Planting 21 



SEASON OF PLANTING 



Strawberries are planted commercially every month of 

 the year at some point on the continent. The heaviest 

 planting is in the spring; but February is springtime in 

 Arkansas, and May in Ontario. The limits for commer- 

 cial planting in each locality are rather narrow. 



Factors that determine the time of planting. 



The factors determining the time of planting are tem- 

 perature, moisture and the nature of the soil. Plants 

 cannot be set in frozen groimd nor will they thrive if the 

 ground freezes deeply soon after they are set. Wherever 

 the ground freezes to a depth of six inches or more, late 

 fall and winter planting is impracticable. If fall-set 

 plants are mulched, they may escape injury, but nothing 

 is gained unless they make enough growth during the fall 

 and winter to produce at least a light crop the following 

 spring. This restricts practically all of Canada and the 

 northern half of the United States east of the Rocky 

 Mountains to spring planting, save for the very small 

 planting in late summer in market gardens. South of the 

 latitude of Washington, D.C., strawberries can be planted 

 any time of the year when it is not very hot or very dry. 



Newly-set plants must have plenty of water. In irri- 

 gated regions, plants can be set any month that the 

 ground is open, since the water supply is under control. 

 In hmnid regions, the best time to plant depends largely 

 on the occurrence of rains. 



Strawberries can be set in the fall in sandy soils with 

 safety when they would fail on clay soils, because sands 

 do not heave. The plants suffer less from cut-worms in 

 fall or winter planting, the stand is surer and it is easier 



