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Another thing vj-hich interested me considerably this month was an opportunity 

 to see some of the large vegetab^^e and strawberry acreage in the Watsonville - 

 Salinas area. This area is near the coast around Monterey Bay, In this area the 

 climate apparently is ideally suited for leafy vegetables and strawberries. The 

 summers in this area are cool virith maximum temperatures rarely in the 80' s, Under 

 these cool climatic conditions strav^ftsrries, in huge acreages, produce fruit from 

 April through October, Tlie hill system of planting is the one employed. The tops 

 of these plants are not especially large but the plants flower and fruit simultan- 

 eously over a very long period and hence the yields on a per acre basis are tremend- 

 ous by eastern standards. Yields of 30 tons per acre have been recorded although 

 the average per acre yield is soraevrhat less than half this amount. As vath most 

 crops irrigation is standard practice, even on hilly land, and the plants aren't 

 irrigated with sprinl-rlers either. Rows are planted on the contovir and water is 

 carried to each row from a flume c The berries I've seen are firm and capable of 

 being shipped to the east coastt 



Although I haven't spent much time studying the vinifera grape situation here 

 I am interested in looking ab them and observing the cultural methods employed. 

 The pruning methods used on these grapes are different from those employed on our 

 eastern American grapes. Their system of pruning and metiiod of supporting the 

 vines (if any) varies greatly with the variety and its use. 



All ivine and raisin varieties seem to be trained to a central trunk and the 

 canes cut to short spurs (leaving 2 to h buds per spur depending on its size). In- 

 itially the main trunk is tied to a stake to provide mechanical support but even- 

 tually as the trunk gets large and rigid enough no support is needed. Some of the 

 trunks in old grape vineyards may becoiae a foot or so in diameter. No trellis is 

 used to support the new fruiting canes, either* 



With the table grapes the spur type pi'uning may be employed (for Tokays) or 

 cane or cordon priming may be used, depending on the variety. The table grapes 

 are trellised. Many trellises are buLlt waist high v;ith a sloping horizontal top 

 which is about 3 feet wide. The trellis slopes toward the south and as the canes 

 are supported on the wires of this sloping trellis, the bunches of grapes hang dovm 

 underneath, much as they would dia a grape arbor. This metiiod of training shades the 

 fruit from direct sunlight during mid-day and makes picking easier «. 



Many of the fancy table grapes require thinning for various reasons depending 

 upon the variety. The three types are flower, cluster, and berry thinning, Flov^er 

 thinning is done before the flowers reach full bloom to improve the set of varieties 

 which otherwise produce loose clusters. Cluster thinning is done shortly after the 

 berries set to reduce an overload and improve fruit size and coloring of remaining 

 clusters. Berry thinning consists of removing parts of clusters after the berries 

 set to reduce cluster compactness. This practice is necessary when Thompson Seed- 

 less is grown as a table grape and the vines have been girdled. Girdling of Thomp- 

 son Seedless may increase berry size 100^ and is a common practice v;hen this variety 

 is grovm for the fresh fruit market, I'm told that some old Thompson Seedless vines 

 have been girdled annually for 20 years and are still producing good crops, 



^F, W, Southvdck 



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