observed in spots in a previous strawberry planting on this land. As there was 

 little chance for erosion, the field was left bare over the winter. If erosion 

 is a problem, a light seeding of oats, which will winter-kill, will serve to hold 

 the soil in place. The following spring a rototiller was run over rows to be set 

 with plants. A few days after setting, the rototiller was run between the rows. 

 On June 7 another trip between the rows was made with the tiller. After this no 

 further cultivations were needed. The plants were not hoed the entire season. 

 Occasional weeds that appeared were easily pulled during plant spacing operations. 

 A few red stele susceptible plants were scattered throughout the planting. Only 

 one of these plants was infected with red stele and this was planted in a tiny 

 spot that had missed fumigation. There did not appear to be any black root in the 

 field. Plants grew more vigorously than any I had ever seen. They set a tremen- 

 dous crop of fruit the following spring. Unfortunately, heavy rains, lack of sun, 

 and vigorous plant growth resulted in heavy losses from fruit rot in spite of 6 

 applications of spray materials. 



While in the process of treating the soil with methyl bromide, I placed bales 

 of hay under the plastic cover which resulted in a supply of weed free mulch for 

 winter cover. 



Because of the weed free condition of the field, it has been carried over for 

 a second picking this spring. It looks very promising. 



r 



Because of labor involved and the high cost of the methyl bromide, I turned 

 to the use of Vapam in 1957. This material, at that time, cost about $300 per 

 acre and could be applied easily through an irrigation system. I treated 3 acres. 

 The results were satisfactory. During the 1958 growing year the Vapam treated 

 area required very little more labor than the field which had been treated with 

 methyl bromide except for some spot hoeing to eliminate a few clover plants whose 

 seed had not been killed by the treatment. However, we should note here, that the 

 usual treatment with methyl bromide does not do a good job on clover seeds, either. 

 There were more weeds on the Vapam treated field than on the one treated with 

 methyl bromide. However, no hoeing around the plants was needed. The planting 

 looks good. 



In the fall of 1958, I again used Vapam on the fields to be set in 1959. The 

 results were not quite so good as the previous year in that more fall weeds ger- 

 minated. However, in fairness, we should note that ge-nninating conditions were 

 better in 1958 than in 1957 and conceivably, results in 1959 may be as good as 

 in 1958. 



All of this is interesting to consider but the real question on your minds, 

 I am sure, is "Does it pay?" "Can we justify the spending of $300 or more per acre 

 in addition to our regular expenses which seem high enough already?" I, certainly, 

 cannot answer for everyone, because every grower's situation is different. Each 

 grower will have to balance the cost against the advantages which may accrue to 

 him in his own environment. As for myself, I feel that virtual elimination of 

 cultivation and hand hoeing, the more vigorous plant growth, better looking fruit 

 and higher yields will more than off-set the additional cost. In addition to 

 these advantages, I see no reason why a field cannot be cropped for 2 or 3 years 

 instead of one as most of us do now. In the past, many of us have felt that it 



