'Florida Elyana' Strawberry¹

C.K. Chandler, B.M. Santos, and N.A. Peres²

Introduction and Origin

'Florida Elyana' strawberry has produced large, flavorful fruit from December through March in experimental plots and in a high-tunnel trial on a commercial farm in western portions of Central Florida. This cultivar has also shown promise in high- and low-tunnel trials on commercial farms in Spain, Morocco, and Egypt. 'Florida Elyana' is recommended for trial in areas of winter and spring production where strawberries are grown in tunnels or greenhouses.

'Florida Elyana' originated from a 2000 cross between FL 96-114 and FL 95-200. FL 96-114 resulted from a cross between 'Sweet Charlie', a 1992 University of Florida release (Chandler et al., 1997), and 'Cuesta' (U.S. Plant Patent 8,662), a University of California cultivar released in the early 1990s. FL 95-200 has a number of cultivars in its complex pedigree, including 'Rosa Linda', 'Irvine', 'Pajaro', and 'Dover.'

Description

'Florida Elyana' is a short-day cultivar. It is smaller and also a lower-stature plant than 'Strawberry Festival' (Chandler et al., 2000), which is currently the primary cultivar in Florida and an important cultivar in other areas of winter and early spring production around the world. The habit of 'Florida Elyana', along with fruit that are attached to long pedicels, makes the plant easy to harvest (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.

Plants of 'Florida Elyana' strawberry on polyethylene-mulched beds in Florida (left) and Spain (right).

'Florida Elyana' produces larger fruit than 'Strawberry Festival'. In field studies, 'Florida Elyana' mean fruit weight was between 24 and 27 g, compared to between 17 and 21 g for 'Strawberry Festival'. Fruit of 'Florida Elyana' are mostly medium conic to wedge shaped, with the wedge-shaped fruit often showing a longitudinal dimple on the broad sides of the fruit (Fig. 2). 'Florida Elyana' fruit are quite susceptible to surface cracking, which is due to exposure to free moisture. Thus, this cultivar is not recommended for open-field culture where there is a high likelihood of multiple rain or dew events during the fruiting season. In contrast, however, 'Florida Elyana' seems very suitable for protected culture (e.g. greenhouse and tunnels).

External fruit color is bright red, and internal color is carmine pink. The calyx is generally medium in size and attractive. Fruit texture is firm, and the flavor is usually sweet with a pleasant aroma. The soluble solid content of 'Florida Elyana' fruit is as high as or higher than that of 'Strawberry Festival'.

Figure 2.

Internal section (left) and outside appearance (right) of 'Florida Elyana'.

Performance

'Florida Elyana' is as productive as 'Strawberry Festival' in December and January, but not as productive as 'Strawberry Festival' later in the season. This difference could be due to the fact that 'Florida Elyana' plants stay relatively small throughout the season, whereas 'Strawberry Festival' plans are more vigorous in terms of producing new branch crowns. However, in a recent high-tunnel trial, total-season yield for 'Florida Elyana' was not significantly different than for 'Strawberry Festival' (Santos, et al., 2008). Growers may be able to increase the productivity of 'Florida Elyana' on a per-unit-area basis by planting this cultivar at a higher-than-standard density.

'Florida Elyana' is moderately resistant to the two most serious disease problems on strawberry in Florida: Botrytis fruit rot (caused by Botrytis cinerea) and anthracnose fruit rot (caused by Colletotrichum acutatum). 'Florida Elyana' also appears to have resistance to Colletotrichum and Phytophthora crown rots (C.K. Chandler, personal observations).

Availability

Information on nurseries licensed to propagate 'Florida Elyana' can be obtained from the Florida Strawberry Growers Association (http://flastrawberry.com) or Ekland Marketing Company of California, Inc. (http://www.emcocal.com).

Literature Cited

Chandler, C.K., E.E. Albregts, C.M. Howard, and J.K. Brecht. 1997. Sweet Charlie strawberry. HortScience 32:1132-1133.

Chandler, C.K., D.E. Legard, D.D. Dunigan, T.E. Crocker, and C.A. Sims. 2000. Strawberry Festival strawberry. HortScience 35:1366-1367.

Santos, B.M., C.K. Chandler, S.M. Olson, and T.W. Olczyk. 2007. Performance of Strawberry Cultivars in Florida. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 120:155-156.

Footnotes

This document is HS1150, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date, December 2008. Visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

C.K. Chandler, professor, and B.M. Santos, assistant professor, Horticultural Science Department, and N.A. Peres, assistant professor, Plant Pathology Department, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center -- Wimauma, FL, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.

'Florida Elyana' Strawberry1