: developing and maturing regardless of relative length of alternating exposures to light and dark periods —used especially of a plant — compare long-day, short-day.

Spinach, lettuce, and some varieties of wheat are long-day plants.

Lettuce is classified as a long-day plant because it is during the long days of summer that the plant flowers, or bolts. A characteristic of some long-day plants, such as potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), is the formation of bulbs and tubers.

A plant that flowers only after being exposed to light periods shorter than a certain critical length, as in early spring or fall. Chrysanthemums and strawberries are short-day plants.

Short day plants are those plants that begin flowering when the days are shorter than their critical day length. They require long period of darkness and short period of light to flower. Examples of short day plants are rice, tobacco, cotton. Examples of long day plants are lettuce, spinach, potato.

Save This Word! A plant that flowers regardless of the length of the period of light it is exposed to. Rice, corn, and the cucumber are day-neutral plants.

A day-neutral plant is a plant that flowers regardless of the amount of light of daylight it receives. Corn and rice are examples day-neutral plants that will bloom whether the day is long or short.

Recommended varieties for Minnesota, tested on multiple sites in multiple years, include: Albion, Evie-2 (Evie-II), Monterey, Portola, San Andreas, and Seascape. San Andreas and Albion were found to be the sweetest in UMN research. Portola had the highest yields but was the least sweet of the six varieties tested.

Earliglow, a June-bearing strawberry, is especially tasty. It sets and ripens its fruit sooner than virtually every other strawberry variety available. They have an excellent and sweet flavor, plus they are resistant to many strawberry diseases.

instead produce berries throughout the summer and as late as October in some seasons. Unlike June-bearing strawberries the day-neutral types will yield well during their first year when they are planted.

Seascape strawberries are day-neutral or ever-bearing, meaning the plants do not need a specific amount of daylight to bear fruit, although the plants themselves need at least eight hours of daylight each day to receive energy from the sun.

Seascape strawberries are small herbaceous, perennial plants that grow to only 12-18 inches (30-46 cm). As mentioned, Seascape strawberries are everbearing strawberries, which means they produce their delectable fruit throughout the growing season.

-The Strawberry Seascape, a spring planted herbacious root, is an ever bearing strawberry that produces one crop in spring and another in fall.

Day‐neutral strawberry varieties can produce fruit throughout the summer so they require a steady supply of nutrients for optimum growth and development. Apply one pound 10‐10‐ 10 (or equivalent) per 100 square feet in mid‐June, mid‐ July and again in late August.

The best time to fertilize strawberry plants is following harvest at a rate of 2 to 3 pounds of 12-12-12 per 100-foot row. If a soil test indicates a need for phosphorus or potassium, these nutrients may be applied in the spring without causing berry softening.

of fertilizer per 20-foot (6 m.) row of strawberries one month after they are first planted. For berries that are over a year old, fertilize once a year after the plant has produced fruit, in the mid- to late summer but definitely before September.

To encourage flowering and fruit set, feed your strawberry plants with tomato fertiliser (follow the pack instructions) and water regularly. Avoid wetting any of ripening fruits to prevent grey mould. Tuck some straw around the plants just before the fruit starts to develop.