At strawberry and soft fruit farms in the UK (and across Europe), hiring industrial heaters can help maintain summer temperatures in greenhouses or under polytunnel-protected coverings 24 hours a day at the end of the season (late August/early September). For the farmer, this can only equate to one thing: an extra crop, resulting in boosted profits.

2011 – A bumper year for strawberries

This year in Britain, strawberry-lovers benefited hugely from the spring/early summer heatwave. The high temperatures helped produce one of the biggest and best quality English strawberry crops for two decades. (One of England's largest strawberry farmers, R and V Emery, said to the BBC that their production yield was up by a staggering 150 per cent on recent years, in fact).

The early start to the strawberry season has meant that many strawberry (and other soft fruit) farmers have enjoyed increased profits, but some have raised their income further still, by taking steps to ensure an extra crop could be produced at season’s end.

Strawberry farming – what’s involved?

Successfully growing and harvesting a saleable strawberry crop is achieved through a sequence of time and resource-intensive processes: soil preparation, planting, cultivating, irrigation, nutrition, fertilising and harvesting, as well as crop and pest management. But all this effort can prove futile if the strawberry plants are not grown and kept at appropriate temperatures (a day-time temperature of around 18 degrees Celsius is usually best.)

As summer draws to a close, and temperatures naturally drop, renting industrial heaters at a strawberry farm can help to artificially prolong the season, with the delivery of high volumes of clean, dry, warm air into glass or polytunnel-protected coverings creating an ‘illusion’ of an extended summer. What is more, installing temporary heating equipment under these coverings is easy.

The best types of heaters to hire

Hired high-capacity heaters that are thermostatically controlled (and can be left to work unattended) are usually best. These can either be:

Indirect-fired heaters* delivering up to 1,306,796 btu per unit

Or

Electrical heaters delivering from 9,553 btu to 136,480 btu per unit

• Indirect-fired heaters can be either gas or oil-driven and are sophisticated, reliable and highly-efficient heaters that are most suitable for places where there is limited ventilation (and available power load); they will deliver huge volumes of clean, dry, fume-free heat safely and economically. Indirect-fired heaters can also deliver large volumes of warm air via ducting (up to 40m).

Hiring heaters for when temperatures drop mid-season

The ‘stuff of nightmares’ for strawberry and soft fruit farmers, of course, is for temperatures to dramatically fall during the main growing and harvesting season. A crop can be spoilt (and therefore become unsalable) very quickly unless urgent steps are taken to restore required day-time and night-time temperatures. Should a fixed heating system at a strawberry farm suddenly develop a fault or completely stop working during this time, the farmer’s livelihood will be seriously under threat.

The good news is that one call to a specialist heater hire company can save the day. An established and proven specialist will offer a 24/7, year-round, emergency call-out service. They will have a vast range of hireable heater units at their depots across the country, and will also have the experience and expertise to know exactly which type of rentable heaters would be appropriate for the job.

Keeping buyers sweet!

The option for a strawberry farmer to hire heaters at the season’s end is so cost-effective, as increased profits generated through producing an extra crop in late August would mean the heater rental costs would be easily recouped. And with British strawberries being regarded as tasting sweeter than overseas imports, it makes absolute sense for strawberry farmers to produce as much fruit as possible for the home market.