Fortuna™
(FL 01 116 cv.)
Registered in the United States as Florida Radience.
Attributes
- High percentage of large, marketable fruit
- Good shelf life and transportability
- Uniformly well-shaped
- Bright red & glossy
- Very early fruit onset
- Highly productive
- Good flavor
Fruit & Plant Characteristics
Florida Fortuna (FL 01 116) is a short-day strawberry cultivar released by the University of Florida strawberry variety development program. Selected for earliness, fruit quality, and productivity, the variety adapts to high value, fresh market, and winter production regions.
The Florida Fortuna (FL 01 116) strawberry variety, also known as Fortuna™ brand, produces a high percentage of large, attractive, and uniformly shaped fruit early in the season. It holds its fruit size and shape throughout its production cycle.
Fortuna™ has an open plant architecture. The variety bears fruit on long pedicels, facilitating both pollination and fruit harvest.
The seeds of the fruit are slightly sunken below the surface, giving the Florida Fortuna strawberry variety a glossy, bright red color. The fruit ships well and tastes as good as it looks.
The Fortuna™ strawberry brand has dominated the Spanish strawberry industry for many years, at times comprising over 50% of the Spanish acreage.
Nursery Production
Fortuna™ runners well in the nursery field. Nurserymen should take special care, however, to avoid stress to the plants both during the growing season and at time of harvest. Nursery producers should utilize foundation level mother stock (G2) to establish their fields. Select well drained soils on which to propagate nursery stock. Avoid oversaturation at time of irrigation. Excessive applications of nitrogen will weaken the plants in the nursery field. Plants should be lifted at the mid-point of the nursery harvest season to avoid transplanting into hot conditions in the fruiting field.
Since a plant’s life extends from the nursery field into the fruit production field, to avoid fungicide resistance, only multisite fungicides should be used for disease control in the nursery field. This will allow fruit growers the flexibility to use more targeted methods, minimizing the risk of the development of fungicide resistance.
Field Production
Fruit growers should follow a disease management program beginning with pre-plant soil sterilization. Fungicide formulations should be alternated throughout the fruit growing season.
The Florida Fortuna strawberry cultivar benefits from an extended period of heavy nitrogen applications beginning the second week after transplant. The general guidelines call for applications of 2.2 kg N/Ha/day for the first six weeks following transplant and 1.12 kg N/ha/day thereafter for the duration of the season.
The variety prefers cool weather during the establishment period.
Disease Resistance
The Fortuna™ strawberry brand is susceptible to most root organisms. Growers should employ a comprehensive integrated pest management program. It is also susceptible to Botritis and Xanthamonas fruit and foliar diseases but moderately tolerant to Anthracnose fruit rot.
*Characteristics may vary depending on weather conditions, day length, soil type and location.