Questions
Straight answers, with the working shown
Everything here is answered in more depth somewhere else on this site, and every answer says where. If a question you have is missing, ask it — that is how this page grows.
Season and timing
When the crop happens, and why the window is so narrow.
- When is the strawberry season in India?
- Fresh Indian fruit runs November to March, peaking December to February. Outside that window what is on the shelf is frozen, pulp or imported. The month-by-month calendar →
- When should strawberries be planted in India?
- The National Horticulture Board gives the window for hilly areas as September to October, and growers in the Deccan belt work to a narrower band inside it. Other regions shift it. Plant early into warm soil and the plant runs to leaf instead of flower; plant late and it flowers on a frame too small to carry fruit. What happens in September →
- When should I book planting material?
- May or June, for a September transplant. Nurseries allocate their best material to repeat buyers first, so anyone ringing in August gets whatever has been standing longest. Runner sourcing →
- Why is the Indian season only five months long?
- Because the cultivars planted at scale are short-day types that flower as day length shortens, and because Indian summers are too hot to carry a crop. Day-neutral cultivars flower on plant age instead, which is the only route to fruit outside the window — and it is unproven here. Short-day and day-neutral cultivars →
Money
What it costs, what it returns, and which published numbers to distrust.
- How many strawberry plants are needed per acre?
- NHB's model assumes 22,000 at 30 × 30 cm spacing, and that figure already accounts for beds and paths. Dividing field area by plant spacing gives roughly double, because it assumes plants cover the whole field. Work it from your own layout →
- How much does an acre of strawberry cost to establish?
- NHB's published model puts the project at ₹4,00,000 an acre with ₹2,00,000 of that in planting material at ₹8 a plant — a rate that has not been achievable for years. Price your own runners before trusting any bottom line, including that one. The full breakdown →
- Is strawberry farming profitable in India?
- It can be, but the spread is enormous. NHB reports yields of 45–100 quintals per hectare under ordinary management against 175–300 in well-managed orchards — a threefold difference on the same crop in the same season. Grade share matters more than tonnage. Where the money goes →
- When are Indian strawberries cheapest?
- January, at peak volume. The dearest fruit is November at the very start and March as the belt finishes, when scarcity pushes prices back up. How the market prices →
Things going wrong
The questions that arrive with a photograph attached.
- What causes spots on strawberry leaves?
- Usually common leaf spot or leaf scorch. The centre of the spot separates them: common leaf spot goes white or grey with a reddish-purple border, leaf scorch keeps purple centres and looks like drops of tar. Find it by symptom →
- Why are my strawberry plants wilting?
- Cut a crown open lengthways. Deep red spongy rot inside points to Phytophthora crown rot; browner discolouration with stained xylem points to Fusarium wilt. If the crowns look sound, check the roots for the red core of red stele. Phytophthora crown rot →
- Why is my fruit rotting on the plant?
- Grey mould shows as fuzzy grey growth on a berry that keeps its shape; anthracnose as circular, sunken, water-soaked lesions on green and ripe fruit alike. Grey mould infects at flowering, so fruit can look clean at picking and break down later. Grey mould →
- What are the pale specks on my leaves?
- Usually two-spotted spider mite feeding, which bleaches and stipples foliage. Turn the leaves over — by the time the upper surface shows damage the colony beneath is already large. Two-spotted spider mite →
- Which fungicide should I use?
- We do not publish product names, doses or intervals. Registrations differ by country and change, and a wrong recommendation costs a crop and risks whoever applies it. What we do publish is strategy — when in the season to target each organism, and why rotating modes of action matters. Take the product itself from a CIB&RC-registered label and your local advisory. Why we draw that line →
Varieties
Which cultivar, and why chill requirement decides it.
- Which strawberry variety is best for India?
- There is no single answer, but chill requirement rules most of them out — most European and Japanese varieties will not set fruit through an Indian winter. The belt runs mainly on Camarosa for firmness and Winter Dawn and Sweet Charlie for flavour and earliness. Ten cultivars, compared →
- Why does the belt plant Camarosa if it is not the best-tasting?
- Logistics. Fruit leaving the plateau has to reach Pune or Mumbai in saleable condition, and a firm berry survives that journey where a soft one does not. Camarosa was bred for yield and shipping rather than flavour, and that is exactly why it dominates. Camarosa →
- Can I propagate my own planting material?
- Yes, and it changes the economics of the largest line in the budget. The catch is that virus load accumulates silently across self-propagated generations — the crop looks fine in year two and noticeably weaker by year four. Refresh from certified stock every second season at minimum. Runner sourcing →
After picking
Where the crop is most often lost.
- How long do strawberries last after picking?
- Typically 5 to 7 days, and only if the fruit was cooled quickly and held near 0 °C at 90–95% humidity throughout. Fruit that sat warm after picking will not reach the top of that range whatever happens later. The cold chain →
- How soon do strawberries need to be cooled?
- Within the hour. Delays beyond that measurably reduce the share of marketable fruit, because field heat drives respiration and gives Botrytis a head start. Five steps, none optional →
- Can I take picked strawberries home from a farm visit?
- Yes, but plan for it. Fruit picked warm and carried in a hot car arrives soft. Keep it cool and eat it soon. Visiting the belt →
Missing one?
Send it to strawberry@agri.net.in. Questions that arrive more than once become pages, and questions we cannot answer from a source we trust do not get answered at all — which is the more useful reply of the two.
Talk to us this week.
Volumes are committed early in the season. If you need fruit between November and March, the conversation starts now.