Falco

Middle

Strong and solid during summer

  • Large uniform berries
  • Juicy with a fresh bite, excellent taste during summer
  • Easy to pick, not sensitive to bruising
  • Very productive, high percentage of first class fruit
  • Strong tolerance to Phytophtora Cactorum
  • Very suitable for open field and tunnel cultivation

Falco

Breeder’s reference: 11-23-06P, CVPO application number: 2018/3414 (in application) 

Variety
Falco is a short day variety producing large strawberries in the mid-season. It is a very robust variety that performs best during long daytime periods when the strawberries taste excellent. The large and uniform berries are juicy and fresh, intens red and have a bite. The fruit is not sensitive to bruising and remains firm even during warm conditions. Falco was released by Flevo Berry in 2018 and is very complementary next to some of the other varieties in the breeding program, like Sonsation.

Cultivation
Falco has on average five flowers per truss. For a high yield well developed, heavy plants with multiple crowns are needed. The cold requirement is about 1.300 hours < 7° Celsius. Flower initiation starts later than Elsanta. It’s advisable to be low on nitrogen before flower initiation starts and to extend the period of initiation as long as possible. 

The variety is very suitable for open field and tunnel production. Fresh plants should be planted in time and delaying harvest on open ground is possible with heavy waiting bed plants. Cultivation on substrate is also possible using well developed, heavy tray plants. Falco does not have a special nutrient demand. It is a vigorous growing variety. Flower trusses are at leaf length. Flowers have good pollen quality ensuring an excellent fruit set. The berries are quite large (on average > 28 grams), well displayed and very easy to pick. Some of the first strawberries can be exceptionally large and somewhat grooved.

Falco has a very strong tolerance to Phytophtora Cactorum. The variety also shows good tolerance to Botrytis and Rhizoctonia. When grown in open field Falco has strong tolerance to powdery mildew, but on table tops some mildew prevention is needed. Although Falco is a very robust variety be careful not to plant on soils containing Verticillium in combination with nematodes.

Harvest and sales
The berries of Falco are intens red and should not be picked too early. Just as other varieties this has an unfavorable effect on taste. It is also not needed. The shelf life of Falco is excellent. The strawberries maintain their taste and gloss during preservation. The fruit is not only suitable for direct sales but also for sales via retail chains.