ROOT DISEASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 233, 3 October 1933, Page 9

ROOT DISEASE.

STRAWBERRY CROPS.

FAILURES AT WHANGARE!

THOUSANDS OF PLANTS LOST. (By Telegraph.—-Own Correspondent.) WHANGAREI, this day. The dread root disease among strawberries has made i's first appearance '11 North Auckland, and as the outcome Mr. S. J. Watt, of the Grotto Gardens, the principal grower in this district, has lost practically the whole of his crop.

Since he commenced strawberry culture 011 his property fronting the Parua Bay Road, Mr. Watt has been very successful. and in 14 years has gathered over .'32 tons.

The yearling plants for the 193T5 season were procured from Ruawai anil planted in May. Owing to the excessive wet weather it was impossible to cultivate until the second week in August. When the warmer weather came. Mr. Watt noticed that the plants were backward, but not having had previous experience of the root disease attributed this to the pronounced wet season. Consequently he proceeded as usual with cultivation and manuring, incurring an expenditure of over £75. "

Last Friday two Auckland growers acquainted Mr. Watt of the fact that it was useless to proceed any further. "We are in the'rame box," they informed him. "The root disease has been playing havoc w;,th strawberry plantations in Auckland for a couple of years now."

» At this time of year, with the flowers in full bud and the fruit starting to form, the Grotto Gardens usually present a very pretty picture. Now tiic sight is a most distressing one. All except a few hundreds of the 45,000 plants are affected by the disease, some being already quite withered and dead, while others show unmistakable signs of declining.

Strange to say, the last consignment of plants, put in near the glasshouses t the top of the sloping garden, are unaffected so far. Between these plants and the other yearlings are several rows of two-vear-old Captain Cook plants, which also have escaped. All the yearling plants are of the Marguerite species. Others taken from the final consignment, but planted right at the bottom of the slope below the main body of ruined plants, are also affected. This leads to the inference that the disease percolates through the soil.

Mr. Watt said that the plants were grown in very rich soil at Ruawai, and then transplanted to poorer ground. He is inclined to believe that the same kind of strawberries have been grown so long that the strain has depreciated, and that the troubJj las flown to the weakest part, the root. Mr. Watt intends to give the land a spell from strawberry growing for at least two years. He estimates his loss for the 1933 season to be between £300 and £400.