Chandler
A short-day variety from the University of California, Davis (1983). It gave the highest yield in the Himachal mid-hills trial (35.10 and 40.08 t/ha) and 186.8 g a plant in the Assam hills. Fruit weighed 14.89 g in Assam.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Strawberry
- Type
- Runner plant (tissue-culture / certified)
- Season
- Rabi
- Maturity period
- ~150–170 days
- Expected yield
- 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha in the Himachal mid-hills (2012, 2013); 186.8 g a plant in the Assam hills.
- Suitable soil
- Well-drained sandy loam rich in organic matter, pH 5.7–6.5
- Disease resistance
- No specific resistance claimed
- Release
- Bred by the University of California, Davis (cross made 1977); released 1983
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Chandler was bred by the University of California, Davis, and released in 1983 from a 1977 cross of Douglas × Cal 72.361-105. It is a short-day variety with bright red, conical fruit. It is not an ICAR release. It holds the best yield record of the varieties compared here in the hill trials we found. At Nauni, Himachal Pradesh (2012 and 2013, 13 genotypes, 50 × 25 cm), it gave the highest yield, 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha, ahead of Festival (29.76 and 35.24 t/ha). In the hill zone of Assam (Diphu) it gave the highest yield of three varieties, 186.8 g a plant, with the heaviest berries, 14.89 g, and 7.80 °Brix. It flowers late: Chandler and Selva were the late flowerers in the Himachal trial.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Chandler if you farm in the hills or the cooler plains and want the variety with the best yield record: 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha in Himachal and 186.8 g a plant in Assam. Do not choose it if you want the earliest fruit or the sweetest berry: it flowered late in Himachal, and Sweet Charlie had more TSS in Himachal and Assam. Choose Sweet Charlie instead for earliness and sweetness, and Festival for bigger, firmer berries (14.94 and 16.75 g in Himachal).
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeThe Himachal mid-hill trial planted in the first week of October on 2 × 2 m raised beds at 50 × 25 cm. The Assam hill trial (Diphu) found 15 November the best of four dates, with the highest yield, 298.7 g a plant.
- Spacing30×30 cm on raised beds 1–1.2 m wide, through black plastic mulch
- FertilizerFYM plus basal P and K at bed preparation; nitrogen split at ~3 weeks and at flowering, full potash at flowering (see the crop guide for the full schedule)
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
Major pests
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Highest yield in the Himachal mid-hills trial: 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha.
- Highest yield and heaviest berries (186.8 g a plant, 14.89 g) of three varieties in the Assam hills.
- Released in 1983 and still topping hill trials.
Things to consider
- Late to flower in the Himachal trial, so the first picking comes after Sweet Charlie and Ofra.
- Sweet Charlie beat it on TSS in the Himachal and Assam trials (7.92 against 7.80 °Brix in Assam).
- An older variety (1983). Not an ICAR release; buy fresh certified runners every year.
Suitable regions
An imported American cultivar, not an ICAR release, long grown in the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand hills and still common there and on the northern plains.
- Himachal Pradesh
- Uttarakhand
- Punjab
- Haryana
When an older variety still wins the yield trial
Chandler was released in 1983. Newer names such as Camarosa, Nabila and Winter Dawn are more talked about. Yet in the trials from the hills, Chandler is the one that keeps coming first.
At Nauni, Himachal Pradesh, it topped 13 genotypes in both years, with 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha. In the Assam hills it led three varieties with 186.8 g a plant. In none of the hill and cool-plain trials we read did it come last.
