Strawberries, like any berry crop, require protection from external influences. Mulching saves the soil from drying out and overheating, protects from weeds and pests. For strawberries, planting under covering material will be such a salvation.
Landing Pros
Planting plants under covering material greatly facilitates the care of berries. Therefore, if growing strawberries was previously a very time-consuming task for you, then mulching will solve the problem.
Everyone wants to enjoy these fragrant and juicy berries. But if you spend a lot of time on care, and the resulting crop is far from expectations, then any desire to grow strawberries disappears. To keep you inspired, there is a great new growing method – mulching. Therefore, the advantages of using covering material for planting berries should be described in more detail.
- Using black mulch film or black agrofibre for shelter, you can forget about weed control forever, because these materials do not let the sun’s rays through at all.
- Mulching allows you to create an optimal microclimate in which the soil will not dry out and weather. On the contrary, it will remain loose and moist. In addition, earthworms gather under the covering material, which fertilize and loosen the soil – there is also no need for a procedure.
- Plants grown on a mulch bed will be especially strong and strong, as they form many adventitious roots.
- It will become easier to deal with extra mustaches, since they simply will not have anything to gain a foothold on. You only need to take scissors and cut off unnecessary antennae.
- The use of black spunbond allows you to speed up the process of ripening berries. In addition, even in rainy weather, strawberries will remain clean, since there is no contact with the ground. The use of covering materials also prevents the berries from rotting, which allows them to maintain their marketable appearance and increase yields.
- Any pests and diseases that are in the soil are not afraid of plants, since the leaves do not come into contact with the ground.
- During winter frosts, even in the absence of snow cover, you will not need to worry that the plants will freeze. During the summer, the soil warms up well and absorbs heat, which will remain in the ground for a long time. Therefore, even the spring fluctuation of day and night temperatures will not harm the plants.
Inorganic mulch has a number of advantages over organic covering material – it does not decompose. Organic mulch can soon become a breeding ground for fungi and bacteria, so planting strawberries under such covering material does not always live up to expectations.
Material selection
There are two types of covering materials for mulching strawberry beds: organic and inorganic.
Pine needles are often used as organic mulch. They help keep the root system from drying out on hot summer days, prevent the growth of weeds, and serve as a good warming for plants in winter. The use of pine needles gives you the opportunity to enjoy another bonus – the aroma and taste of the berries will noticeably improve. It has been noticed that coniferous phytoncides share many useful substances with berries.
Strawberry bushes can also be mulched with straw or half-rotted sawdust.
Straw significantly improves soil microflora due to the propagation of hay bacillus in it, which produces up to eighty useful antibiotics, as well as phytoncides. Therefore, you can forever forget about root rot.
But if you are going to use these materials to cover plants, remember that they decompose quickly and will soon turn into breeding grounds for fungi and bacteria.
Therefore, despite all the benefits that organic covering material is endowed with, many gardeners still prefer an inorganic mulch, such as plastic wrap or non-woven material. The color scheme can be different: white, black, two-tone and others.
Particularly popular is the two-color film, as it consists of two layers: outer (light) and inner (black), and each of them performs its own functions. The light layer prevents overheating of the soil, and thus creates optimal conditions for the reproduction of earthworms and the development of the root system of plants. In addition, the top layer is able to reflect the sunlight that falls on the strawberry bushes and prevents burns on the leaves. The purpose of the inner layer is to prevent the development of weeds and pests.
When it comes to non-woven fabric, there are several types. As a mulch for strawberries, spunbel, spunbond, agrospan, lutrasil are used.
Each of these coatings has its own advantages. German scientists did not sit idle, and the result of their fruitful work was this light, durable high-quality material. With its parameters, it surpasses even a plastic film. The material comes in two colors: black and white. If the first is used mainly to cover greenhouses, then black is used as a mulching cover for strawberries. The use of one layer of material allows you to protect plants from frost down to -2 degrees. If you cover the plants with a double layer, they will not be afraid even of frost at -7 degrees.
As for agrospan, spanbel, spunbond, these nonwoven materials are made of polypropylene yarns by thermal bonding. For their production, the latest scientific developments are used. Therefore, an ultraviolet stabilizer is introduced into the polymer melt, which enhances the resistance of the covering material to solar radiation, which does not always favorably affect strawberry bushes.
The service life of spunbel and spunbond is 4 years. It is during this period that the peak yield of the strawberry plantation is observed. After 4 years, it needs to be transplanted, which requires the replacement of covering material.
Technology
Before you set up a strawberry plantation, you need to prepare the soil: dig up the beds with a shovel, and also remove the weeds. Feed the soil well with humus or manure. Straw will also work, as it can also serve as an organic mulch for strawberries, so when digging the soil, add it.
Having fed and moistened the soil, you can begin to form high two-row beds. Dig small ditches around the entire perimeter of the beds (they are needed in order to fix the covering material). The soil must be carefully leveled with a rake.
If you are going to use plastic wrap as a mulch material, then first you need to place a cable irrigation hose on the garden bed.
Covering material should be carefully spread on the bed, while the edges should be fixed gradually, as it is rolled out. Try to keep the mulch firmly attached to the soil.
In order to fix the edges, you can use stones, sandbags, trimming boards. You can also just sprinkle them with earth. For a more reliable fastening of agrofibre, it is fashionable to use studs, having previously made them with your own hands from medium-thickness wire. If you use black spunbond, then keep in mind that its structure is two-sided, and if one of the sides allows water to pass through, then the second, on the contrary, is designed to prevent moisture from evaporating. Therefore, when attaching this material, spread it so that the moisture-permeable side is on top.
It is important that the rows of plants come out even. This is not difficult to achieve if you use an ordinary cord for marking. Just stretch it out the length of your garden and then cut small holes for the young strawberry bushes.
Most gardeners prefer not to complicate their task, and make ordinary cruciform cuts. Others approach this matter more responsibly and make small round holes with scissors or a clerical knife. But do not overdo it, we do not need large holes, because weeds can easily break through through the covering material. The distance between the bushes should be about 30 centimeters, between the rows – up to 40 centimeters.
When you are done with attaching the covering material, you can start planting the bushes. There will be no problem feeding strawberries, because this can be done easily using holes in the mulch.
Video “Mulching strawberries with plastic wrap
The video shows how the strawberry beds are formed with special attachments.
