STRAWBERRY 



STRAWBERRY 



3205 



soil in the South, sandy and gravelly loams are con- 

 sidered best. A warm quick soil, although poor, is 

 preferable to a heavy retentive soil well supplied with 

 plant-food. Plant-food can be supplied by the addition 

 of fertilizers, but the physical condition of the soil can 

 be modified only with difficulty and loss of time by 

 cultivation, drainage, and the addition of humus. The 

 soil for strawberries should be well supplied with humus 

 in a well-decomposed state. Many growers think that 

 new land is essential for good results, but when old 

 soils are well supplied with organic matter they will 

 yield as large crops as new soils. 



Few soils in the South that are adapted to strawberry- 

 growing are rich enough to produce large crops of fruit 

 without the addition of fertilizers. Stable or barnyard 

 manure is the best fertilizer for strawberries as it sup- 

 plies both humus and plant-food. It is best, however, 

 to apply the manure to the crop preceding the straw- 

 berries in order that it may become well-decomposed, 

 and so that most of the weed seeds will have germinated. 



When manure is not available, commercial fertilizers 

 are applied in large quantities, but these should be used 

 in connection with green-manure crops such as cow- 

 peas, soybeans, velvet beans, vetch, and clovers. Some 

 growers use as high as one ton, or even 

 as much as a ton and a half, of com- 

 mercial fertilizer to the acre. How- 

 ever, under most conditions, 1,000 to 

 1,500 pounds of a fertilizer analyzing 2 

 to 3 per cent of nitrogen, 6 to 8 per 

 cent of phosphorus, and 6 to 8 per cent 

 of potash, should be sufficient. On land 

 where legumes have been grown, a part 

 of the nitrogen may be left out. It 

 should be borne in mind that large 

 applications of commercial fertilizers 

 are profitable only when used on soils 

 in good physical condition, and well 

 supplied with humus. 



There are three systems of growing 

 strawberries in the South: the hill sys- 

 tem, the hedge-row system, and the 

 matted-row system. 



In the hill system the plants are set 

 separately, one plant in a place, and no 

 new plants are allowed to form. The 

 plants are set 12 to 14 inches apart in 

 rows 3 to 3 J 2 feet apart. This makes 

 a large, vigorous plant, producing large 

 uniform berries which ripen evenly. 

 This system is followed in Florida. 

 The quantity of berries produced is not 

 so large as under the other systems, but 

 the quality is better and the percent- 

 age of first-class berries larger. 



In the hedge-row system the plants 

 are set 10 to 18 inches apart in rows 

 3 to 3 J 2 feet apart, and runners are 

 allowed to form plants along the row in a strip a few 

 inches wide. This system is practised in the southern 

 part of the lower tier of southern states, with the excep- 

 tion of Florida, where the hill system is used. 



In the matted-row system the plants are set 15 to 18 

 inches apart in rows 3 1 2 to 4 feet apart. The runners 

 are allowed to form plants 6 to 9 inches on either side 

 of the row. Sometimes the plants are allowed com- 

 pletely to cover the ground. This system probably 

 produces the largest crop of berries, but the fruit is 

 usually smaller and does not ripen so well as under the 

 other systems. 



Strawberries are planted in Florida any time from 

 June to November, whenever the soil and climatic con- 

 ditions are favorable. In other southern sections of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf Coast states, the plants are 

 set in late summer or autumn. In all other sections of 

 the South, the plants are usually planted in late winter 



or early spring, and no crop is allowed to be produced 

 the first season. 



The length of time that a field should be allowed to 

 produce fruit depends upon many conditions and varies 

 in different parts of the South. In sections where weeds 

 and grass grow very rapidly and where the picking- 

 season is long, as is the case in the lower South, usually 

 only one crop is grown. In the upper sections of the 

 South, two or more crops are produced. Some growers 

 allow their fields to produce five or six crops, 

 but under most conditions two crops should 

 be the maximum, as the fields become weedy 

 and the soil compact. It is possible to clean 

 up an old patch in such a way that large 

 crops can be secured for several years, but 

 very few growers give the fields the attention 

 necessary to produce heavy crops of first- 

 class fruit. 



When the field bears more than one crop, 

 the strawberries should be thoroughly cleaned 

 out, thinned, cultivated, and fertilized after 

 the fruit has been harvested. As a rule, the 

 best crop is produced on new plantings and 

 for this reason frequent renewal is recom- 

 mended. 



Cultivation should begin soon after the 

 plants are set, and should be continued when- 

 ever weeds start or 

 a crust forms. Fre- 

 quent shallow cul- 

 tivation will make 

 it unnecessary to do 

 much hand -hoeing 

 or hand-weeding. A 

 cultivator which 

 merely breaks the 

 surface without dis- 

 turbing the roots is 

 to be preferred. Any 

 weeds which inter- 

 fere with the de- 

 velopment of plants 

 or fruits during the 

 picking -season are 

 pulled by hand, or 

 cut off with sharp 

 hoes. 



In most sections 

 of the South, some 

 form of mulch is 

 used to hold mois- 

 ture during the 

 picking-season 

 when the soil is not 

 stirred, to keep the 

 berries clean, and to 

 prevent " heaving 

 out" in regions 

 where freezes occur. The materials used for mulch are 

 pine straw, oat, wheat, or rye straw, leaves, and marsh 

 hay. These materials are of value as humus when 

 turned under. In sections where freezes do not occur, 

 the mulch is usually applied in late winter. 



For best results in growing strawberries a good system 

 of rotation should be followed. In any system of rota- 

 tion, a leguminous crop should be turned under once 

 in three or four years, and a cultivated crop grown on 

 the area the season before the strawberry plants are 

 set. The following system of rotation is a good one for 

 the South: 



1. Strawberries one or two years, followed by cow- 

 peas after the strawberry plants are plowed under. 



2. Early vegetables followed by cowpeas or late 

 vegetables. 



3. Corn with cowpeas between the rows. The corn 

 stubble and the cowpeas should be turned under for 



3723. Bomba strawberry. (Xearly natural size) 