The lesson is not that new varieties are bad. It is that a farmer should look at the trial from his own kind of climate, not at the year of release. If your land is in the hills or the cooler plains, put the biggest bed in Chandler, and use new varieties on small beds until they show you a season of weights.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This crop is multiplied from runners — the trailing shoots that root where they touch the ground. You can raise your own plants from healthy mother plants, but runners carry virus and crown rot forward, so most growers buy fresh, certified runners every year or two rather than planting on from their own indefinitely.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Strawberry variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camarosa | A firm, dark-red berry for farmers in hills and cooler plains, planted where its record is good, not assumed to be the highest yielder | ~150–170 days | 245.2 g a plant in Meghalaya, 540 g (21.65 t/ha) at Mahabaleshwar. Results differ by place. | Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi |
| Chandlerthis page | The proven hill-and-cool-plain strawberry, chosen for its record in Himachal and Assam trials rather than for earliness | ~150–170 days | 35.10 and 40.08 t/ha in the Himachal mid-hills (2012, 2013); 186.8 g a plant in the Assam hills. | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana |
| Festival | The large-berried, high-yielding strawberry for the Bihar plains and the hills, chosen for berry size and yield, not for sweetness | ~150–170 days | 355.04 g a plant at Sabour, Bihar; 15.26 t/ha in Supaul, Bihar; 29.76 and 35.24 t/ha in the Himachal mid-hills; 169.0 g a plant in the Assam hills. | Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh |
| Nabila | A sweet, large-fruited berry for Mahabaleshwar-type conditions, chosen for TSS and weight per plant, with a thin Indian trial record | ~150–170 days | 735 g a plant (29.42 t/ha) at Mahabaleshwar, 2016; 850–900 g a plant in the Italian patent. | Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh |
| Sweet Charlie | The sweet, early-flowering berry sold on taste, planted for TSS and berry count rather than for the heaviest bed | ~140–160 days | 182.4 g a plant in the Assam hills (at par with Chandler); 22.48 berries a plant at Sabour, Bihar. Berries are small. | Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi |
| Winter Dawn | The vigorous early planter: a heavy-fruiting winter berry for Maharashtra and Bihar, chosen for fruits per plant and an early start | ~150–170 days | 820 g a plant (32.97 t/ha), 39.20 fruits of 21.00 g at Mahabaleshwar, 2016 | Maharashtra |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Strawberry is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Strawberry plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Strawberry variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Strawberry into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Strawberry rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Strawberry seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Chandler still grown in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand despite being an older variety?
It has a very long, proven track record in the hills specifically — its short-day breeding suits the cool hill winter well, and local farmers and nurseries are thoroughly familiar with how it flowers and fruits there, even as newer varieties are also planted alongside it.
How much does Chandler yield in the hills?
At Nauni in Himachal Pradesh it gave 35.10 t/ha in 2012 and 40.08 t/ha in 2013, the highest of 13 genotypes. Festival came second with 29.76 and 35.24 t/ha. In the Assam hills (Diphu) it gave 186.8 g a plant. These are trial figures with good management. Expect less if beds are poorly drained or plants are stressed.
When should I plant Chandler?
It depends on your place. The Himachal trial planted in the first week of October. In the Assam hills (Diphu) a trial of four dates found 15 November the best, with 298.7 g a plant across varieties, and the worst result with 15 January planting (35.7 g). For your own district, copy the nearest trial and test two dates on small beds.
How big and how sweet are Chandler berries?
In the Assam hills Chandler berries weighed 14.89 g, the heaviest of three varieties, with 17.95 berries a plant, TSS of 7.80 °Brix and acidity of 0.62%. Sweet Charlie was a little sweeter, 7.92 °Brix, but its berries were smaller. In the Himachal trial the biggest berries were Festival's, 14.94 and 16.75 g.
Is Chandler good for the plains?
Its record is from the hills: Himachal and Assam. We found no plains trial of Chandler. In the sub-tropical Bihar plains the trials we found tested Festival, Sweet Charlie and Winter Dawn, not Chandler. In the plains, try it on a small bed first.
Why is Chandler late to flower?
In the Himachal trial (2012–13) Sweet Charlie flowered earliest, 118 and 119 days after planting, and Ofra was just behind. Chandler and Selva were the late ones. That is how the variety behaves, and it is not a fault. If you want the first fruit for a good price, plant a bed of Sweet Charlie next to it and use Chandler for the main crop.
Sourced from: Strawberry Breeding Program Backgrounder: A Historical Timeline — UC Davis, US Plant Patent PP5262 — Strawberry plant 'Chandler', Comparative performance of strawberry cultivars under mid-hill conditions of north-western Himalayas — Indian J. Hort. 71(3), 2014, Performance of strawberry varieties in different planting dates, hill zone of Assam — Int. J. Adv. Biochemistry Research 9(3), 2025. editorial policy.