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by Taunya Ernst, Dr. Amanda McWhirt, Keilah Barney - June 17, 2026
Growing strawberries in a high tunnel could allow growers to harvest fruit earlier, protect blooms from spring freezes, and potentially improve fruit quality and marketability. To better understand how different strawberry cultivars perform when grown inside a high tunnel compared to traditional field production, we established a side-by-side variety trial during the 2025–2026 season at the Fruit Research Station (FRS) in Clarksville AR. For complete results from the field variety trial, you can read this additional blog post.
This project evaluated 12 strawberry varieties grown both in the field and under a movable high tunnel system. In this post, we will share overall observations from the trial, discuss challenges encountered during the season, and compare yield performance between the two production systems.
All varieties were planted on September 17, 2025, using standard recommended horticultural production practices. Prior to planting, a pre-plant fertilizer was incorporated based on soil test recommendations. Raised beds were formed and covered with plastic mulch, with drip irrigation installed beneath the plastic. Weekly fertigation events began the second week of February for high tunnel plants, while weekly fertigation began in early March for field plants.
Because FRS has a movable high tunnel system, all beds were initially laid and planted outside of the tunnel structure. All beds were left uncovered by the tunnel in the fall so all plants could experience natural fall and winter climate conditions. This allowed all plants to develop adequate crown growth and accumulate sufficient chill hours to help maximize fruit production in the spring.
The tunnel was moved over designated beds on February 5, 2026. This allowed the tunnel-grown plants to begin warming earlier in the season while also providing additional protection from late spring freeze events. The tunnel proved especially valuable during a significant freeze event that occurred during bloom. During the freeze events, plants both inside and outside the tunnel were covered with frost cloth. Despite this, temperatures under the frost cloth outside the tunnel dropped to 21°F, resulting in substantial flower injury on field-grown plants.
Tunnel-grown plants were also covered with frost cloth during the freeze event, but with the added protection of the tunnel temperatures under the frost cloth remained above 32°F. Resulting in little to no observable cold injury on tunnel plants.
Recommended fungicide programs were followed throughout the season to help prevent and manage Neopestalotiopsis (Neo-P), Botrytis fruit rot, and anthracnose.
Disease pressure remained relatively low for most of the season. The primary disease issue observed was minor Botrytis development on field-grown fruit following a rain event.
As the season progressed and temperatures inside the tunnel began to consistently exceed optimal growing conditions, several tunnel-grown plants began to collapse as environmental conditions became more favorable for disease development and plant stress. Fortunately, most varieties had already finished yielding before plants began to significant decline.
Mite and other pest populations were monitored weekly both in the field and the tunnel. Multiple miticide applications were required inside the tunnel to control mite populations. In the field, mite populations never reached economic threshold levels, however plants were also treated for mites to save time and labor on mixing two different spray tanks.
Rodents, such as opossums and raccoons, were also problem during the fruiting season for both field and high tunnel plantings.
These observations are consistent with common high tunnel production challenges, where warmer and drier environmental conditions can favor rapid mite population growth.
Several trends became apparent across varieties and production systems during the trial:
Harvest Timing:
Berry Size:
Fruit Quality:
Two variety-specific observations were especially noteworthy during the trial.
The graph below compares total yields for each variety in both field and high tunnel production systems.
Among the varieties evaluated, Chandler produced the highest yields in the high tunnel, followed closely by Camerosa and Fronteras. Camerosa was also the top-performing variety in the tunnel during the previous season, suggesting strong consistency under protected culture conditions.
While some varieties performed similarly between systems, others clearly benefited from the tunnel’s environment.
Camarosa
High Tunnel
Field
Avg. yield per plant
1.38 lbs
1.30 lbs
Avg. berry size
12.65 g
15.2 g
BRIX
5.60
5.67
Percent yield loss
29%
25%
Percent plant loss
0%
Avg. number of crowns
5
10
Camino Real
0.66 lbs
0.49 lbs
16.06 g
16.91 g
4.70
4.90
31.7%
40.09%
41.7%
50.0%
3
4
Chandler
1.3 lbs
0.99%
13.34 g
12.77 g
5.50
6.73
22.08%
25.22%
8.3%
7
8
Fronteras
1.20 lbs
1.21 lbs
25.71 g
21.81 g
5.57
20.07%
31.77%
6
Keystone
0.77 lbs
1.31 lbs
16.59 g
18.86 g
6.06
6.65
17.67%
48.83%
33.3%
Monarch
0.71 lbs
0.76 lbs
12.91 g
13.77 g
5.33
4.80
44.71%
57.42%
Renewal
0.95 lbs
1.17 lbs
16.25 g
18.65 g
6.97
16.55%
27.31%
9
Ruby June
1.19 lbs
0.78 lbs
18.06 g
18.56 g
7.03
6.93
21.19%
24.79%
SB - 14
1.16 lbs
0.88 lbs
18.37 g
17.21 g
5.40
4.97
30.22%
56.14%
Surfline
1.13 lbs
1.03 lbs
25.30 g
22.90 g
5.30
29.35%
40.74%
Victory
X - 08
0.62 lbs
0.80 lbs
26.12 g
27.05 g
5.23
7.35
40.66%
15.45%
