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Albion is a Day-neutral (ever-bearing) cultivar. It was bred to replace Diamantein the market and has done so and more. Fruiting plants of Albion are similar in size and vigor to Diamante, but more open and more erect than plants of Diamante. Albion is quite resistant to Verticillium and Phytophthora and relatively resistant to Anthracnose crown rot. When treated properly, it has tolerance to two-spotted spidermites. Fruit from Albion is typically long, conical, and very symmetrical. Fruit for Albion is firm and external and internal fruit color for Albion is dark. Southern California fruit growers are experimenting with early dug Albion as an alternative to Camarosa, Ventana, and Palomar. Albion fruits consistently throughout the season. One downside is that Albion produces many runners that must be cut to maintain high production.

Aromas is a highly productive plant. It initiates production somewhat later than the others and produces large quantities of fall fruit. It also has the broadest environmental tolerance, is resistant to mildew, and is especially tolerant to spider mites. Flavor is very good. Fruit size and cull rate is superior to Selva.

New variety Benicia in Southern California is adapted to early planting and is similar to Ventana with greater total yeild and lower cull rate. Benicia has consistently excellent flavor and has larger fruit than Ventana. Benicia is a vigorous plant with an open structure for better harvest efficiency. Fruit can darken under high tempereature type conditions and it is somewhat suseptible to Verticillium.

The new variety Mojave is adapted to early plantings and is earlier fruiting than Ventana with greater total yeild. Mojave has larger fruit size and better flavor that Ventana. Mojave has a very low cull rate and has excellent rain tolerance. Mojave has a consistant fruit shape and color which is a bright shiny red. Mohave is not as firm as most UC cultivars and is suseptible to Phytophthora.

Portola is a strong day-neutral cultivar with broad adaptability. This cultivar can be used in standard winter planting systems, where it is slightly earlier than Albion to initiate fruiting. Due to a strong flowering response Portola is especially well adapted to spring and summer planting systems. Portola has a vigorous plant and may require slightly lower plant density than Albion. The fruit for Portola is similar in size to Albion but lighter in color and somewhat shinier. Portola is slightly less tolerant to rain but fruit flavor for Portola is excellent and consistent throughout the fruiting season. Portola has good disease resistance.

San Andreas is a moderate day-neutral with a production pattern very similar to Albion. Plant vigor for San Andreas is somewhat higher than for Albion early in the season but plant size throughout the fruiting season is similar to Albion due to its high productivity. This cultivar produces very few runners in the fruiting field. The fruit for San Andreas is exceptional in appearance and superior to Albion early in the season. The fruit color for San Andreas is slightly lighter than for Albion and the flavor of San Andreas is outstanding, very similar to that of Albion. San Andreas has a good disease resistance. Its typically high quality fruit early in the season, together with a low chilling requirement, make this a good candidate cultivar for Southern California.

Camarosa is an early short day variety. This vigorous plant produces large to very large firm fruit throughout most of its fruiting cycle. Interior color of Camarosa is a brilliant red and fruit colors uniformly. Yield potential is high to excellent in U.C. performance test.

Camino Real is a short-day cultivar similar to Camarosa and Gaviota. Camino Real plants are more compact but less erect than Gaviota plants. The production pattern for Camino Real is similar to that for Camarosa, although it is somewhat later to initiate fruiting with most cultural treatments. External and internal fruit color for ‘Camino Real’ is darker than Camarosa and slightly darker than Gaviota. Subjectively, Camino Real has very good flavor. The fruit is outstanding for both fresh market and processing.

Palomar produces similar early yield to Ventana in California. Palomar has substantially lower cull rates and/or higher appearance scores than Ventana. With fruit size similar to that of Ventana and plant size that is substantially smaller than that of Ventana will permit increased planting density and facilitate harvest efficiency. One caution regarding this selection is the tendency to produce fruit with a dry calyx, most typically during the early part of the fruiting season.