# of Strawberry Plants for U-Pick Op

[Birdie]

What do you think is the average number of strawberry plants that you'd need to grow in order to start a U-Pick operation? I bet it would be expensive to start, but then it should become relatively self-sustaining since strawberry plants send out runners that can make new plants. Since people are avoiding crowds right now, I wouldn't attempt this operation soon, just trying to plan ahead for the years to come.

 

[OhSusanna]

You'd probably need to set aside two to five acres to grow your berries. I've heard of people going smaller than that, but two to five seems to be the average for a small farmer/homesteader. To determine how many plants to order I'd factor in how much I could plant in that area. I don't run an operation like this, but I've looked into it before. Your local county extension will probably be a more useful resource for this topic.