Strawberry Festival
Bred from a shapely early parent and a large firm one, and it inherited both. For years the main cultivar in Florida, and now planted here.
Firm and flavoured
At a glance
- Bred by
- University of Florida
- Parentage
- ‘Rosa Linda’ × ‘Oso Grande’
- Released
- 2000 · US Plant Patent PP14739
- Flowering type
- Short-day
- Fruit
- Conical, deep red outside and bright red inside, firm-fleshed, flavourful
- Plant
- Vigorous, numerous runners, long pedicels
Where it came from
Strawberry Festival was released by the University of Florida in 2000, from a hand-pollinated cross between ‘Rosa Linda’ — chosen for fruit shape and early yield — and ‘Oso Grande’, chosen for large firm fruit.
It became the primary cultivar in Florida and travelled widely from there, on the strength of a tough plant and durable fruit.
How it behaves
The fruit is conical and regular, deep red on the outside and bright red through the flesh, firm and genuinely flavoured. That combination is rarer than it sounds: most cultivars trade one for the other.
The plant is vigorous and throws numerous runners in the fruiting field, particularly from an early October planting. Long pedicels hold fruit clear of the crown, which keeps it cleaner and makes picking faster.
In the Indian belt
Festival is reported among the cultivars grown in the Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani belt, and its profile fits the problem here well — firm enough to reach a city market, good enough to eat that someone might ask for it by name.
Watch the runner habit. Vigorous runnering in a fruiting field is free planting material for next season, but runners left on the plant compete with fruit. Decide which you are growing for before the season starts.
Other varieties
