24 UNIV. OF N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 232 



EFFECT OF FERTILIZER ON STRAWBERRIES 



What effect does the continued previous application of fertilizer to land 

 have on strawberry production? This question was a subject of study 

 last year in vegetable garden plots which for eight years have been handled 

 with the following applications: Plot 1, 32 tons manure; Plot 2, 24 tons 

 manure, 150 pounds tankage, 100 pounds sodium nitrate, 600 pounds acid 

 phosphate, 150 pounds muriate of potash; Plot 3, green manure, 250 

 pounds tankage, 160 pounds nitrate of soda, 500 pounds acid phosphate, 

 300 pounds muriate of potash; Plot 4, 16 tons manure, same chemicals as 

 Plot 3; Plot 5, check; Plot 6, 8 tons manure and same chemicals as Plot 3; 

 Plot 7, green manure. 



Prior to 1926 these plots had been used for the production of annual 

 truck crops. The fertilizers are spread broadcast and worked into the 

 soil before the crop is planted; and one half of each plot is hmed every 

 other season. The sandy loam soil of these plots originally contained only 

 a small amount of organic matter. 



The field was set to Howard 17 strawberry plants in the spring of 1926. 

 The most noticeable result from the fertilizers was a high mortality of the 

 plants set in those plots receiving chemicals. The relative stands in 

 Plots 2, 4, and 6, seem to indicate that manure to a certain extent counter- 

 acted the killing effect of the chemical fertilizers. Manure enormously 

 increased the production of new runner plants; Plot 1 produced 28.7 more 

 new plants per plant set than the check, or more than twice as many. 

 Ordinarily one would expect a proportionately greater increase from a 

 light application of stable manure than from additional amounts. In 

 this case Plots 4 and 6, which received a heavy application of chemicals 

 in addition to the manure, produced fewer runner plants than the number 

 which would be proportional to the manure applied. This indicates that 

 the number of new plants is less than would have been obtained had no 

 chemical been used. 



This difference was proportionately as great early in the season as in 

 October, indicating that the effect of chemicals on runner growth was 

 probably due mostly to its early effect in the season on the plants set. 



The yield was high and was directly proportional to the number of 

 plants produced. In Plot 1 the plants formed such a wide dense matted 

 row that picking was difficult. 



On June 28, when 54.9 per cent of the crop had been harvested, the 

 variation of any single plot was not more than 3.5 per cent from the 

 average, and the variations were not consistent with the treatments or 

 with growth. In this experiment fertilizers did not affect the time of 

 ripening. 



A comparison of the limed and unlimed half of these plots shows little 

 or no effect due to lime. Of the plants surviving, 50.4 per cent were in 

 the unlimed half, and the fruit produced was 49.5 per cent of the total. 

 There were some rather wide variations in individual plots both in number 

 of plants and in yield, but they appear to be simply chance fluctuations 

 rather than due to any effect of the lime. (Hatch Fund.) 



