Maine Public, WABI talk with Handley about late strawberry season
David Handley, vegetable and small fruit specialist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, told Maine Public that this year’s rainy, cool weather has delayed the strawberry season in most of the state by 10 to 14 days. In the southern portion, Handley said the season was likely to begin last weekend. Moving north, “you’re going to see people starting to open next week, kind of maybe in the middle of the week,” he says. If temperatures warm, Handley says the season could last as long as three weeks for many varieties, and longer in northern Maine. The Bangor Daily News ran the Maine Public article. Handley told WABI (channel 5) that due to the wet and cool weather, strawberries are just now ripening at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Highmoor Farm in Monmouth. “Our biggest worry right now is that if the rain keeps up, we have rainy weekends, the families don’t show up to pick the berries,” said Handley.