See How Farmers Keep Louisiana’s Famous Strawberries Safe During Extreme Cold Snaps

By Claire Grunewald

The Advocate

Strawberry farmers in southeast Louisiana spent Thursday pulling back covers off rows of plants to feed them, picking any ripe fruit and then covering them right back up again in preparation for the weekend's cold weather.

The Baton Rouge area is bracing for its second consecutive freezing weekend, under an extreme cold watch from Friday night through Sunday morning as another blast of arctic air sweeps through.

Strawberry farmers in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes prepped their farms last week and have kept their cold-weather coverage systems in place in anticipation of this weekend.

Strawberry farmer Rhonda Landry-Poché uses a system of blankets, hooks and lines to create a greenhouse effect during the cold to protect the strawberry blooms, a part of the plant that is essential for fruit development and makes strawberries in about 21 day cycles. Landry-Poché sprays the fruit with plant food and covers them again.

"When it gets cold like this, that's what we're trying to protect," she said. "What we're trying to do is save these blooms because if not, we'll be shut down for 21 days."

Landry-Poché has about eight acres and 130,000 strawberry plants in the ground. 

Several strawberries at the end of the rows that weren't fully covered were frozen.

"The cold doesn't hurt the plants; it won't kill the plant. It's just the fruit and the blooms," she said. "We have the possibility of losing that crop."

Complicating the timing and strategy for protecting, the blooms from freeze damage is that if the plants remain covered for more than three consecutive days, they will attract strawberry mites.

Darryl Poché, a strawberry farmer, said January used to be when the strawberries were covered up the most for weather, but each year that cold front gets pushed back.

"January would be the time that you would spend more time covered up, now it seems like it's moving further back more in February," he said. 

Poche said he grows strawberries from October to May and doesn't pick strawberries until all the cold weather has moved out later in the season or during bursts of good weather, like on Thursday.

"This year and last year have been very unusual. I actually started picking last year the week before Thanksgiving ... and this year the week after Thanksgiving when we had 70-80 degree days," he said. "We have had seasons that we didn't pick anything until March."

For other farmers with smaller operations, they will cover their plants, but just with a blanket sometimes. 

Frank Fekete, who owns the only farm left in Livingston Parish's historic Hungarian settlement, has had his beets and strawberries covered with a blanket since last week. 

Fekete grabbed a few strawberries that have now turned into 'frog eyes,' which he calls strawberries with deformed lumps from the cold weather.

"You can make jelly out of them, but you're really not supposed to put them in the boxes," he said. 

Fekete owns about 10 acres of land, but only farms a portion of that. He expects to grow about 10,000 strawberries this year. The farmer typically only sells his produce at the Red Stick Farmers Market.

"It's too cold to plant," he said. "We're getting ready for spring."

Editor’s note: This story has been updated since it was first published to clarify that freeze damage does not cause half-white, half-red berries, but that berries can be impacted by freezing weather. The Advocate regrets the error.