Forcing culture of strawberry in Japan - Production technology and cultivars

In Japan, more than 90% of strawberry production is forcing culture. In Japanese forcing culture, flowering is induced by several artificial methods (e.g., chilling, short-day) in autumn, and plants are grown under a heated greenhouse to avoid the induction of dormancy and dwarfing, and kept in a non-dormant status to continue harvest. Normally harvest period is from late November to June. The accumulation of the technological research and development for forcing contributes to such a long-term harvest. In forcing culture, it is important to understand the status of dormancy in strawberry plants. Controlling dormancy is a key to realize the long-term successive harvest during winter to early summer. Basically, heating at a minimum of 5°C and supplemental lighting are applied to avoid the onset of the dormancy. Details of technological factors for Japanese forcing culture are discussed.