number of small growers in a limited area offer berries for sale by the road- 

 side. Such a situation is usually corrected by some of the growers changing 

 to other crops. 



Sixth, insect and disease problems which have lowered yields. 



Seventh, uneconomic units which have gone out of production. These are 

 usually small units where the grower is faced with the problem of replacing 

 hand labor with mechanical equipment but the unit is not large enough to 

 justify such an expense. 



Why are some strawberry fields producing so poorly? There are several 

 reasons for this. First, and most important, there are several diseases which 

 are extremely serious. The several virus troubles are first on the disease list 

 because they are not readily detectable and are usually brought in with the 

 plants. Red stele and black root rot are two serious root troubles. Red stele 

 is usually introduced into the planting on infected plants; black root rot may be 

 so introduced. Other diseases also attack the strawlserry; leaf spot and leaf 

 scorch which affect the leaves and the several rots which attack the fruit. 



Second, there are numerous insects which may attack strawberries. Among 

 these cyclamen mite is often brought in with the plants. Two spotted mite 

 often becomes serious; white grubs, strawberry weevil and a few others may at 

 times become serious. 



Fortunately, plants free of the viruses, the root troubles and cyclamen 

 mite are available but unfortunately, many growers are not making use of these 

 good plants. It is not enough to know that plants were grown from virus-free 

 stock. It is necessary to know how many generations the plants are removed 

 from virus-free stock and what precautions the nurseryman has taken to keep 

 them virus free or nearly so. The more generations the plants are removed from 

 the virus-free foundation plants, the more likely it is that they have become 

 virus infected. Although obtaining plants from a neighbor may prove satisfactory, 

 a reliable nurseryman can usually supply plants which will be more healthy and 

 vigorous. The importance of starting out with healthy, vigorous plants cannot 

 be overemphasized. Purchasing cheap plants can be very expensive in the long run. 



Third, pest control is often inadequate in the smaller planting. The 

 producing unit may not be large enough to warrant the purchase of the proper 

 equipment. As a result, the equipment is inadequate or there is none. In the 

 latter case, either a neighbor or a custom sprayer must be obtained to do the 

 spraying in which case it is probably poorly timed and ineffective or it is not 

 done at all. 



Fourth, soil preparation for the strawberry field is sometimes inadequate. 

 The successful grower who has been in the strawberry business for a number of 

 years knows the value of a fertile, well-prepared soil, well supplied with 

 organic matter. The newcomer in strawberry growing is all too often not aware 

 of this. Since 75 per cent of the roots of the strawberry plant are in the top 

 three inches of soil and 90 per cent in the top six inches, it is obvious that 



