An event was held in Scanzano Jonico (Matera) on 27 May 2025, organised by the El Pinar nursery together with local technicians, to showcase the results obtained from an innovative protocol developed for strawberry plants of the Inspire variety, aimed at minimising risks in the post-transplant period while at the same time obtaining a wide harvest window with high-quality fruit in terms of shelf-life, size, colour and shine, from the end of November/beginning of December until mid-June.
Alberto Molinaro, Silvio Paraggio and Jorge Muñoz of El Pinar
Among the tested types, special focus was placed on the Inspire plant in size 96, described as a smaller plug plant suitable for very late transplanting from 15-20 October.
Visitors in the field for evaluations
Silvio Paraggio, El Pinar's technical sales manager for Italy, explains that: "This protocol is the result of a three-year trial, and focuses on the evaluation of three different types of plugs (75-77 and 96), each associated with its own specific transplanting time. The main objectives pursued with these types are earliness, on the one hand, and plant safety on the other."
Inspire's size 96 test field, which was evaluated by visitors from many areas of the Metaponto region, is located at the Glinni Giambattista farm. It was transplanted on 1 November 2024, with harvesting that started on 4 February 2025 and peaked in April. About 700 g/plant has been harvested so far.
At a time when the rate of post-transplant mortality reaches higher values than in the past due to multiple causes, safety becomes crucial for operators, given the ongoing climate change. "Over the last two seasons, factors have emerged that are difficult to control, and situations of soil fatigue have been encountered, which have generated serious problems in terms of plant mortality throughout the entire strawberry-growing area, thus prompting nurseries to seek more reliable solutions for farmers. The responses from the plants show us that we are on the right track," adds Paraggio.
Plug plant 96 - About 700 g/plant harvested with start on 4 February.
Alberto Molinaro, sales manager of El Pinar in the regions of Calabria and Sicily, emphasises how "the Inspire cultivar lends itself to different plant types, so much so that we have sold around 25 million plants for the season that is about to end. With the plug type 96, you will have plants that behave similarly to a fresh plant when it comes to both quality and quantity, but they will come into production around the end of January or the beginning of February. The safety aspect is so important, as this type of plant makes it possible to not have to make replacements, as was the case for many entrepreneurs last autumn."
For more information:
El Pinar
C. Marieles, 14
40216 Chañe, Segovia - Spain
+34 921 15 58 87
elpinar.eu