When does summer start in the Rochester area?
Opinions vary, but one kickoff to summer for many is the start of the strawberry-picking season. There are many places in the area where you can go into the field and pick your own, with the season for that starting soon. And it’s expected to be better than the past two seasons, said Dan Bauman, one of the owners of Bauman’s Farm Market in Webster.
“As far as the crop goes, I think we’ve got a whole crop, because we’ve avoided all the frost this year,” Bauman said.
The sentiments were echoed at Gro-Moore Farms in Rush, where Brenda Moore said the fields will be open for picking starting June 11. “The crop, it looks beautiful. It really does,” Moore said.
The season will be starting a week later than last year, when they opened on June 4.
“It’s a week later because of the weather. It’s just been cooler, but that’s ok for the berries, it really has,” Moore said.
How does weather affect strawberry season?
The cooler spring, with temperatures frequently in the 50s, means the berries still grow, but take longer to get to the size they need, Bauman said. The rainy weather has helped the plants, however, which thrive on moisture in the spring.
The ideal conditions, Moore said, involve more heat and not too much rain.
“A rainfall maybe once a week is good and … 75 to 80 degrees and sunny, that’s a perfect strawberry season,” she said.
Bauman’s Farm Market will have some strawberries available by June 9, but anyone wanting to pick their own will have to wait until around Father’s Day. The reason some berries will be available before others? Row covers, which are like big blankets over the field designed to trap heat.
“We use that trick in our field for the market, so that kind of pushes them a little faster,” Bauman said.
— Steve Howe reports on weather, climate and the Great Lakes for the Democrat and Chronicle. An RIT graduate, he has covered myriad topics over the years, including public safety, local government, national politics and economic development in New York and Utah.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Strawberry-picking season in Rochester starts soon
Reporting by Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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