Summary
The performance, flavor and chemistry of a variety of strawberry cultivars was evaluated across three locations in North Carolina in the 2025-2026 season. In summary, the cultivars Ruby June, Belle, Fronteras and Rocco had acceptable performance in terms of yield, flavor and disease tolerance. Ruby June was confirmed to be highly susceptible to Neopestalotiopsis Crown Rot (Neo-P), but has good flavor, size and yield. Also, Rocco showed good tolerance, good yield, acceptable size and great flavor in the 2025-2026 season.
Introduction
The North Carolina (NC) strawberry industry farm gate value is approximately $25 million, across an estimated 200-250 farms. In the 2025-2026 season these farms covered 1,200-1,500 acres. Approximately 10 farms in the state operate on 30-150 acres of strawberry, with only a small portion of retail, and larger wholesale market avenues. The vast majority of farms however are small-acreage with majority direct-to-consumer sales. Due to the shorter picking season and the challenging climate, all NC strawberry growers sell into ‘niche-markets’ to reach premium prices. Produce is often sold as locally grown produce, with flavor and freshness as major selling points. In this sense, the NC industry differs from the strawberry industry in California or Florida for example, which focuses mostly on nation-wide wholesale.
To retain customers, NC growers are in need of strawberry cultivars that differ in the flavor profile from large wholesale production regions and are adapted to NC growing conditions. Even though NC’s strawberry industry is widespread, the information on new or emerging cultivars is limited for the state’s growing region. While new cultivars are routinely being released from breeding programs, they often remain untested in NC. Additionally, most NC strawberry growers are small to medium size family farms who do not have the risk appetite to trial new cultivars on their own.
Therefore, the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service (NCDA) has sponsored a two-year study to evaluate a range of strawberry cultivars in different growing regions in NC. Overall, it is understood that cultivars yield less in the piedmont region compared to the coastal plain, due to soil and climate differences. Cultivar evaluations within the piedmont and central regions of NC would especially add to the knowledge and aid growers decisions in NC.
The goal of this study was to inform growers of cultivar performance in NC within three different growing regions: Piedmont, Central NC, and Coastal NC. We display yield and fruit quality data over one growing season (2025-2026) in this report.
Methods
Cultivar evaluation trials were established across three locations, representing the different growing regions within North Carolina. The first location was at the NCDA Central Crops Research Station in Clayton, NC (Clayton trial). This trial location represented the inner central NC region with typically sandy loam soil. The second location was at the NCDA Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, NC (Piedmont trial). As the name suggests, this trial was in the piedmont region, which is known for its red clay soil. The third location was at the NCSU Horticulture Crops Research Station in Castle Hayne, NC (Castle Hayne trial), representing the southern coastal plain growing regions.
All plant material for the trials originated as tissue culture from the NC State Micropropagation Unit. Tissue culture plants were propagated for two generations in a greenhouse nursery on the NC State University campus in Raleigh, NC. Second-generation daughter plants were harvested, stuck into 50-cell trays filled with soilless substrate, and grown indoors under a mist bed for 28 days, and hardened off on a sprinkler pad outdoors for another 4 days before planting. The trials were planted on October 2, 2025, in Piedmont and on October 7, 2025, in Clayton, and October 14, 2025, in Castle Hayne, NC. The trials in Castle Hayne and Clayton were fumigated with Pic-Clor 60, while the trial in Piedmont remained non-fumigated. The trial in Castle Hayne was purposefully inoculated with the pathogen Neo-P to evaluate cultivars for disease tolerance. Those results will be discussed in more detail in another factsheet.
All trials were planted using annual hill plasticulture practices typical for NC growers. All plants were grown in 60 lbs of N as pre-plant and 7 lbs of N per week per acre through the growing season. All trials were planted in 3 replicates per cultivar, with 20 plants per replicate.
The Clayton trial had 10 cultivars: Good Farms Breeding Program: Ashley Jay, Belle (previously called 122x08), Ruby June, Miss Jo. UC Davis Breeding Program: Camarosa, Chandler, Fronteras, Moxie. NCSU Breeding Program: Liz, Rocco. Clayton plots were harvested twice a week from April 9 to May 18, 2026, with 11 harvests. The Piedmont trial had 7 cultivars: Good Farms Breeding Program: Belle (122x08). UC Davis Breeding Program: Cabrillo, Camarosa, Chandler. Rutgers Breeding Program: Scarlet. NCSU Breeding Program: Liz, Rocco. Plots were harvested twice a week from April 13 to May 18, 2026, with 11 total harvests. The Castle Hayne trial had 13 cultivars: Good Farms Breeding Program: Ashley Jay, Miss Jo, Ruby June. UC Davis Breeding Program: Portola, Finn, Camarosa, Chandler, Fronteras, Monterey. Rutgers Breeding Program: 921, Scarlet. NCSU Breeding Program: Liz, Rocco. Plots were harvested twice a week from March 27 to May 15, with 14 total harvests.
