-8- 



the maggot. The adult form is not one, but a group of tiny midges. At least four 

 different species of midges have been reared from the same gall. According to 

 W,' D, Vftiitcombj there are at least two generations in this area vrith the flies 

 appearing May 10-1^ and July 1-5 • 



Spraying with organic phosphates has given reasonably good control when 

 applied just as the first maggots are hatching. This is determined by a slight 

 siYellingj accompanied by a twisting and curling of the terminals. In 19^1 this 

 occurred May 25 and July 6 in the Hudson Valley. 



In most vineyards these galls appear only now and then and are a mere 

 novelty. But in recent years a very heavy infestation has been noted in at least 

 one vineyard in Plymouth County. It was serious enough to cause a crop failure. 

 Hence our interest in a new method of control. The ordinary grape spray program 

 is quite ineffective . 



Growth - Fruitfulness Relationships In all kinds of fruits the relation 

 between the way a plant grows and the way it bears is very evident. Blueberries 

 offer a good example. All of the berries are produced on short growths arising 

 from buds on the previous season's growth. For a full crop each year vre must 

 therefore encourage the kind of growth which is associated with a heavy crop, A 

 grapevine performs in much the same way, in that all of the clusters develop on 

 shoots which come from nodes on last year's grovrth. If a raspberry plant fails to 

 grow any new canes, it produces no berries the next year, ¥Jhat happens in a straw- 

 berry planting is too familiar to require further comment. 



A "fruit grower" is in reality a "plant grower." He cooperates with nature 

 in getting the right kind of vegetative groivth. He does ;vhatever is necessary to 

 develop in each row of strawberries a good stand of early rooting runner plants 

 which he puts to bed for the winter under a mulch. And having grown the plants 

 with good roots and good tops, nature does the rest. This assumes, of course, 

 that unwanted growths are eliminated by spacing of plants, or in the case of woody 

 plants, by the right kind of pruning. 



Sluggish Strawberry Plants Mid-summer is a good time to stimulate growth 

 in the strawberry planting set last spring. Runner plants should now be developing 

 and as they take root they should find a fertile soil in v;hich to develop a strong 

 root system. A side dressing of complete fertilizer, such as 5-10-10^ cultivated 

 in, may provide the needed stimulus, l^any stravirberry growers spread fertilizer 

 along the row twice during the growing season. This seems to be a wiser use of 

 fertilizer than to wait until fall or early spring, 'i/Vhat a strawberry plant does 

 in the way of producing berries in June depends upon the number, size and vigor 

 of its leaves the previous September. The way to get good plants by September is 

 to encourage growth during the summer. No amount of fertilizer applied the follovfing 

 spring will make up for time lost during the first summer. 



The 195U Strawberry Crop It is not too early to plan for the stravirberry 

 planting to be established next spring. A piece of sod landj fertilized and fitted 

 in mid-summer for a late season cultivated crop or at least a cover crop of rye to 

 be sown in early fall, will leave it in better condition than if merely plowed this 

 fall. Here is an opportunity to use a liberal amount of poultry manure to good 

 advantage and to eliminate perennial grasses before the strawberry plants are set. 

 Nothing is more discouraging to the would-be strawberry grower than to fight vdtch 

 grass throughoiiit:' the, .§.wp?er," ■, ,:£vecy-. ^tpac? o£' this^and^otlierrpersisteat y/.eeds- should 

 be completely subdued in advance of planting. Some of the best strawberry plantings 

 in the state are preceded by a well fertilized cover crop of rye . 



