FARMINGTON — June’s full moon, which could be seen this past Wednesday night, is known as the Full Strawberry Moon, a name with its roots in the early Native American culture, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. The one in June marks the relatively short season for harvesting those luscious red fruits.

This year, the strawberry season is right on time and farms with pick-your-own operations in Western Maine expect to open by June 25.

“The crop looks good, the blossoms look good and there are a lot of green berries,” said Ford Stevenson, owner of Stevenson’s Strawberry Farm, a 13-acre, pick-your-own farm on Berry Road in Wayne.

Last year’s season started about two weeks earlier than normal because of an unseasonably early spring. This year, it appears the crop is back on its normal schedule.

“We’ve been out walking around all sorts of strawberry fields this spring as part of our Integrated Pest Management program, and I would say this year looks very good. There is a lot of potential to make this a great year,” David Handley, the vegetable and small fruit specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, said.

“The crop size looks good in terms of the number of berries, the size of the fruit and quality. It is very good in spite of the up-and-down weather we had this spring, which the strawberries enjoyed very much,” he said.

And there has been little pest pressure this season, so growers haven’t had to deal with too many bugs or diseases.

“So, fingers crossed — if we can get some sunny weekends to get the pickers out there, we’re looking at a really nice season,” Handley said. “We’ve had a couple of bad ones in a row so we’d like to have a good one.”

He estimated there are approximately 100 commercial strawberry growers in Maine who have about 800 acres in production.

At Pike’s Pick-Your-Own Strawberries on Wilton Road in Farmington, owned by Verna and David Pike, the earliest berries are already being sold at their farm stand in the Farmington Subway parking lot on Wilton Road in West Farmington.

These first berries are the “day-neutral” variety that provides a crop until the June bearers start to produce.

The day-neutrals also supply another crop of berries in the late summer and early fall.

“We’ve harvested those berries as late as Nov. 1,” Verna Pike said.

She said they are anticipating a good crop this summer.

“They wintered well, and they had a good spring because we didn’t have to worry about a frost,” she said.

“We might have berries to pick at the very earliest next week. But definitely by the last week in June,” she said.

At Fairwinds Berry Farm on Skeetfield Road in Oxford, owner Dave Knightly hopes to have the pick-your-own field open at the end of next week.

He will also be selling his berries at the Norway Food Exchange and the Fare Share food co-op this summer.

“It was a great spring, no late frost and enough rain. Right now, the berries are starting to turn red, and they just need a couple of days of sun,” he said.

Recent media reports about high pesticide residue found on strawberries do not reflect the fruits grown in Maine, Handley said.

“The reports reflect berries mostly coming out of California and Florida, where they are treated as annual crop and the soil has to be fumigated every year,” he said.

And because they are picked over three to four months compared to the three- to four-week season in Maine, large out-of-state commercial growers are in constant battle with insect pests and disease such as fruit rot, Handley said.

On top of that, those berries have to be able to sustain being stored for quite a while and being shipped long distances, he added.

“I try hard not to spray in the spring, and I certainly never spray after the buds form,” Knightly said.

And Verna Pike said when they need to spray for pests or diseases like gray mold, they use products approved for use by organic growers.

“We always try to use as little as possible during the growing season,” she said.

Ford Stevenson said his farm follows the Cooperative Extension’s Integrated Pest Management program.

“When we need to spray, we do it before the fruit forms,” he said. “The good news is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture did a surprise visit here last July 4 to test our crops and found zero residue.”

Maine growers rely on the the Extension’s Integrated Pest Management program, Handley said. Its staff does extensive field and lab work, and studies weather patterns in order to develop cultural techniques, new varieties and pest management practices to improve the success of Maine’s vegetable and fruit farmers.

There are usually fungicides needed to protect the plants from disease, but it is sprayed a month before fruit is picked and as the blossoms open, Handley said.

And the chemicals used don’t enter the plants and don’t collect in the fruit but stay on the surface of the leaves, he said.

“Strawberries are a unique and valuable crop in Maine,” Handley said. “Because of its pick-your-own market, this crop serves as an ambassador of sorts between farmers and the public by bringing people to the farm to see and talk with those for whom farming is a livelihood.”

“Utilizing (Integrated Pest Management) on these farms demonstrates to the public that farmers are making an effort to protect and sustain the environment while still producing a high-quality product for their customers,” he said.

The Cooperative Extension’s website has dozens of instructional gardening videos.

To view the clip on how to pick strawberries, visit http://extension.umaine.edu/gardening/.