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YflLTED STRAY/BERRY PLANTS 



Are there areas in your fruiting bed where the plants are v^rilting and drying 

 up in spite of the wet spring? If so, there is a good chance that red stele disease 

 has attacked the roots. Pull up a few such plants and slice some of the main roots 

 lengthwise just above the junction between the live and dead portion of the root. 

 If red stele is present, the core or stele of the root will be reddish brown in 

 color. 



Red Stele thrives on wet weather such as we are having this spring. It has 

 already been found in serious proportions in Robinson and other susceptible varieties. 

 If plants for setting the new bed were taken from an infected area, the disease was 

 undoubtedly carried into the new bed. 



This soil borne disease may live for several years in the absence of strawberry 

 plants. It cannot be controlled by spraying. Consequently disease resistant 

 varieties such as Pathfinder, Fair land, Temple, Sparkle, Red Crop and Vermilion 

 should be used for future planting on land infected with red stele, 



— A. P. French 



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CHICKi-lEED CONTROL W S^TRAV/EERRIES 



Chickweod (Stellaria media (L.) Cyrill) is one of the worst weed pests of the 

 strawberry bed. The seeds germinate and start to grovf in tlie fall after cultivation 

 has ceased and not ijifrequently make such a vigorous growth that stravj-berry plants 

 ma.y be entirely covered up by the weed. In the spring if the weather is cool and 

 wet and cultivation has to be delayed, chickweed iiiakes further growth and sometimes 

 becomes so serious that it is necessary to plow up the bed rather than try to fruit 

 it. 



It now appears thpt a relatively nevf material called Chloro IPC, sometimes 

 referred to as CIPC, is going to be the real anisiYor to this problem, I'Vhile the 

 strawberry plants will not tolerate more than 2 pounds of Chloro IPC per acre during 

 the growing season, they appear to be much more resistant after they have become 

 dormant in the fall. They will tolerate k pounds per acre at this time. Also 

 Chloro IPC appears to be much more effective when applied in cool ^veather. It has 

 been found that two pounds per acre applied in mid-November will do an excellent job 

 of controlling chicbveed v;ithout damaging the strawberry plants . 



Early spring application also seems to be effective. Two pounds per acre 

 applied in mid-r.iarch did a very good job controlling chickvfeed with no apparent 

 injury to the strawberries . Two pounds applied in mid-April was not effective . 



Thus it appears there are two periods when Chloro IPC is effective against 

 chickweed in strawberries, in mid-November after the strawberry plants have become 

 dormant and in early spring before growth starts. This suggests the possibility of 

 re-treating in the spring if the fall application fails to give satisfactory 

 control. 



— J. S. Bailey 



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