Proven Berry Plants i i KNOTT’S BERRY PLACE < i Trees and Vines 
a height of about twelve inches, pinch 
or cut them back to about eight inches. 
This will make them branch and send up 
more and better canes. On some varie¬ 
ties (California Surprise for one), this 
is very important; and they should be 
cut early, while still short, not over fif¬ 
teen inches. As these canes grow out 
they should be held upright by a wire 
on each side of the row fastened to 
short cross arms on stakes. 
Then about February the canes should 
be headed back; on an average about 
one-third being cut off; some prune off 
much more. These canes we are referring 
to above, are the bush that grew during 
the past summer and are dormant in the 
late winter when this heading back is 
done. 
In the spring shortly before the fruit 
starts to ripen, you will note heavy 
canes (sometimes referred to as “suck¬ 
ers”) coming from the crown of each 
plant and growing up through the bush. 
Now, in reality, these are not suckers 
but are fruit wood for next year. In the 
East and Northwest we believe the ap¬ 
proved practice is to let these canes 
grow even though they are in the way 
of the pickers. In California the usual 
practice on most varieties of red rasp¬ 
berries is to cut these new canes back 
to within a foot from the ground shortly 
before picking starts. These branch out 
and by the time the harvest is finished 
are making a good bush for next year’s 
crop. As soon as the harvest is over the 
old wood that has just finished bearing 
should be pruned out. This is important 
for it gets rid of disease, insects or scale 
that might have gotten a start on this 
old wood and makes more room and 
light for the new bush to develop in. 
Keep the suckers that come up between 
the plants and between the rows hoed 
out at all times. 
Black Raspberries need no pruning the 
first summer, but should be held up with 
a low wire trellis. Ordinarily two wires 
one foot apart and two feet high is 
about right. The canes may grow 8 or 
10 feet long the first summer and should 
be headed back, while dormant, on an 
average about one-third their length. 
When the crop is picked the old wood is 
all cut out to the ground and the new 
handled as before, or if you prefer 
bushes, the new canes can be headed 
back a little when they reach three feet 
high. This will make the canes stand 
up in bushes the second season. These 
canes will send out lateral branches 
which should be headed back the follow¬ 
ing winter to about twelve inches from 
the upright canes. 
With Himalaya Blackberries only four 
canes should be allowed to grow from 
the start. They should be trained on 
high trellis, of two wires, with one cane 
each way on each wire. The 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. 
Himalaya Blackberry should be trel- 
lised the first summer as they grow, 
and the number of canes restricted to 
four or five, so that all the strength can 
be forced into these canes. Although 
the Himalaya bears on these main canes 
much more than one season, still each 
spring when heavy new suckers come 
out from the ground one or two should 
be saved each year to renew the wood 
on the trellis. In this way you will 
always have some new wood coming 
along to replace your old wood as it gets 
too old to bear maximum crops. 
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. 
FZiANT BARBY AS FOSSIBBB 
Time to Flant —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. 
FEED FOR HEAVY CROFS 
Fertilization —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 Yz 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 
29 
