Florida Encore™ Short Day Strawberry

The innovative Encore short day strawberry cultivar from UF/IFAS improves on Florida Brilliance with adaptability to USDA zones 7 to 9, offering high early yields from mid October plantings and a heavy first inflorescence load that extends into steady winter spring harvests. The vigorous plants, 10 to 12 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches wide, feature excellent pollination and a reflexed calyx that curves away from the fruit, minimizing botrytis development for cleaner, more durable crops. Encore strawberry boasts a strong disease resistance package, including enhanced tolerance to phytophthora crown rot and good overall defences against anthracnose and charcoal rot, though it is slightly more susceptible to colletotrichum gloeosporioides, making it suitable for both conventional and organic systems with proper management. The large, conical berries weighing 25g to 35g shine with RHS 46A bright red colour, and firm texture for their 8 to 10 day shelf life, and feature excellent sweet flavour of 8 to 9 °Brix, outperforming Brilliance in size, durability and rain resistance. In trials, Encore shows larger fruit and better shape than standards, ideal for shipping and fresh. Encore, a vigorous short day performer yielding large, uniform berries with superior flavour, rain resistance, and enhanced disease tolerance, is a reliable strawberry cultivar choice promising quality and productivity whether you are a local or overseas grower optimizing early yields or seeking resilient, flavourful strawberry yields to deliver high early production crops and durability to fresh markets.