Kevin O’Dwyer’s farming career began when he was 14, working on the field crew at Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, MA. One of his first jobs was picking strawberries. He continued working at Ward’s through high school and college and was eventually hired as the head grower.
In 2010, O’Dwyer decided it was time to launch his own enterprise – Langwater Farm. The diversified, certified organic strawberry and vegetable farm is located in North Easton, MA. The 80-acre property is about halfway between Boston and Providence, RI.
O’Dwyer and his wife Kate are now the employers, giving another generation of teenagers, who make up some of his labor force, the opportunity to gain experience in the strawberry fields.
O’Dwyer treats strawberries as an annual and plants about two acres each year. Prior to tillage, he applies compost made on the farm at a rate of 150 yards/acre. He also spreads an 8-2-2 organic fertilizer at a rate of 400 lbs./acre. Depending on soil tests, he may also spread 100 – 150 lbs. of sulfate of potash per acre.
They currently use strawberry plugs, sourced from Kube-Pak, but O’Dwyer hopes to diversify this system and produce their own plugs from cuttings.
Using a water-wheel transplanter, he typically plants on Aug. 15 onto raised plastic beds 72-inch on center. Two rows are planted on the 40-inch-wide raised beds with the plants at a 12-inch spacing. Two lines of drip tape per bed are put down at the same time.
“This date gives us the best balance of good growth, good crown growth, while minimizing the number of passes we have to make for runners,” O’Dwyer said.
About a month after planting, the crew hand weeds around each plant and removes all of the runners to promote the crown size of the planted plug. If there is a lot of weed pressure (most likely chickweed), they weed once more before applying row covers in October. The row cover gives the plants a few extra growing days and pushes the crown size.
The row covers are removed around mid-November, and the plants have some time to acclimate to being uncovered before being mulched in early December. They use a green-cut rye seed sourced from a neighboring farm with little to no weed seed in it.
When O’Dwyer begins to hear the spring peepers, it alerts him that it’s time to remove the straw. Typically, that occurs at the end of March.
“Then, we get in there and rake the straw and pretty aggressively try to clean the detritus off the plastic. There’s always some remaining leaves, so I’ve found it helpful to let the beds dry out for a few days, and then make another pass with rakes or a backpack blower,” he said.
The idea behind this spring step is to reduce the inoculum of botrytis, a fungal disease that is a challenge for Northeast organic strawberry growers.
After cleaning the beds, and to prevent botrytis, he starts a comprehensive spraying program using an IVA Manufacturing offset boom sprayer with drop nozzles to achieve thorough coverage and to target the underside of the leaves.
He starts by spraying with OxiDate® (an organic product that kills fungal and bacterial spores) as soon as the beds are cleaned off. When the plants start to flower, he pivots to Howler EVO®, a biofungicide. Several applications of Howler are made through the bloom and into the fruiting period. He’s been experimenting with a product called Sil-Matrix® during the heavy harvest period, focusing on using it before a rainfall event.
According to O’Dwyer, Sil-Matrix is a silica-based product that forms an armor around the berry that will protect against spores being able to land and get a foothold on the fruit.
The last step in spring is to set up their MegaNet™ sprinkler system that they can turn on to protect the blossoms from late spring frosts. O’Dwyer said, “Some seasons the sprinklers get fired up several nights through April and May and other seasons only a couple.”
This system also serves as supplemental irrigation if temperatures go beyond the mid-80s during the fruiting period to cool the plants on hot afternoons.
O’Dwyer is careful not to irrigate the ripening berries too much so the flavor doesn’t get watery. The drip tape, however, can also be used to provide liquid fertilizer to the plants if necessary.
“I should really be in the habit of doing more regular leaf testing. Oftentimes, I am just relying on visual cues for deficiencies and adding a little supplemental nitrogen in late May. But, very carefully, it’s often potassium to help fruit size,” he said.
Because he plants annually and doesn’t return to a field for at least five years, pests haven’t been a significant issue. He scouts regularly for tarnished plant bugs, and will apply an approved organic pesticide if necessary.
Harvest season begins at the end of May with an average yield of 10,000 lbs./acre. When they first started selling organic strawberries, the majority of the crop was wholesale, but that number has been steadily declining as they’ve expanded their retail space and developed their brand.
Currently, 65% of the crop is sold retail, 30% is U-pick and the remainder is wholesale.
Three years ago, they completed the construction of a new retail farm store, increasing from 300 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Here, they sell their berries and organic vegetables as well as other local farm products. The store also houses a small café, Langwater Lunch Corner, where customers can purchase locally-inspired sandwiches, salads and sides.
The larger retail space has also allowed them to increase their “agritainment” offerings: family pizza nights, a tulip festival, family fun days and their popular annual strawberry festival.
“Growing organic strawberries can be frustrating, but there’s nothing better than producing a healthy crop and seeing the community come out to the farm and enjoy the screaming flavor of a ripe New England strawberry picked at the peak of the season,” said O’Dwyer.
