WINTER HARDINESS AND PLANT VIGOR OF 24 STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS GROWN IN DENMARK

The winter hardiness of 24 strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cult ivars in a field trial planted in August 1996 was evaluated following 1996/97 winter temperatures of -12 degrees C with no snow cover. Signi ficant differences among cultivars for winter hardiness were expressed by the number of dead or damaged plants. 'Senga Sengana,' 'Korona,' ' Polka,' 'Petrina' and 'Honeoye' were the most winter-hardy cultivars, whereas 'Burlington,' 'Hapil' and 'Evita' showed very low winter hardi ness. A significant positive correlation was shown between winter hard iness and general plant vigor.