'You have to really pay attention': Berry farmers prepare for field winterization

As famers across southwestern Ontario flirt with record-breaking warmth, many are watching the skies, waiting to start preparations for the colder months ahead.

Workers at Sarah's Farm Market in Chatham have been preparing raspberry bushes for winter by pruning, fertilizing and removing old canes, hoping to ensure a strong berry next spring.

"We're definitely thinking ahead," said owner, Sarah Graham.

"We have to think ahead for spring, and there's certain things we need to do to maintain in order to keep a healthy crop of raspberries and strawberries for next year."

Graham said staff are also waiting for cooler temperatures to settle in before they start covering strawberry plants with straw, explaining a few inches should hopefully protect the plants from fatal freezing temperatures.

"You have to really pay attention to the forecast,” she said.

“You cannot put it on too soon because that will damage the berries for next year. You have to do it at the right time, which is a little picky and some of the farmers stress over when the right time to put straw down is.”

Employees of Sarah's Farm Market near Chatham, Ont. lay straw over berry plants on Oct. 30, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Graham continued, saying normally you aim to have 40-degree Fahrenheit weather for at least three days in a row to ensure the soil is also 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less.

She noted there's still plenty to do in the small patch of six thousand June-bearing and everbearing strawberry plants before winter with row narrowing, fertilizing and cultivating to control next year's weeds.

"It's a huge crop for us," Graham told CTV News.

"We planted these by hand, and they come frozen from warmer climates like California and Florida. We actually get them from a company in Simcoe. We have to soak them for two hours in warm weather to be able to wake them up out of their dormant stage.”

If the straw doesn’t come off fast enough once spring rolls around and the plant is coming out of its dormant stage, it can wreck the berries and the yield from the plant, according to Graham.

"That's very important,” she said.

“But you don't want to take it off too soon either, because then you risk the frost and the freeze from hurting the plant. So, it is a little tricky."

Raspberries are more particular and require pruning to finish in the fall.

“Pruning, obviously, you need to thin out the bush,” she said.

“You need to be able to make it where it's three to five canes per foot. And those canes need to be about three to six inches apart from each other."

Meantime, workers are also trimming cedar and pine branches to prepare Christmas baskets wreathes for the holiday season.

"We're quite busy all the way through right until Christmas!" Graham exclaimed.