WEST GLADSTONE — ​​Though the strawberry yield this year was poorer than usual, plant damage incurred this past winter should only have affected the 2025 crop, says Gladstone Berry Farm, where a field freshly-planted this year should be ready for next season.

Gladstone Berry Farm, located on County Road 426, has been operating for nine years and is the only pick-your-own strawberry grower in Delta County since the Pellegrini farm in Escanaba no longer grows berries — though the Pellegrinis do offer strawberry-picking at their location in Vulcan.

Delta County experienced a cold winter this year — anglers will recall the excellent ice — but it didn’t get a lot of snow. When protecting their fields during the winter, Gladstone Berry Farm uses a layer of straw to cover the plants, but they also rely on snowfall for additional insulation.

“Straw only does so much, and we need snow cover as well. And in January, when we (had) hardly any snow cover at all, we got that really below-zero cold temperatures, and that caused some winter injury,” said Parker Grzybowski, operations manager at Gladstone Berry Farm.

After the deep freeze that hurt some plants, the area was greeted by an odd spring with swinging temperatures that fluctuated between warm and cold, which further shocked the vegetation, Grzybowski explained.

“It was still decent. It was just more so not what we’re used to, and not as good as normal. You know, we had lower yields and just slightly smaller berries,” he said. “More cloudy days than normal, instead of sunnier days, didn’t help either with actual plant growth.”

Though the season began a little bit later than last year, it still opened at the average time in late June. The ten-day long season at Gladstone Berry Farm this year — with alternating days open for picking and closed for ripening — ended up being shorter than average by about five days, Grzybowski reported.

He isn’t worried about lasting damage from the 2024 to ’25 winter.

For one thing, another field that was planted this May will offer a fresh crop in 2026. It only takes one year after planting for strawberry bushes to be productive.

“And even the ones that were affected by the winter, the ones that survived, they’ll be better for next year,” Grzybowski said. “As long as the winter is a little bit better, or we get a little bit more snowfall if it gets really cold, then everything will be fine. But as far as what the plants look like now, they look really good. It just took a little bit for them to grow out of it.”