The importance of timing to strawberry production

Professional Horticultural Consulting (PHC) near George in the Western Cape ventured into commercial strawberry production in 2014, after receiving complaints about the price and quality of strawberry plant material.

“Growers were saying that production wasn’t economically viable, so being a nursery that offers consultancy services, we decided to see for ourselves,” says Dr Gavin Linsley-Noakes, who founded PHC in 2004.

Linsley-Noakes farms alongside Francois Roets, the owner of the nearby Groeneweide Farm.

The experiment has been so successful that production has expanded to two other farms, Brandwag Farm near Mossel Bay, and Waboomskraal, between Oudtshoorn and George, bringing their total area under strawberries to 36ha.

In the process, the company has become one of the largest