FORCING OF 18 STRAWBERRY CV. RELATED TO TWO COLD STORAGE PERIODS

They were equally pretreated with a three and a half month growth period and a one month flower induction/development period. Thereafter each cv. was cold stored (2o C) for 4 and 8 respectively weeks before forcing. In the forcing period, those stored for 4 weeks had a 2–30 C lower day temperature in the first and last two weeks, before start of ripening, than those stored for 8 weeks.

The shortest chilling period made the cvs. produce almost no runners and shorter petioles than the longer chilling period, which gave normal development. The only exception was cv. 'Solprins' which developed normally at both chilling periods. The cvs. with the best combination of yield, earliness and quality were 'Korona' and 'Gourmella'. The good tasting 'Solprins' was the earliest and thus interesting, but did not have berries with as good appearance as the other two. 'Dulcita' had high yield and qualityscores but ripened 3–5 days later than 'Korona'.

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