FRUIT Warm weather in Ohio makes strawberries early

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) -- The strawberry season has started early in northern Ohio because of recent warm weather, catching growers by surprise.
Ohio's strawberry season typically begins after June 10 and extends through July 4. But warm weather hastened the fruit's maturation and caused what some are calling one of the earliest harvests in memory.
Berries in northwest Ohio were ripening a week to two weeks ahead of last year.
This year's crop has ripened about 10 days ahead of schedule and the first wave of fruit needs to be pulled within the next few days.
"It's almost a desperate situation," said Kate Miles of Rosby's Farms in Brooklyn Heights near Cleveland. "You've got to sell the berries while they're good. There's not much of a market for them rotten."
Farmers say strawberries turned from ghostly white to flaming red seemingly overnight.
"It caught us all by surprise," said Dan Whiting, who owns Sunrise Farm in Geauga County.
The fruit is plump, juicy and sweet, but only a few people know it.
Only a handful of pickers spent Thursday morning milling around the usually crowded nine-acre strawberry patch at Patterson's Fruit Farm in Geauga County.
Bob and Irene Frieden of Kirtland quickly filled two baskets and their 2-year-old granddaughter with strawberries.
"I can't believe there's nobody around," said Irene Frieden, 67, as she dropped another plump strawberry into Flora Frieden's little red-stained fingers. "We've got the pick of the patch."
More to come
Picking should continue for another two to three weeks as more fruit ripens on the low, leafy plants.
Some growers are reaching out to longtime customers through mailings so that the crop doesn't rot away.
"It's an extremely perishable product," said Pete Ricci of Beriswill's Farm Market in Medina County. "You sort of have to get the excitement going."
Strawberries were a $6.4 million crop in Ohio last year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Ohio ranked ninth nationally in the number of acres of strawberries harvested.