Proven Berry Plants * r KNOTT’S BERRY PLACE y y Trees and Vines 
high trellis, of two wires, with one cane 
each way on each wire. r i)he canes are 
headed back when they reach the next 
bush (about ten feet). No laterals 
should be allowed to grow between the 
ground and where the cane reaches the 
wire. These main canes are left year 
after year, like eastern grapevines, and 
all laterals are cut back in the winter 
to two or three buds. 
Corey Thornless: Prune exactly as 
described for Youngberries. 
There are as many different methods 
of pruning as there are different grow¬ 
ers. The plans suggested here of hand¬ 
ling the different varieties are only sug¬ 
gestive, but have proved satisfactory 
under most conditions. Each grower 
works out details that suits his own 
taste and convenience. 
Strawberries. It may seem unusual to 
speak of pruning strawberries, but 
whether we call it pruning or not, they 
should be thoroughly cleaned up in the 
winter. All of the dead and moldy leaves 
should be pulled off of the plants and 
raked up and be either composted, buried 
or burned. This helps prevent spoiled 
berries in wet weather later in the sea¬ 
son and it is also a help in preventing 
attacks of aphis and red spider later. 
Time to Plant —Strawberries may be 
planted any time from October until 
April. All varieties of bush berries 
should be planted after the first of Jan¬ 
uary and before the last of April. Occa¬ 
sionally we have seen fair results ob¬ 
tained, if the conditions were all favor¬ 
able, when planted even later, but we do 
not recommend it. During the usual 
season and under average conditions, 
February is the one best month for 
planting all kinds of berries in Califor¬ 
nia. Plant as early in the spring as the 
weather in your locality will permit. 
Pertilization —On nearly all soils it 
pays to fertilize berries. For bush ber¬ 
ries, if manure is scattered on the 
ground between the rows and irrigated 
and cultivated in. during the fall and 
winter, and the ground is not allowed to 
dry out, it is hardly possible to use too 
much. From five tons of poultry manure 
to twenty tons of barnyard manure per 
acre will usually give excellent results 
and will pay. In small plantings, from 
five to ten pounds per plant of poultry 
manure and twice that amount of other 
manure, scattered between the rows and 
hoed and watered in, usually increases 
the size and quality of the crop won¬ 
derfully. If manure is not available, 
from y 2 to 1 pound of nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia per plant scattered 
between the rows and soaked in at about 
blossoming time will help. Or if fish 
meal, blood meal or tankage is available 
from one to two pounds per plant work¬ 
ed in the ground in February will cer¬ 
tainly help make them do their stuff. 
The time of applying these different fer¬ 
tilizers is important because some mate¬ 
rials become available much quicker 
than others. 
On commercial plantings, when ma¬ 
nure is not available, from one-half to 
one ton of fish meal, blood meal, tank¬ 
age, or a good mixed fertilizer, the exact 
amount depending on the soil, will 
usually prove a very good investment. 
These materials are usually applied 
about the time growth starts in the 
spring. Some growers are coming to the 
conclusion that fall is a better time to 
apply most kinds of fertilizer, rather 
than the spring. This, of course, does not 
include the very soluble material, like 
nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, or 
nitrate of lime. For strawberries from 
three-fourths to one ton per acre of fish 
meal scattered down the irrigation fur¬ 
rows and cultivated in in February and 
an equal application again when the first 
crop begins to thin out, usually around 
the first of May, gives wonderful re¬ 
sults on many soils. On small plant¬ 
ings this would be at the rate of ten to 
fifteen pounds per hundred feet of row. 
If manure is to be used in the straw¬ 
berry bed or field; and there is nothing 
better; it should be scattered in the fur¬ 
rows between the rows early in the win¬ 
ter so the rains can carry it down, and 
so that it will be cultivated in and all 
out of the way, by the time irrigation 
starts in the spring, and this is very 
early for the early varieties of straw¬ 
berries. 
This well kept field of strawberries was on poor sandy land but was highly 
fertilized. It made the grower enough in two years to return to Japan and retire 
for life. 
25 
