berries from being- spattered with dirt by rain 

 during- fruiting season; fourth, by delaying 

 blooming it tends to prevent injury by frost in 

 the spring. 



casting fertilizer for the young strawberry 

 patch. Better and more economical results will 

 be had with smaller amounts applied more di- 

 rectly to the plants as outlined above. 



Time of application and amount of mulch re- 

 quired varies. In northern regions where mulch 

 is needed for winter protection it should be ap- 

 plied soon after the ground is frozen and plants 

 have become dormant. In such cases three or 

 four tons per acre of straw is advisable. Where 

 some winter protection is needed, but it is not 

 planned to leave straw on for frost protection in 

 the spring, somewhat less material is needed. In 

 southern sections the mulch is often applied after 

 spring cultivation as it is not needed for winter 

 protection. It will be found that mulching is 

 much more effective in spaced rows or hill rows 

 than in thickly set matted rows, as the straw can 

 be worked down between the plants where it is 

 less likely to blow away and where it aids in con- 

 serving moisture just where moisture is most 

 needed. This is especially helpful in dry seasons. 

 Where mulch is applied in the fall it is usually 

 raked to the center of the rows in the spring- 

 about the time growth starts. To avoid frost 

 injury by delaying blossoming the mulch is left 

 on longer but removed before bleaching of young 

 shoots becomes severe. 



Materials. Wheat straw and marsh grass are 

 considered the best materials, but rye straw, pine 

 needles, coarse strawy manure and various kinds 

 of hay or roughage can be used to advantage. 

 Another practice is to plant oats between the 

 strawberry rows in September. These make a 

 good growth before frost when they are killed. 

 They are left and serve as a mulch at fruiting 

 time. There is not much winter protection af- 

 forded by this practice and in dry seasons there is 

 danger of the oats taking too much moisture. 

 Otherwise the practice looks good for sections not 

 needing winter protection or spring cultivation. 

 Summer mulching is not recommended for spring 

 bearing varieties. Under some conditions it may 

 be used to advantage with Everbearers. 



Late summer applications. Evidence is ac- 

 cumulating that late summer applications of fer- 

 tilizers will produce far better results than ap- 

 plications made the following spring. In this 

 section the general practice is to fertilize just 

 before growth starts in early spring. It seems 

 likely that better results would be had from late 

 summer applications except possibly in cases of 

 old beds or of young beds where leaf disease 

 was an important factor, or on poor soils with 

 varieties that naturally made too little foliage 

 growth. Our August-September mixture con- 

 sists of 700 pounds Nitrate of Soda, 300 pounds 

 of tankage, 100 pounds of dry fish, 900 pounds 

 Dissolved (Acidulated) Bone, which gives an 

 analysis of about 9-5-0. Of this mixture we use 

 from three to seven hundred pounds per acre de- 

 pending on the condition of the plant beds in 

 regard to vigor. In all cases we make the appli- 

 cation only when the foliage is thoroughly dry 

 and this is brushed off the leaves with a cedar 

 or pine branch swung up and down the row to 

 keep the fertilizer on the bed. Most soils have 

 sufficient potash naturally in the soils or left 

 over from fertilizers applied to the other crops 

 but if it is felt that some potash should be added 

 for insurance we would recommend not more 

 than two or three percent. Excessive quantities 

 of nitrogen should be avoided as too rank growth 

 which an excess of this element produces, is not 

 favorable for pollenation, keeping quality or 

 total yield. One of the reasons for favoring 

 August-September applications is that nitrogen 

 applied then is effective in aiding fruit bud for- 

 mation and building up larger, stronger crowns 

 without apparently causing as much softening 

 of the berries as when applied in spring. 



Spring- applications in this section are made 

 mostly with a complete fertilizer, about 4-8-4 or 

 7-6-5. However we prefer and use the 9-5-0 mix- 

 ture suggested in preceding paragraph whenever 

 we make any applications in the spring to our 

 own beds. 



Manure and Fertilizer 



It should be noted that many fertile, well 

 drained soils on dairy farms, truck farms and on 

 naturally rich soil do not need the addition of 

 any chemical fertilizers. A rank healthy growth 

 of plants, with vigorous dark green foliage is 

 evidence that more fertilizer is not needed. How- 

 ever, most soils where strawberries are grown 

 will give some response to the proper use of ad- 

 ditional fertilizer. Barnyard manure, supplying 

 both nitrogen and humus is the best fertilizer for 

 strawberries. It should be applied broadcast and 

 disced into the soil before plants are set. Equally 

 satisfactory results are had if this has been ap- 

 plied to the previous crop. 



Nitrogen has more effect in influencing straw- 

 berry production than any other element. Good 

 results are also had from phosphorus under some 

 conditions. Potash gives little or no response. 

 It is claimed without convincing evidence that 

 potash increases the firmness of the berries. 



As a plant starter and grower we use about 

 700 pounds of a mixture composed of 1500 pounds 

 Dissolved (Acidulated) Bone and 500 pounds of 

 Super Phosphate. We have had fine results from 

 this mixture put in the drill before plants are set 

 and thoroughly mixed into the soil. This mix- 

 ture can be applied with good results as a side 

 dressing soon after the plants are set and growth 

 started in the spring. Where Dissolved (Acidu- 

 lated) Bone is not available, we recommend the 

 use of tankage, cottonseed meal, or some other 

 organic nitrogen along with bone meal or Super 

 Phosphate to give a formula fairly high in both 

 nitrogen and phosphorus. Salts of both Nitrate 

 and potash should never be put where they will 

 come in contact with the roots of strawberry 

 plants. By using a complete fertilizer which 

 included some of these in the drill under plants 

 many fields of plants hrthe past have been killed 

 out very badly, the dying out occurring all 

 through the summer as the plants become gradu- 

 ally weakened. We do not recommend broad- 



Large berries of any variety are not as firm 

 as small ones. The proper amount of nitrogen 

 fertilizers does not make berries softer except as 

 it makes them larger. An excess of nitrogen will 

 make them softer and more subject to rot. Ap- 

 plications of nitrogen and phosphorus together 

 have resulted in better quality fruit in a number 

 of tests. 



For further discussion of the value. of late 

 summer fertilizing see page 15. Also it will pay, 

 especially in northern sections, where straw- 

 berries are often planted on rich soils, to con- 

 sider carefully before any chemical fertilizers 

 are used, especially with such rank growing 

 varieties as Dorsett, Fairfax, Catskill and others. 

 Where excessive growth and softening of the 

 berries from nitrogen is not feared it is possible 

 to delay ripening of any variety for several days 

 by its use. Growers in the north sometimes do 

 this to delay their crop until after shipments from 

 sections further south have slackened. 



Soil Acidity and Lime 



Strawberries grow best in a soil that is 

 slightly acid. They grow satisfactorily in soils 

 running from slightly sweet to moderately acid. 

 They will hardly grow at all in soils that are 

 moderately sweet or very acid. For those famil- i 

 iar with pH tests for soil acidity we can say , 

 that the optimum is from 5.7 to 6. The range 

 of satisfactory growth is from 5 to 7 and they 

 will survive within a range of 4 to 8. Experi- 

 ments in Virginia and elsewhere demonstrate 

 that strawberries will thrive under more acid 

 conditions if there is a large content of organic i 

 matter. Where strawberries have been planted 

 on soils that are quite sweet Ammonium Sul- 

 phate should be substituted for Nitrate of Soda 

 in fertilizer applications. If lime is to be used 

 to correct a very acid condition we would prefer 

 to have it applied to the previous crop or at 

 least during the fall preceding spring setting. 



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