 Yeah, well, good morning, everyone. I just wanted to share with you some information on my strawberry variety update, which is this will probably be the last, hopefully be the last discussion on these combinations of varieties that we've been looking at. This is a five year study. So we've been able to, I think, get enough information out of these varieties. But first of all, as we all know that consumer that strawberry production has increased throughout the nation, and it's increased in in Alabama also be it through like increased consumer awareness of health promoting qualities of strawberries or just just the fact that they're just playing good to eat and not only have we seen an increase in production overall but an increase in a number of households that are purchasing strawberries. This is the pretty good thing for the strawberry industry. But the most productive varieties that we have are from the from California breeding programs and from Florida breeding programs and so it's especially important to determine how these varieties perform in our environment since strawberries are very environmentally sensitive. And so, but there's little documented information concerning the performance of these strawberries as well as the quality. As I mentioned earlier, the consumer awareness of health promoting qualities of way into the purchase of these strawberries. So we're looking at both yield performance as well as the quality. So the objective, determine production potential, as well as the antioxidant concentration of selected strawberry cultivars in order to enhance the sustainability of strawberry industry in Alabama. Alright, so this is a mention was a was a five year evaluation. We planted on an annual Hill plastic culture system as the name implies it is an annual system is taking a perennial plant and making it using it as an annual plant use black plastic mulch and resulted in about 15,000 plants per acre. And we use plug plants in our, in our planning and we feel that plug plantings are plug plants are a lot easier to use and they're a lot more forgiving if you make mistakes. And these are the varieties that we've used as I mentioned that this will probably be, and hopefully be the last discussion on these, this particular combination of varieties. We, I think we have enough information to determine how well these varieties will perform in at least in central Alabama. We are looking forward to getting a new group of varieties and we won't abandon these all together there will be some that we'll use just as sort of comparison to some of the new varieties. So, what data did we collect we looked at the plant size and stolen number. What, you know, what is the significance of this data plant size and stolen number plant size is an indicator or can be an indicator of yield overall plants that are larger tend to produce more fruit. Although there has been some, there's some conflicting data in the, in the literature that would suggest otherwise. Plant size can also play a role, especially if you are in a pick your own operation. Where, you know, the, we have an increased in plant size you can have an area of time where you're not able to really see the plants or see the fruit that grow, not growers but you're not able to see the fruit and so that leaves fruit behind and just left to be an inoculum for for fruit disease. So it becomes a management issue. Stolen number. And of course, of course, you know that leads to the Stolans need lead to daughter plants and, and then annual health plastic culture system, a stolen number. The number of Stolans isn't as important it becomes more or less a detriment in this system, as opposed to the, the mad at real system, which is a perennial system, and it's driven by the, the daughter plants, but in this system we really don't want a whole lot of stolen that becomes a management issue so we looked at that. We're also looking at yield, both early in total, and as I mentioned, fruit quality. We tend to look at soluble solids as the main indicator of fruit quality, soluble solids or or sweetness as the main indicator of quality, but there are some other some other aspects of the fruit that play into the flavor profile. Antioxidants may be one of them, but antioxidants have a another another role. There are cancer fighting agents. So, first off, we'll start with the strawberry size and Camarosa as we can see Camarosa is a pretty large plant. And as I mentioned, this can be this can be an issue when you're when you have a you pick operation. The customers are going to go to the fruit that they see, and oftentimes they leave a lot of fruit behind, and it's left for an inoculum left as an oculom for for disease. And it also causes the grower to have to send this workers out into the field to sort of clean up and find, find those fruit and harvest those so that that's an added cost. And the larger the fruit, the larger the plant, it also is an indicator of was it can be a problem when it comes to spraying pesticides so you have a better coverage. If you have if you have more space between the plants. And we can see Camino Real, it is a is a much smaller plant significantly smaller plant produces really nice compact plants. There is come talk about maybe come taking advantage of this space that's left by the smaller plants and increasing the plant population. But most growers will probably just leave that space there so that, especially if they have a you pick operation, so that they can get better pesticide coverage as well as increased visibility of the fruit. Okay, so that brings us to the number of stones. We can see that Ruby June produces a significantly produces significantly fewer stow lawns and then in all of the others. We can see in 2020, and I will point out though that in 2020 we took these measurements later in the year and in 2021 we took them pretty early, but you can see that there's Ruby June and 2021. There's really not a column there there is there is data there but it can't be seen on the column so it just it just shows you how low the production of stow lawns are Ruby June. Now if you were planning Ruby June in a matter of systems, this could be a problem, but an annual hill plastic culture system this is this works pretty what pretty good. We can see that Camino real along with in camera Rosa along with being well camera Rosa long being a large relatively large plant. It also produces a number of stow lawns per plant. So this leads us to the yield. Very size and call. Camino real and Ruby June were both the most