STRAWBERRY SEASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20323, 2 August 1929, Page 14

STRAWBERRY SEASON.

GOOD YIELD EXPECTED.

PLANTS THRIVING WELL

Indications point to a good yield of strawberries in the coming season, which will commence about October. The plants are stated to be well forward and thriv ing, the recent, wet and cold weather in most cases not having retarded their growth. Their resistance to the inclement weather is attributed to the favourable conditions prevailing in the planting season in May and Juno last. Tho period of planting was stated bv one grower to have been t he best for 20 years. So far th? plants have been free from blight and in the Birkdale district unaffected by root disease, which has proved troublesome in that locality in the past. Last year the prices realised for .strawberries were the lowest obtained since the Croat War, the low values being duo to a greater yield of fruit in proportion to the number of plants. Given warm and fine weather another prolific yield is expected this year. ft is estimated that about 3,500,000 plants are being cultivated this season in the districts of Northcote, Birkdale, Glenfield and Avondale South. The largest beds are at Birkdale. The number of growers, as compared with last year, is slightly increased, the area of the plots having been in some cases reduced. The cultivation of this variety of fruit, necessitates a large amount of care and attention, four dressings of manure having to be applied. A common enemy of. the strawberry plant grower is swamp or water grass, a weed that rapidly grows and chokes tho young plants