Basics of Growing High Tunnel Strawberries

Growing strawberries in a hoophouse greatly improves quality, yield and earliness. Penn State researchers reported that in their climate, hoophouse berries ripened about three weeks earlier in spring than field-grown berries, with roughly a quarter more yield.

Most commercial growers raise hoophouse strawberries as an annual plasticulture crop on raised, plastic-covered beds watered by drip tape and protected with floating row cover:

• Plug plants are set in late summer into plastic-mulched beds with drip tape underneath.
• When it turns cold, row cover goes over the young plants to keep the soil warm enough for them to establish.
• Inside the hoophouse, plants grow slowly through the winter.
• As it warms up, they bloom and bear fruit for several weeks.
• That finishes the crop for the year.
• Then you can pull the plants to make room for other crops, or keep them for a second season if berry prices or other reasons justify tying up the space.

You can buy plugs or grow your own in summer. To make plugs:

• In July, cut unrooted daughter plants (runner tips) from the mother plants.
• Root them in 72-cell flats of potting mix under intermittent misting until roots show at the bottom of each cell.
• Move them to a greenhouse bench and grow them on until September, then plant them in the hoophouse.
• In warmer areas, plants rooted in July may flower and fruit in fall, but that won't reduce their spring yield.

Learn More

Some helpful references on growing strawberries in hoophouses and using horticultural plastics:

• Penn State research on extending the berry season in the Northeast (news release) Penn State (2017)
• High Tunnel Strawberries Center for Crop Diversification, University of Kentucky (2019)
• Growing Strawberries in High Tunnels in Missouri University of Missouri (2006)
• Production of Vegetables, Strawberries & Cut Flowers Using Plasticulture NRAES (Natural Resource, Agriculture and Engineering Service), 2004–2012