comparable to camera Rosa, both had lower cult root number and is what and the very sizes are tended to be comparable to camera Rosa, and then some years, especially Ruby June. Those group can be a little bit larger than camera Rosa. Camino real. There's been an issue though with the, the, I don't know I'm talking about yield here but I'll inject here with flavor. Camino real tended to tends to have a reduced sugar reduced flavor, and that has been a problem in the past, but some growers said that they didn't notice it, and their clientele even say that the various is really, really good. On the other hand produces a very tasty berry. It's not the yield is not quite there, but compared to Camino and camera Rosa, but it produces a pretty tasty berry. Unfortunately, the yields aren't quite as, as, as high as those others. So this leads us to quality. I got a little ahead of myself though and I started talking about sweetness. But the sweetness of camera Rosa or coming already all it does tend to be a little low. And it has a corresponding low soluble solids, but I will mention that Ruby June tends to have can sometimes have low soluble solids and even when it has soluble solids that are low, lower than the rest, it still has great flavor. So there's more playing in flavor than just the soluble solids or there's some other components in that flavor profile. That's providing that excellent flavor. So in summary, started with plant size Camino real was smaller was slightly more comparable to out out beyond, but is slightly smaller now beyond. As I mentioned, this growers could take it take advantage of this compactness of the fruit of the plant by maybe planning on a little closer. But I think that most growers will probably take advantage of this and allow this to to remain as a way of increasing the visibility of the berries. Ruby June had low stolen number and this again can be a great management benefit and reduction in costs hopefully production and labor. These, it is recommended that the Stolans be removed once they start because they will hinder the yield and so with Ruby June there's not as many Stolans to have to remove. As opposed to community or y'all which was among the highest Stolans, at least when the Stolans were counted later in the season. Camino real and Ruby June or most comparable in yield to Cameroza, as well as they are also comparable to Cameroza in berry size. Both had lower cold fruit and which is again another management benefit and management that's fewer fruit that have to be taken out have to be picked through and increasing the labor costs and time dedicated to this and dedicated and taken away from other things other activities in the operation. And soluble solids varied throughout the season for well throughout the five years but Ruby June still had excellent flavor, regardless of the soluble solid content. And one thing that we noticed in anthocyanin content is that the anthocyanin is tended to run a little low and Ruby June. And this could play play into the fact that, you know, as as consumer awareness grows. They're going to be more interested in compounds like this and berries and breeders are more interested in this and trying to increase this or higher concentrations and berries. So in conclusion, plant characteristics yield and fruit qualities indicate that community all and Ruby June offer potential alternatives Cameroza in Alabama. And I will say that maybe camera Ruby June to a lesser degree, I think in fields where you've got a little, you've got a few more stresses. Both community all then Ruby June probably won't do as well as Cameroza in terms of yield. But community all tends to be a little more comparable to Cameroza even in those situations. Ruby June tends to drop off a little bit because it is a little less adapted when you have those more challenging environmental factors. So some points to remember flood versus bear root I like flood plants. As I mentioned, these are better. They're more tolerant to mistakes. And we do make quite a few. And so it's, I think it's beneficial to get these these are a little more expensive. And but some growers really like working with bear root plants and they work well for them. One thing to remember is that these new operations, you know, as as Ed Sakura mentioned, you know, we kind of have an issue with the number of operations providing plants, but the the operations that we deal with now they have a minimum order. So you have to be just ask them up front, you know, what that minimum order is, and how much do you pay up front some require, and maybe half the cost that have the total cost of the berries. And one thing to remember is, if at all possible, do not delay in placing your order, you know, place your order as soon as as you can as soon as the they are available. This will help you to not only get the types of berries that you want, but also the number of berries. And if you wait too late, you, you may not be able to get any at all. So now is the time. Actually, it's getting a little, a little late. So if you have not ordered, if you know growers that who have not ordered, you know, encourage them to go ahead and place their orders. And communal real and Ruby June, you know, they have been used in, or at least I know Ruby communal real has been used in in operations when in years where camera also wasn't available. And the growers had a pretty good experience with communal real. And, and, and to some degree Ruby June to the point to the point of not, or, or kind of swapping communal real or camera also for communal real because their clientele said that they're, they're, they're delicious. They think they're delicious. And they're just product just as productive and in some cases, even more so, again, order on time, test soil early and provide yourself with timely bed preparation so that you can get your plants in the ground earlier early planning or timely planning is critical, I think in getting really good yields. So this is a list our current list of strawberry plug producers. We have Dixie Green in Alabama we did have Greenway plants but I understand Greenway plants in Aniston but I understand that there are no longer producing plants. And we have an out of state list here. But if you, if you don't have this list and you need this list please just contact me and I can, I can provide it for you. So that's the end of this presentation. Hopefully next year I'll have another slate of varieties and I will answer any questions that you may have with this current set of varieties.