Written by Jillian Rebecca Childs - Published on 1/10/2024

If you’re new to the delight of strawberry upick this year, please understand that the early days of season can be very touch and go, especially when the cooler days slow ripening and the plants are still kinda young. Strawberry season can run from as early as late November to as late as end of June depending on where you are in our beautiful state. The point of this list is to provide you pages to follow for updates, not to schedule a trip to a farm today. We make no guarantees about availability, and factors like weather, staffing, bugs, attendance and plant health can affect availability. Many farms, (especially the larger ones in Plant City area) only open for U-Pick when their commercial season is over and IF their season is good. 

Keep an eye on your farm pages for updates before you randomly drive across town, and try to be understanding if the earliest pickings are only open an hour or two and you miss out.

It’s hard for some operations to maintain down to the minute updates because they have limited cell signal or are literally the only person out there and can’t get back to their computer or device to get on FB. Your patience is appreciated. 

• 👄 Can I eat as I pick?Depends on the farm. Tiny organic blueberry Upick is probably going to say no. Early in the season and there’s a lot of unripe? Nope, better not. Conventional field with a good flush of berries? Probably yes. But in every situation ITS ALWAYS BEST TO ASK. People have cameras now yall. 
  
  
• 💵 Bring cash, including small bills, in case there’s minimal change. It’s hard to make a bank run when there are people all over your fields. Some take credit/debit but you’re at the mercy of a rural internet connection.
  
  
• 🪣 Bring a bucket or bag for everyone. Is it required? Maybe not. Do you want to have to wait for a bucket that someone else was holding while possibly eating stuff? Yeah me neither. If they allow it, bring a wagon or maybe a stroller with decent mud friendly wheels. You may also want to bring a small pair of scissors or cutters if you are harvesting larger items with thicker stems like citrus. 
  
  
• 👠 Wear closed toe shoes or boots. Fields are sometimes muddy, or uneven. Ants can be plentiful. Fallen fruit brings out local insect and animal friends. Even if you’re heading out for a photo shoot, wear shoes you can get out to the field in and change them.
  
  
• 🌞 🐜 🐝:There's gonna be bugs & sun.  This is Florida. I feel like I don’t have to tell y’all that sun and bugs might be a thing. SPF 70!
  
  
• 🐾 Leave the pets at home. Yeah it might be a pet friendly farm. Yes, Fluffy might be the most goodest of good boys on the planet. Still, not usually recommended to bring pets to a u-pick. Yes, it’s because of pee. 😂
  
  
• 🚧 Stay in Your Lane: This field is empty but that field over there looks amazing! Don’t do it. Farmers use certain fields for certain crops and in certain timelines. That might be a commercial crop, or it might be an organic crop that you can’t walk near, or it might be waiting for recently applied spray to wash/evaporate off before harvest. Yummy. 🤔😬 Or they really just mean Stay Out. Only pick in designated areas.
  
  
• 🧸 Don’t worry hon, the kids are fine.” Try not to let your brood run too wild. They don’t know the area, you’re gonna be distracted, there are potential injuries, moving equipment, hot fences and insect stings that might set you up for a medical event. 😂😬Keep the smallest ones nearby so you can monitor what they pick (yes, you SHOULD pay for unripe pickings!) and keep older kids within a row or two of you, if only to keep farmers blood pressure at an optimum level.
  
  
• ⏰ ☔️ YOURE CLOSED??? BUT WE DROVE AN HOUR!?!? It happens. Keep an eye on the weather and one eye on the Facebook page. Upicks are usually a bare bones skeleton crew. My particular favorite farm has ONE GUY all day. Some update their FB page as soon as they notice crop is getting thin and some even have staff available to run out and close gates. Most don’t have that ability. Fruit picked in the rain turns to mush. Patience is appreciated. Try really hard to not blow up their FB reviews if you’re upset. Post pandemic, people are still flooding outdoor events and it’s hard to monitor crowd levels based on what they might harvest.
  
  
• 🧺 Prepicked fruit and veggies are sometimes available. Again, depends on the crew. They also might be more expensive than upick. There’s labor involved if you don’t pick.
  
  
• 🤹🏼‍♀️Tips are appreciated! Upick prices don’t always cover the amount of time and labor you see behind the event.