CRANBERRY DISEASES ON THE PACIFIC COAST 9 
DISEASES OF BERRIES IN STORAGE 
Increasing attention has been given within recent years to the 
losses of cranberries in storage resulting from fungous diseases and 
other causes {1,5,9,10). In the Pacific coast region the problem 
is predominantly one of storage rots. From the point of view of the 
grower there are two periods of storage losses, the first including 
decays developing in the warehouse before berries are shipped and 
the second those occurring in the markets. 
It is now well known that the development of fungous diseases 
can be materially reduced by care in harvesting and handling the 
crop and by storing the berries in cool, well-ventilated warehouses. 
With the best of attention to these details a certain degree of 
deterioration, varying from season to season, always takes place 
before the berries are milled and shipped to the markets. This loss 
is taken directly by the grower, the spoiled berries being removed in 
the processes of milling and sorting. The magnitude of the loss 
suffered prior to shipping often is not fully realized. It was found 
by actual count of representative samples of berries to vary from 5 
per cent to more than 20 per cent in the storage experiments of 
1924, these tests including three varieties from different bogs, and 
representing various spraying schedules. (See Table 8, p. 14.) 
Rots develop much more rapidly after berries have been milled, 
packed, and subjected to the adverse conditions of shipping and 
handling in the markets. Given a sufficient extent of fungus 
infection to begin with, a shipment of berries leaving the grower in 
excellent condition may be absolutely unsalable" in the markets a 
short time later. The effect which a series of such shipments will 
have on the good will of the trade should be evident (3). Where 
experience has shown that, despite all possible care in harvesting 
and handling, an excessive percentage of storage and market rot 
develops in frequent years, the only recourse available to the pro- 
ducer is to prevent the initial infection of berries by putrefactive 
fungi. This condition may be said to exist in a general way in the 
entire Pacific coast region. 
Storage rots are caused by a number of different fungi. The 
symptoms produced by most of them, however, are so nearly identical 
that it is practically impossible to determine by inspection alone 
the fungus responsible for the rotting of a particular berry. Again, 
these fungi are similiar, in that they infect berries in the field before 
harvest. Since the effect on the berry, the time of infection, and the 
control methods are so much alike, these fungi will be here treated 
as a class, and the specific organisms involved will be reserved for 
future consideration. The major part of the experimental work 
described in this bulletin was concerned with controlling storage rots. 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK 
METHODS 
Bordeaux mixture 2 has always proved to be the most effective 
fungicide for cranberries and therefore was used "throughout these 
experiments, except for a few tests conducted with lime-copper dust. 
2 For descriptions of the methods of spraying cranberrv bogs, the reader is referred to publications 
by C. L. Shear (8) and H. K. Plank U). The commercial Bordeaux preparation used in 1924 and 1925, 
which gave practically as good results as the freshly prepared mixture, consisted of pulverized bluestone 
and lime in separate containers. 
102485— 26f 2 
