Intensive Strawberry Culture— Preparing for Second Crop 



By Frank E. Beatty 



IN this article on intensive strawberry 

 growing I want to discuss the im- 

 portance of preparing the strawberry 

 bed for the second crop. When this 

 issue of The Strawberry reaches its readers 

 most of the strawberries will be gathered 

 and fields that have produced only one 

 crop of berries should be prepared for a 

 second crop. If the work is carefully and 

 properly done, there is no reason why the 

 second crop should not be as successful as 

 the first. 



]n treating upon this subject it is my 

 intention to give my own experience, and 

 I believe that every one gets more of 

 value from an article based on actual ex- 

 perience than from any other. I have al- 

 ways been very successful in getting a prof- 

 itable second crop of strawberries and I 

 want our readers to be just as successful 

 as I have been. I never try to put any 

 "flowers" in what I write — nothing but 

 boiled-down facts. 



i)l course, there are some fields of 

 strawberries in such poor condition that it 

 would not pay to expend the work neces- 

 sary for a second crop. In this case the 

 grower must be his own judge. No mat- 

 ter how particular the grower has been, 

 the fruiting bed is almost sure to be en- 

 cumbered with some weeds or other ob- 

 noxious growth, but this should not dis- 

 courage him in preparing it for another 

 crop. Everyone who has grown straw- 

 berries realizes how hard the ground has 

 been tramped by the pickers and how the 

 vines have been pawed over. This, in 

 connection with the big crop of berries 

 produced, has greatly weakened the plants, 

 and if the grower w 11 mow off the vines 

 just as soon as the last berries have been 

 removed and burn the old foliage and 

 mulching, then take ^ bar shear or com- 

 mon breaking plow and turn a furrow over 

 from each side of the row into the space 

 between the rows, this will make condi- 

 tions quite favorable to a second growth. 

 The cutting off of the tops will throw 

 much strength to the roots. The burn- 

 ing over process will destroy fungous 

 spores and insects of all kinds, and cutting 

 a furrow from each side of the row breaks 

 up the soil in such a way as to make it 

 easy to get a good bed of loose soil in 

 which the plants may make their new root 

 systems. 



Now after this work has been done, 

 and while the plants are setting in the 

 narrow space left by the plow, the grower 

 should go over each row wi:h a hoe and 

 thin out all of the older plants, leaving a 

 good strong hill every twelve or fifteen 

 inches, and when this is done a five-tooth 

 cultivator can be run over the top of the 

 ridge which was made by the breaking 

 plow. This will level the ridge down to 

 i's proper place. Then go o\ er each row 

 with a garden rake or a hoe and fill in all 



the places around the plants that the cul- 

 tivator did not fill and in doing this draw 

 a little soil over the crowns. The soil 

 should not be more than one-half inch 

 deep over the crowns. Covering the 

 plants in this manner assists them in build- 

 ing up a new root system, which is made 

 just below the crowns and above the old 

 roots. 



If the field is too large for hand work, 

 a common harrow can be drawn cross- 

 wise over the ridges. This will draw soil 

 enough over the crowns of the plants to 

 enable them to build up their new root 

 systems. Some growers claim that they 

 have lost plants by burning over the bed, 

 and this is because they did not do the 

 work properly. They would mow the 

 tops off and defer the burning for a week 

 or ten days, and during this time the 

 crowns would send up new growth and 

 then, of course, a hot fire would kill the 

 plants. 



During hot weather the vines will dry 

 in twenty-four hours and the burning 

 should be done just as soon as the foliage 

 will burn. Sometimes rain will come di- 

 rectly after the plants have been mowed 

 off, and it will remain wet for several 

 days. In such a case as this a grower 

 should examine the plants, and if they 

 have started to make new growth it would 

 then be best not to burn at all, but rake 

 off the coarsest of the mulching and foliage 

 and haul it from the field; but nine times 

 out of ten, if the grower will watch the 

 weather conditions closely and act prompt- 

 ly, the burning can be done successfully. 



Before the burning is done the mulch- 

 ing should be loosened up a little. In 

 small beds this work can be done with a 

 long rake handle. Just run it under the 

 mulching and raise it up so the air will 

 get under to dry it on the under side. In 

 large fields a hay tedder is a valuable 

 tool. This will kick up the straw in such 



a manner that it will dry out thoroughly 

 and will burn very quickly. 



The burning is always most successful 

 if it can be done on a windy day. I al- 

 ways do the firing by taking a fork full of 

 dry straw and set it on fire, then walk 

 along the rows of the side from which the 

 wind is coming. In this way with the 

 help of two men I can burn ten acres in 

 about one hour. If the straw and vines 

 are loosened up the fire licks it up mighty 

 quick. 



After I had narrowed down the rows 

 and covered the crowns with soil I would 

 take a weeder and go over the field in 

 both directions. This levels it up and 

 gives it the appearance of a field without 

 anything planted in it, but in a few days 

 plants would send up their foliage above 

 the soil, showing bright green streaks clear 

 across the field. Just as soon as the plants 

 were large enough so that the row could 

 be followed easily, the Planet Jr. twehe- 

 tooth cultivator was put in service. Hoe- 

 ing and cultivating was carried on the 

 same as in a newly set field. Each hill 

 was allowed to make enough runners to 

 form a rather wide double-hedge row. 

 After my ideal row was formed the rest 

 of the runners were treated as weeds. 



If the soil was not rich enough to suit 

 me, I had manure hauled and scattered 

 between the rows. This was applied 

 before the plants began to come up, and 

 tlie manure was, of course, incorporated 

 with the soil in cultivating and hoeing. 



When a field is prepared and handled 

 in this manner it takes an expert to tell it 

 from a field of newly set plants, and at 

 fruiting time the berries were just as big, 

 and just as many of them, as during the 

 first crop. 



Now just a few suggestive "don'ts" 

 and I am done. 



Don't leave the plants stand a day after 

 the last picking, but mow the vines off at 



FRINGING STRAWBERRIES TO HUMBOLDT, TENN , FOR SHIPMENT TO THE NORTH 



Ptie ISJ 



