How are strawberry plants fairing during this cold weather?

This winter has slowed the growth of our plants. Growers in the region are reporting that production is behind by about 3 weeks due to cooler weather, especially further inland. Strawberry plants need moderately warm days to flourish and frost will kill flowers. The amount of frost that inland ranches, like here at Cal Poly, have experienced this winter will lead to many misshapen early season fruit, or flowers that do not develop into fruit. While it normally takes 4-5 weeks for flower to develop to fruit, these cold days and even colder nights cause that time to almost double!