Next year Flevo Berry will introduce a new everbearer with the name Florice. A classical name for a very modern variety. Florice (Latin for flower) is as a true representation of its name: it has beautiful well set flowers with excellent pollen quality. As a result Florice gives beautiful large strawberries for you to enjoy all year round.
In several internal and external trails the variety, formerly known as number 13-115-12, showed excellent results. The variety was for example tested at Proefcentrum Hoogstraten, Auweiler, Delphy and several propagators. Also some strawberry growers of Hoogstraten and Albert Heijn (via Bakker Barendrecht) were able to test Florice in 2022. Most of the trial were focussing on the fruit quality of Florice, but some also addressed yield.
From a yield perspective the best results were seen starting with heavy tray plants. This seems to extend the harvest of the first flush and doesn’t really have an unfavorable effect on the second flush. There was hardly a gap between the flushes. Further research, which will take place in 2023, will give better insights on the best way of cultivating Florice.
The trials of last year showed that Florice is very consistent in taste and flavour but also in yield throughout the season. The berries have distinct shape comparable to a junebearer like Sonsation. The variety has on average five flowers per truss. It’s one of the reasons that, compared to other everbearers, Florice is able to keep its fruit size throughout the season. The large berries are easy to pick and not sensitive to bruising. As a result picking speed can be very high. The Florice strawberries are suitable for direct sales and retail channels.
In 2023/2024 the first plants of Flevo Berry’s new variety Florice will be on the market in the EU and the UK. One year later we also expect Florice to be available in small numbers in Canada.
Plants can be obtained at several propagation partners who are currently building up their mother stock.
The availability in 2023 will probably be very limited. If you cannot get plants yet, but you are interested in growing Florice, make sure to contact your propagator to secure plants for the growing season of 2024.