SOI£ FACTORS AFFECTING STRAVmERRY YIELDS 



No fruit crop in Mevr England requires mere harid labor than stra\/berrieSc 

 Plantin^_, removing blossoms from the newly set plants, spacin;^ of runner plants^ 

 weeding J mulching and harvesting are ti:ne consuming tasks. There seeia to te fe\i 

 shortcuts in managing the stravfberry planting and little likelihood that many of the 

 tedious jobs will soon beccme inechanized. l;any i.iai -hours of labor go into each acre 

 and labor is one of the major costs on a atraifberry farn. There are other unavoid- 

 able expenses in a successful planting. The plants for each acre, about 5C00 of 

 them, cost upwards of vlOO. l.ulching niaterial^^and the labor of collecting and ap- 

 plying them, represent an appreciable per acre cost« Then there is an outlay for 

 fertilizers whether the planting yields two or ten thousand quarts per acre. And 

 taxes are an annual expense cf no mean proportions, Yes, before ^re pick a single 

 quart of berries we have a sizable investment on \/hich a fair return is anticipated^ 



A large number of quarts of gocd berries per acre, at least 6000, is essen- 

 tial to success in a strawberry enterprise » And if by doing one thing a little bet- 

 ter than average, we can get an extra thousand quarts per acre, it may have a trem- 

 endous influence on the net profit. Frequently that "extra soiT.ething" costs little 

 in comparison v;ith the results. It may be soinething as simple as better soil prepara- 

 tion, setting earlier, getting better plants, or prompt removal of blosso.iis. 



There are many mistaken notions about the factors iti ich have ^lost influence 

 on yield. Some people stress the use of additional fertilizers; others place re- 

 liance on a nevif ani promising variety, Eut the thing most cooiuonly blamed for re- 

 duced yield or crop failure, is the •vraather. It is either too iret or too dry, spring 

 frost destroyed the blossoms, mnd removed the mulch, or deep freezing of the soil 

 damaged the j?oots« It is true that unfavorable weather conditions tend to reduce an 

 otherrdse good yield, although good management will go far to counteract the •'/.eather 

 factor. Let's take a look at some things the groi?er can do to help himself. 



Following are the more important factors which determine the yield of a straw- 

 berry planting I (l) Variety, (2) Soil type, preparation, acidity, orgarAc matter 

 and fertility, (3) Time and manner of setting the plants « (h) Spacing, (5) V/eed 

 contrcl* (6) Insect and disease prevention or control. (?) iiulching, (8) weather. 

 The first 7 cf these factors are very largely ur^er the grower's control. If he 

 plants the wrong variety. If the soil is poorly prepared, or if the planting remiains 

 unmulched^ the responsibility must rest very largely with the grower. And some of 

 the things for v;hich the weather is blamed may go back to a faulty management prac- 

 tice. If berries decay before they ripen, a late, heavy nitrcgen application, parti- 

 cularly of poultry manure, may be the reason. If heaving of the plants results in 

 root breakage, a lack of mulch may have permitted deep freezing of the soil, And if 

 the planting suf feres from drought, an unfortunate choice of location or faulty soil 

 preparation may be partially responsible. 



To sum up the situation, if we take as our goal a strawberry yield amounting 

 to at least 6000 quarts per acre, and then do our level best to cooperate rath nature 

 in taking care cf those factors for vfhich we are responsible, the per acre yield may 

 surprise us. Even though the a'eather \lan may do his worst, we'll still harvest enough 

 berries per acre to insure a fair margin of profits The strawberry virus problem is 

 an important part of this situation, '.j'hen virus-free plants becoiae available. Factor 

 No, 6 Tfill be more nearly under the grovrer's control. 



W.H.Thies 



