OCR Text |
Show Most Strawberry Fields Grown Under Matted Row Whether fall or spring planted, most commercial strawberry fields are grown under what is generally known as the matted row system. The original orig-inal plants are spaced in rows 30 to 36 inches apart. The plants send out stolons and form a thick matted row about '12 to 14 iirches wide. Such a system gives an excellent bearing surface, sur-face, whether the grower chooses to cultivate or mulch between the rows. After the matted row is formed and the plants become dormant, they should never be cultivated the following follow-ing spring. To do so excites vegetative vege-tative action on the part of the plant, which is not conducive to the proper development of the fruiting spurs. The tleshy crowns of the strawberry plant store up plant food within the tissues during the growing season, and after the rest period a patch should not he heavily fertilized or cultivated. cul-tivated. Heavy fertilizing may cause the entire field to turn from fruiting into a mass of new plants. |