Dr Colin Gutteridge, ceo of East Malling Research, and strawberry breeder Dr David Simpson at the Meiosis strawberry launch at Fruit Focus

Dr Colin Gutteridge, ceo of East Malling Research, and strawberry breeder Dr David Simpson at the Meiosis strawberry launch at Fruit Focus

Meiosis launched its two new strawberry varieties, Amelia and Sallybright, from East Malling Research (EMR) at this year’s Fruit Focus last week.

The EMR has produced approximately 20 different strawberry varieties and was proud to launch two more. The Sallybright variety is particularly well suited to amateur use and has involved three years of trialling to get to this stage. The Amelia variety was selected for research in 1998 and is suitable for sale within supermarkets, direct farm sales and pick-your-own outlets.

“Hopefully Amelia will be on retail shelves next season,” said Dr Colin Gutteridge, ceo of EMR. “The late cropping season of the variety makes it a useful variety to follow on from Elsanta and other mid-season types. The good plant vigour will enable Amelia to be grown on low input systems similar to Florence, but with a brighter, lighter skin.”