Florentina

Everbearing

Productive variety with excellent flower setting

  • Very productive
  • Large intens red glossy berries
  • Easy generative growing variety
  • Suitable for retail and direct sales

Variety
Florentina is a very productive everbearing variety with beautiful large flowers and an excellent flower quality. The conical-round berries are intense red, very juicy and have a good texture. The sweet-sour balance is nice. The calyx is somewhat sunk into the fruit flesh. The first berries of a crop can be a little grooved. Under moderate temperatures the fruit skin is firm, but if temperatures are relatively high the fruits can be somehow sensitive to pressure marks. Gloss and color maintain after storage. 

Cultivation
The variety is suitable for open field production and for cultivation on substrate in covered grow systems as well. Florentina is an easy and vigorous grower and therefore it’s recommended to limit the planting distance in open field to 4-5 plants per square meter. The dark green and sturdy leaves protect the fruits for high radiation and heavy rainfall. 

Florentina is a relatively generative variety which easily develops flowers. The leaf-fruit balance in growth is usually good and the production pattern is fairly continuously. The first flowers are sometimes hidden between the leaves. For pollinators it’s not easy to find these flowers, which can end up in somewhat grooved first fruits. 

For Florentina it’s important to plant not too deep. The rhizome should not be buried, because new crowns develop from the lower part of the rhizome. For the best yield it’s recommended to remove the first flower trusses, at least when bare root frigo plants were planted. 

Florentina is somehow tolerant to Phytophthora Cactorum, however a preventive treatment is recommended in open soil cultivation. The variety shows also some tolerance to powdery mildew however in substrate crops prevention is required. In warm and rainy periods, attention to Colletotrichum and Botrytis should be paid. 

This variety doesn’t have special nutritional requirements, but magnesium must be sufficiently present during the start of the crop. Potassium must be made available sufficiently from start of the harvest to keep a good fruit quality during a long season.

Harvest and sales
The berries of Florentina are suitable for the retail chains, but sales directly to consumers works well too. The shelf life of Florentina is good, provided the fruits are picked without damage and not overripe.