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Louisiana State Fruit

Strawberry

(Genus Fragaria)

Adopted in 2001.

The 2001 Louisiana Legislature selected the strawberry,  Genus Fragaria, as the official state fruit. Ponchatoula, located in Tangipahoa Parish, is considered the strawberry capital of Louisiana. The annual festival attracts 300,000 festival goers to the small town of 5,000.

Louisiana strawberries are produced on 400-500 acres primarily in Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes in the southeastern part of the state. Louisiana is consistently in the top 10 strawberry producing states. In 2003, the value of strawberries produced in the state approached $8.7 million. There are several small plantings scattered in the state for the local markets. Production costs run approximately $8,500 per acre. All the strawberries produced in Louisiana are for the fresh market. Several of the larger growers deliver to the wholesale markets, while the smaller growers sell to retail outlets.

Today, the cultivated strawberry ranks high on the list of preferred foods of people around the world. Although the genus Fragaria is comprised of numerous species with origins as diverse as Alaska, Hawaii, Chile, central Europe and the Himalayas, the cultivated strawberry is largely the result of hybridization of two species native to the Americas. Of these two species, Fragaria chiloensis is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska, along the beaches of Chile to the Andean highlands. The second species, Fragaria virginiana is native to meadows throughout central and eastern North America from Ontario to Louisiana.

The history of modern strawberry breeding dates back to the 1714 when Amedee Francois Frezier, a French army officer returned from a foreign mission with plants of the large fruited F. chiloensis he had seen fruiting in Chile. Later in France, these plants were crossed with F. virginiana, which had been introduced into Europe at an earlier date. Genetic improvement during the next two hundred years was relatively slow and was done primarily by private breeders. Over the next eighty years, strawberry breeders have sought to increase yield and fruit size as well as incorporating resistance to diseases and insect pests.

Growing Strawberries

• Buy only high quality, disease-free plants from a reliable nursery.
• Plants should be set at the same depth at which they were grown in the nursery, about mid-point in the crown.
• Strawberry plants prefer very well drained soils and are adaptable to raised beds, whisky barrels and hanging baskets.
• When preparing raised beds, the ideal soil mix is comprised of a one half builders sand, one quarter peat or sphagnum moss and one quarter top soil.
• Design beds to allow for at least one square foot per plant.

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