ApriL 1922 



BETTER FRQIT • 



Page Twenty-five 



Pests of Strawberry- 

 Industry 



(Continued from page 6) 



Spittle Beetle — Spittle beetles are 

 not beetles at all, but a form of lea'f 

 hopper. They were very prevalent in this 

 district last year. The young hoppers ap- 

 pear in the spring and cover themselves 

 with a mass of froth, this is secreted by the 

 insect and is pumped full of air bubble^ 

 by placing the tip of the abdomen above 

 the mass and drawing the air down. This 

 material serves as a protection for the insect 

 while it molts its skins for about four oi 

 five molts. The last time it is full grown 

 and has developed wings. It then leaves 

 the spittle and files and hops about. 



The adult insect is less than a half-inch 

 long, narrow, with bright green wings 

 folded along the sides. These Insects 

 .il though conspicuous are not serious unless 

 thev should be present in enormous num- 

 bers. There is no remedy except to hand 

 pick them and destroy them while the 

 Insects are young. 



SLUGS — Strawberries are sometimes 

 bothered with slugs or snails getting 

 on the berries and eating them. Slugs live 

 and breed generally in weeds and trash next 

 to cultivated fields and travel out from 

 such places in search of food. The clean- 

 ing up of such places will help much in 

 the control of them. When abundant 

 In the field and eating the fruit, there is 

 one remedy that is very satisfactory. Take 

 one part, by weight, of calcium arsenate 

 (this is much more powerful than lead 

 arsenate) and sixteen parts, by weight, of 

 chopped green stuff, such as clover, kale, 

 lettuce, wild mustard, or whatever can be 

 secured. Mix up the green stuff and work 

 the one part of calcium arsenate into it. 

 Then sprinkle this green stuff about the 

 patch after sunset. The slugs will eat this 

 material in preference to the fruit and will 

 die from eating it. This method was 

 developed by the Oregon experiment sta- 

 tion after several years of testing many 

 different things. 



Flea Beetles — Flea beetles are the 

 small black jumping beetles that eat holes 

 in the leaves. The beetles emerge from 

 hibernation in early spring and feed vora- 

 ciously on the tender foliage of the straw- 

 berry. The injury to strawberry plants is 

 sometimes very severe. The beetles appear 

 In Immense numbers and completly riddle 

 the leaves. They may be kept off, when 

 abundant, by spraying the leaves with 

 Bordeaux mixture 5-5-50, plus lead arsen- 

 ate, one pound of the powder form to fifty 

 gallons of the spray. This should be put on 

 before blooming and after harvest. 



Lar<;e White Grubs — -Often large 

 white grubs an inch long or so are quite in- 

 jurious in strawberry fields, eating the 

 plants entirely off. White grubs are most 

 abundant in land which has been for some 

 time In sod, or has been occupied for some 



For your Dormant Spray 



DORMOIL 



Especially for Leaf Roller, Scale, Aphis, Blister 

 Mite, Red Spider, etc. 



DORMOIL has been used with remarkable success in Oregon, 

 Washington and Montana. Write for details 



HOOD RIVER SPRAY CO. 



Hood River, Oregon 



POTASH PROTECTS 



from frost 



AFTER the recent freeze, it was noted that 

 , where a f ertihzer high in Potash had been 

 used, the damage to the fruit was much less 

 severe. 



Fruit btids on trees fed with a well balanced 

 fertilizer containing 10 per cent of Potash 

 also resist frost better. 



These facts taken in connection with the im- 

 provement in flavor, yield, shipping and keep- 

 ing quality of fruits and vegetables are further 

 proof that 



POTASH PAYS 



SOIL & CROP SERVICE, POTASH SYNDICATE 



H. A. HUSTON, Manager 



42 Broadway New York 



time by old strawberry beds. Much of the 

 loss occasioned by white grubs can be 

 avoided by adopting the one-crop system in 

 strawberry culture and alternating with 

 some crop more or less immune, such as 

 beans or peas. 



Nematodes — rNcmatodes are very small 

 celworms. They live in the ground and 

 get into many different kinds of plants. 

 One of the ways they affect plants Is to 

 produce upon their roots, galls or swellings. 

 In the case of the strawberry they produce 

 distinct and noticeable symptoms in the 

 form of swellings or galls In any portions 

 of the stems, leaf petioles or runners and 

 characteristic disortlons of the leaflets, 

 which become crinkled, misshapen and 

 dwarfed in size. 



The nematodes are found within the 



swellings. There are several generations 

 in a season. 



There is no remedy known except to 

 take up the affected plants or burn them. 

 Every grower is warned to be on the look- 

 out for this pest and report on it to prevent 

 its spread. 



Oregon is advocating planting non-sus- 

 ceptible plants for two or three years, so 

 as to starve out the pest. Practice clean 

 cultivation to prevent volunteer plants or 

 weeds from harboring the pest. Cabbage, 

 sunflower, lettuce, celery, corn, tomatoes 

 and asparagus may be used as crops for ro- 

 tations. The Department of Agriculture 

 and the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion are now carrying on experiments to 

 control this pest and very likely improved 

 and additional control measures will result. 



