A+ Plants
Graded by crown size from traditional runner beds, these carefully selected plants represent 25-30% of the plant crop. The precise crown diameter used during grading will vary from variety to variety and from year to year but under favourable establishment conditions, fruit growers can expect to harvest commercial yields within 50 - 60 days of planting. With fewer flowers than Waiting Bed plants, A+ are easier to establish and suitable for planting in soil any time from February to June and also for high density, late planting (June/July) in substrate by specialist growers. When grown in soil, plants can then be cropped for a further one or two seasons.
A Grade Plants
These plants are graded by crown diameter and represent the next 50% of the plants from the traditional runner bed. Ideal for planting in soil and often de-blossomed after planting, A Grade are a low risk, relatively low cost option for larger scale growers who are planning two and three year cropping cycles in lower input growing systems.
A- Grade Plants
A convenient and economical starting point to establish a consistent and even potted plant for spring and early summer sales. Available ex-cold store from mid-December onwards.
Misted Tips
Grown to order for delivery July/early August, tips are easy to establish under light sprinkler irrigation, develop quickly and initiate high quality flower trusses with the potential to deliver a full crop of Class 1 fruit the next summer. Rapidly gaining in popularity the misted tip plant enables the grower to replant a main season site with no loss of yield in the following year. Available in the following varieties: Malling Centenary, Malling Allure, Vibrant & Elegance.
Waiting Bed Plants
Good quality, high yielding waiting beds are the foundation of most large scale commercial grower’s production. By working closely with three highly regarded European propagators we are able to offer top quality waiting beds of the four mostly widely grown June bearing varieties. One of these propagators, Kraege Beerenpflanzen, located near the North German town of Munster, produces waiting beds exclusively for R.W. Walpole Ltd. Kraege has developed an enviable reputation as a result of the health of their material, their access to black organic sand sites and their agronomic expertise.
Plant varieties: Elegance, Elsanta, Malling™ Allur, Malling™ Centenary, Sonata, Vibrant
The preferred option for maximising '50-60 day' fruit yields in both substrate and soil based growing systems. These plants are produced in a 'Waiting Bed', grown at a controlled density and are runner cut in order to maximise crown size, truss numbers and flower counts. Waiting Bed plants are ideal for programmed cropping by specialist growers.
Experienced growers will know that in order to maximise the fruiting potential of these plants they must only be grown under optimum conditions for rapid root development. For spring and summer planting, short cycle, high frequency sprinkler irrigation is required for successful plant establishment. Flower mapping is recommended.
We offer Waiting Bed plants in two forms:
Fresh Waiting Bed (FWB): grown from summer dug fresh plants and offered as 'heavies' for planting from January to March and 'mediums' and 'lights' for planting from April to June.
Double Cold-stored Waiting Bed (DCWB): grown on for a second season from over-wintered, cold-stored small plants and offered as 'heavies' - often multi-crowned plants - for planting from January to March and 'mediums' for planting from April to June.
Tray Plants
Grown to order in a 50:50 mix peat and coir. Tray plants maximise the truss and flower number in each plant allowing growers to plan their planting and cropping cycles to maximum effect. Available ex cold-store January to late June.
Fresh Tray Plants (FTP): large single crowned plants grown from fresh tips, struck in July. Suitable for long term storage.
Double Cold-stored Tray Plants (DCTP): grown from cold-stored small plants, planted into trays in March/April these produce multi-crowned plants with high flower counts. Most suited to early planting to maximise the yield.
Mini Tray Plants (MTP): grown from later struck fresh tips these are easy to establish Jan/July offering a less costly lower yielding alternative for over-wintering.
The increasing use of substrate in intensive strawberry production has highlighted the advantages offered by top quality Tray Plants. Working closely with Plant Tech Innovations Ltd and Hillgate Nurseries gives us the advantage of growing in a new four metre, fully automated and robot served glasshouse site. Our tray plants are:
Derived from PHPS Certified Mother material.
Entered and inspected by UK Plant Health Inspectors under PHPS rules.
Grown at the ultra low density of 23 plants per square metre to maximise the individual plant’s potential yield.
