Central NC strawberry farmers forced to protect crops as freeze warning looms

KNIGHTDALE, N.C. (WNCN) -- A forecast of frost for Wednesday morning has forced area strawberry farmers to take necessary precautions to protect their springtime patches days before harvest season begins.

“It would kill the plant completely," said David Pope.Frost is no friend to farmer Pope, whose 2-acre strawberry crop of sweet sensations, ruby junes, and fantasia in Knightdale is still growing.“It could damage all of our young berries, the green berries, and also the berries to come with the blooms.



We would lose them all," he said.It’s already been challenging for Central North Carolina strawberry farmers since planting last August.They continue to deal with the threat of a plant disease nicknamed Neo-p which is short for Neopestalotiopsis.

It’s being shipped in from out-of-state plant suppliers.“I talked to my competition and this morning he’s had 30 percent of his (crops) died,” Pope told CBS 17’s Baron James. “I lost a few, maybe 5 percent.

”The fungus actually has threatened to cancel this year’s harvest season altogether.However, Pope continues to press on now with a plan to protect his strawberry patch against frost by spraying it down with water when the air temperatures dip to around freezing.“We have irrigation and we have sprinklers and that water makes ice.

And the ice forms as insulation," Pope said. "It’s like putting a blanket over them.”Losing berries to frostbite or disease or anything else could cost North Carolina farmers their cut of some $20 million made statewide from strawberry sales each season, according to NC State Extension.

“Pope’s Strawberries” plans to open their patch to people who want to pick their own strawberries starting April 19 and throughout the season that typically runs from mid-April to early June -- weather permitting. “Paint for me a picture of when this is a bumper crop and the people are lined up trying to get it here, what does that look like in your mind?” CBS 17 asked Pope. ”It looks like maybe pay and expenses and hopefully we get a profit.

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