Results
Plant Yield
Clayton (Apr 9 – May 18): The cultivars with the highest yield per plant at the Clayton trial were Fronteras with 655 g, Moxie with 647 g, and Camarosa with 526 g (Figure 1). The cultivars with the lowest yield per plant were Ashley Jay with 354 g, Belle (122x08) with 420 g, and Liz with 437 g. Yield curves throughout the season show that Rocco, Camarosa, Fronteras, and Moxie all had high yields in the beginning of the season (Figure 2). Rocco had a final push of berries, giving it a slight uptick in berry production towards the end of the season. Belle had a consistent yield throughout the whole season without any peaks or valleys in yield.
Piedmont (Apr 13 –May 18): The cultivars with the highest marketable plant yield at the Piedmont trial were Cabrillo with 343 g, Camarosa with 327 g, and Chandler with 306 g (Figure 3). Conversely, the lowest marketable plant yields were Scarlet with 214 g, Rocco with 239 g, and Belle with 246 g. Rocco and Camarosa again had high initial yield along with Cabrillo, which wasn’t tested at Clayton (Figure 4).
Castle Hayne (Mar 27 – May 15): The plants in Castle Hayne were purposefully inoculated with Neopestalotsiopsis isolates to evaluate cultivar tolerance to the disease Neo-P. The inoculation did lead to plant death and decline, and therefore to lower yields in this particular trial. In general, Ruby June was heavily affected by Neo-P and yielded lower (only 119g per plant), while Rocco was the least affected and yielded at 323 g per plant (Figure 5). The impact of Neo-P on yield is also reflected in the seasonal yield curves (Figure 6). More detailed analysis of the trial results will be published in a separate report.
Across all cultivars grown at the non-Neo-P infected locations (Piedmont and Clayton), plants yielded more at Clayton than at Piedmont (Figure 7), due to fumigation, climate and soil type.
Clayton plants yielded between 32% (Liz) to 110% (Rocco) more than their Piedmont counterpart. The cultivars had comparable yield curves throughout the season (Figure 8), showing that plants produce in similar patterns throughout the season even in different locations. Interestingly, Belle did not produce as consistently in Piedmont as in Clayton.
Post Harvest Data & Berry Size
Post-harvest data were taken in Clayton (Table 1). The cultivar Rocco showed the highest sugar (Brix) levels, closely followed by Ruby June, Ashley Jay, Belle, and Liz. Lowest sugar levels (below 9 Brix) were seen in the cultivar Moxie (Table 1). Berry size varied dramatically between cultivars (data not shown). Liz and Chandler had by far the lowest size per berry. Belle, Fronteras and Moxie had the largest berry size through the season, with Belle averaging around 30 g.
Taste
Informal taste tests were performed throughout the season at the Clayton Research Station by three staff members every week. Most liked and typically ranked high in taste throughout the season were Belle, Ruby June, Rocco and Ashley Jay. Low in taste were ranked Moxie and Chandler. The cultivars Fronteras, Liz, Miss Jo, and Camarosa were ranked in the middle.
Figure 1. Yield per plant (in g) in replicated trials at Central Crops Research Station in Clayton, NC. Plants were harvested twice a week from April 9 to May 18, 2026.
Figure 2. Marketable strawberry yield curves in replicated trials at the Central Crops Research Station in Clayton, NC over 11 harvests. The season started April 9 and ended May 18, 2026.
Figure 3. Yield per plant (in g) in replicated trials at the Piedmont Agricultural Research Station in Salisbury, NC. Plants were harvested twice a week from April 13 to May 18, 2026.
Figure 4. Marketable Strawberry yield curves in replicated trials at the Piedmont Agricultural Research Station in Salisbury, NC over 11 harvests. The first harvest was April 13 and the final harvest was May 18, 2026.
Figure 5: Marketable Strawberry yield curves in replicated trials at the Horticultural Crops Research Station in Castle Hayne, NC over 14 harvests. The first harvest was March 27, and the final harvest was May 15, 2026.
Figure 6: Marketable Strawberry yield curves in replicated trials at the Horticultural Crops Research Station in Castle Hayne, NC over 14 harvests.
Figure 7. Comparing marketable strawberry yield per plant (in g) between trial locations of Clayton, NC (Clayton Trial) and Salisbury, NC (Piedmont Trial).
Figure 8. Cultivars grown in the two separate trials (Clayton and Piedmont Stations) had similar seasonal yield despite two different growing regions and soils.
Publication date: July 15, 2026
Reviewed/Revised: July 15, 2026
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