Thus, by digging when the plants are fully dormant and storing them at 30°F 

 in polyethylene containers or polyethylene lined containers, strawberry plants can 

 be held in storage for several months. These plants come out of storage in 

 excellent condition and make a vigorous growth when planted. 



One of the benefits of this new method of storing is that plants in good 

 condition are available for setting any time of the year. In areas to the south 

 of us where the seasons are longer, this method of storing plants has been used 

 to very good advantage. 



In Virginia stored plants set in mid-August have yielded as well as plants 

 dug and set in the spring. By setting the bed in August the grower saves much 

 labor in caring for the bed. This is particularly true in regard to weed control 

 since the period of germination of most of the worst weeds is past- 



In southern California, the use of cold storage strawberry plants set in 

 August has made it possible to increase the early season portion of the crop when 

 prices are high. 



How then will this benefit New England? At present the chief benefit 

 appears to be the possibility of obtaining plants in much better condition from 

 southern nurseries. Experimental evidence indicates that late planting in this 

 section is too uncertain. 



In one year cold storage plants set in early June yielded as well as plants 

 set in early May. The June set plants v;e.ve thoroughly irrigated immediately after 

 setting and a prolonged and unusual rainy period followed so that the newly set 

 plants had unusually good conditions for growth. In another year cold storage ' 

 plants set in mid-May, early June or late June yielded less than freshly dug plants 

 set in late April. In this experiment the later the plants were set the less the 

 yield. 



Therefore, it appears that for those in New England who get their strawberry 

 plants from southern nurseries, the plants can arrive in excellent condition for 

 planting. Such plants should be set Immediately on arrival. Holding them after 

 arrival results in detcvtoracion. So far holding plants in cold storage for late 

 planting has produced uncertain results here and is not recommended. 



John S. Bailey 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



MECHANIZATION FOR STRAWBERRY GROWING 



The national conference on the strawberry held at Rutgers University, 

 New Brunswick, New Jersey January 24 and 25 was an extremely interesting and 

 successful conference. A wide variety of subjects were presented by research 

 workers from all over the United States and Canada. All the talks were concise 

 and to the point. 



