U-pick fields make strawberries available to public

Delayed more than a month by weather that pushed back the harvest, strawberry farmers operating you-pick fields are finally opening their rows of berries this week to the public.

With ripe berries in the fields ready for plucking from plants, ground-based farms such as Shady Acres in Dover are joining the handful of hydro-farms that have been offering berries off their vertical plantings for months.

Wholesale commercial prices plummeted this season to as little as $5 a flat due to a flooded strawberry market. You-pick farms are a bargain as well, selling for as little as two quarts for $1.

And some are free.

On Saturday, Wishnatzki Farms in Plant City will open part of a 40-acre strawberry field to food banks and the public for a day of free picking. The farm will provide visitors with containers for the berries.

"The berries are big and they are plentiful, said Sheila Young, a receptionist at Wishnatzki.

The farm is doing a one-day "cleanout" to get ready for planting other produce.

Farm president Gary Wishnatzki is asking visitors for a minimum $1 donation to Redlands Christian Migrant Association, a non-profit organization that provides child care and early education for rural, low-income working families.

Wishnatzki Farms will provide participants with boxes that can hold up to 10 pounds of strawberries.

At Parke Hydro Farms in Dover, owner Gary Parke sounded a bit relieved this week that the dirt-based competition was opening.

"We're getting picked out pretty aggressively," Park said.

"We've had to do things we've never had to do. We had to close the field. People were picking the green ones. We had to tell them to stop. They don't ripen like tomatoes."

Jeff Kellogg of First Fruits Hydroponics in St. Petersburg is in the middle of his first berry season.

"We have lots of berries," he said Thursday. "I'm eating as many as I can."

On Wednesday, he sold 85 pounds of strawberries at $3.50 a pound. Last Saturday, he sold 185 pounds of berries.

And since they're mounted on vertical stacks instead of in the ground, "You can stand up and walk and not get any on you. You can come straight from church and pick berries."

Hillsborough County

Hydro Harvest Farms
1101 Shell Point Road E., Ruskin; (813) 645-6574.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Saturday, 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Parke HydroFarms
3715 Tanner Road, Dover; (813) 927-4049.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

Peoples U-Pick
15433 County Road 39 S., Lithia; (813) 699-2058.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

Note: Cash only.

Shady Acres Farm
3420 Gallagher Road, Dover; Phone: (813) 659-0222.

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Cost: two quarts for $1.

Spivey Farms
6101 S. County Road 39, Plant City; (813) 650-8999.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday; 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: two quarts for $1, or three for $1 for 30 quarts or more.

Wishnatzki Farms
2500 Sparkman Road, Plant City

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Pasco County

Shady Hills Strawberry and Organic Farm
15709 Little Ranch Road, Shady Hills; (727) 326-2832

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cost $4 per pound. Payment: Cash only.

Pinellas County

First Fruits Hydroponics
3215 46th Avenue N, St. Petersburg; (727) 492-8908.

Hours: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Cost: $3.50 per pound. Payment: Cash, check or charge.