THE STRAWBERRY SEPTEMBER 1906 



they may not send out runner plants, and 

 if the weather turns dry, it is quite likely 

 to exhaust the plant entirely. The time 

 to stop cultivation in the strawberry field 

 will depend somewhat upon the season. 

 4. Ordinarily it is best to stop culti- 

 vation the latter part of September in this 

 latitude. If cultivation be continued too 

 late in the fall, it has a tendency to en- 

 courage a large foliage growth at the ex- 

 pense of fruit buds. Mulching the plants 

 would not check the runners. It would 

 prevent them from taking root, which 

 would be all the more detrimental to the 

 mother plants. 



F. F. B. , Belmont, N. Y. Can you tell me of 

 anything that will keep cutworms and wire 

 worms from destroying my strawberry plants? 

 The cutworms destroy the plants, and the 

 wire worms destroy the runners by boring 

 into them, and they also attack the old plants. 

 The cutworms attack the roots of the runners 

 as soon as they set. I would now have a 

 glorious patch but for the worms. 



As the wire worm does most of injur- 

 ious work under the surface of the 

 ground, we hardly believe the damage 

 done to your runners can be from this 

 insect. We think it is the stalk borer. 

 These insects bore into plants of different 

 kinds and the plant soon wilts; upon ex- 

 amining them you will find that the plant 

 has been cut off inside the stalk. The 

 stalk borer is a brown worm about the 

 size of a wire worm. It hatches from an 

 egg laid by a brown moth. The moth 

 appears late in the summer and the insect 

 apparently hibernates in its adult condi- 

 tion. There is scarcely any remedy for 

 this insect, but a good preventive is clean 

 cultivation, as these insects develop in 

 wayside woods and foul places. 



Nor do we think it is the cut worm 

 that is cutting the roots from your plants. 

 It is more apt to be the white grub. The 

 white grub is about one inch long and as 

 large around as a lead pencil, having a 

 brown head. It eats the roots off of the 

 plant about one inch under the ground 

 surface. Fall plowing before setting the 

 plants is a good preventive. There is 

 nothing that can be done after the grub 

 attacks the plants save to dig down and 

 kill it. 



^ <^ 



H. B. B. , Edge Moor, Del. Have some va- 

 cant places in my rows of plants. Shall I till 

 them in with runner plants this fall or next 

 spring? If the former, at what time should 

 the transplanting take place and under what 

 conditions? 



The filling in of the vacant places in 

 the rows should be done in the fall, the 

 latter part of September preferably. Take 

 a day after a rain has fallen, and while 

 the earth is yet moist and soft lift the 

 plants, being careful to have as much soil 

 adhering to the roots as possible and 



reset them in the vacant spaces. Set in 

 this way and under such conditions, the 

 plants will thrive finely, and your patch 

 made complete with symmetrical rows. 



^ it 



A. F. B,, Cedarburg, Wis. The August num- 

 ber of The Strawberry is very fine. The 

 answers to my questions cover the ground 

 thoroughly. I want still more information, 

 however. I have three acres of corn land on 

 part of which I wish to plant strawberries 

 next year. This ground is badly infested 

 with grubs. Is it safe to put out strawberries 

 there under the circumstances? And is 

 there any way of treating it to destroy the 

 grub after the corn is cut? Can insecticides 

 be used to destroy them while plants occupy 

 the ground? 



The presence of the grub in the ground 

 is a grave menace to the plants, and it 

 will not be safe to set strawberry plants 

 there so long as these pests remain. 

 Grubs are not susceptible to treatment 

 by the use of insecticides either when the 

 plants are in the ground or at any other 

 time. The remedy is to plow up your 

 land this fall very late — just when the 

 frosts are effective. Turning up the soil 

 at that time will bring the grubs on top, 

 expose them to the frost and the attacks 

 of birds and thus they may be utterly 

 destroyed. But be sure that you have 

 accomplished this before setting out your 



plants. To set plants in a place, or near 

 a place, known to be infested with the 

 grub is an open invitation to failure. 

 We may add that everyone should re- 

 move his strawberry patch as soon as he 

 can do so after discovering the presence 

 of grubs, and get the patch as far away 

 as possible from the infested section. 



J. W. K.. Woodstock, N. B. After the first 

 node forms is it right to keep the runner cut 

 off until the first plant gets well rooted? 



2. Should the foliage be mowed oti plants 

 set this spring? 



3. In setting plants shipped from a distance 

 should the dry tips of roots be pruned and 

 should earth be pressed firm when setting? 



It is unnecessary to cut off the exten- 

 sion part of the runner after the first node 

 forms. If you will lay a little soil on the 

 runner wire just back of the first node, a 

 new plant will be formed immediately 

 which will send its roots into the soil. 

 During this process of development the 

 extension part of the runner wire will 

 continue to grow and it will also form a 

 node which may be treated the same as 

 the first one. And the second runner 

 plant from the mother plant will be just 

 as good as the first one. 



2. It will not be necessary for you to 

 mow the foliage off of your plants which 

 are set this spring. The mowing is only 



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