Jordan Beck | Daily Press Cheyenne LaMarch, an employee of Gladstone Berry Farm, picks berries at the farm for pre-pick orders recently.

ESCANABA — Due in part to a heat wave, the local strawberry season is winding down. Owners of local strawberry farms spoke about how this year’s season went for them.

“It’s been quite hot for everybody, (but) it’s been going good,” Gladstone Berry Farm owner Michael Grzybowski said.

Normally, the picking season at Gladstone Berry Farm lasts about three weeks. As of last week, Grzybowski believed this year’s season — which started on June 27 — would not be quite that long.

“I think the heat has caused them to ripen faster this year than normal,” Grzybowski said of berries at his farm.

The 2019 season started on July 4.

“People were able to get their berries for the Fourth this year,” Grzybowski said.

Grzybowski said the strawberries grown at his farm turned out well in 2020.

“The crop is about like normal, I would say,” he said.

While the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect turnout at Gladstone Berry Farm, Grzybowski said the farm took steps to respond to this threat.

“Obviously, we have the hand sanitizer and the shields up,” he said.

At Pellegrini Strawberry Farm, located west of Escanaba, customers were only able to pick a few acres worth of strawberries this year. The farm had seven acres of strawberries for the season, most of which were second-year plants.

“They just all didn’t do very well,” owner David Pellegrini said of the second-year plants.

According to Pellegrini, he is still trying to determine why these plants were unhealthy.

“I’m in the process of looking at all those things,” he said.

A few pickings still took place at the farm this season, allowing people in the area to pick berries from the first-year strawberry crop. During the farm’s pickings, which began on June 30, a number of actions were taken to protect customers from coronavirus.

“We tried to keep people more separated,” Pellegrini said.

The farm also opened for picking earlier than normal on some days.

Pellegrini said he expects the 2021 strawberry season to be much more successful at his farm.

“Our plans are to be back in a big way next year,” he said, noting that newer strawberry plants at the farm are looking healthy so far.

Cabbages and sugar beets will also be sold by the farm this fall.