estimates customers picked two tonnes of berries on the first day of the season.

Rendell said the season usually runs threeto fiveweeks, depending on the weather and maturity of the berries.

The Nova Scotia strawberry industry has about 80 commercial growers,according to an industrystudy.

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