If you are in the mood to grow a lot of early strawberries, then be sure to find out how to plant strawberries under black covering material, and your harvest will definitely delight you with its abundance and quality. In addition, using covering material, summer residents protect themselves from unnecessary trouble, carry less, and more sense. Having planted the strawberries correctly under the cover, you will get clean, juicy berries, no need to fight weeds, the earth is moist and loose stored on the strawberry bed, earthworms fertilize it there, and the crop is excellent.
You may need information: how to get rid of moles in the country in a simple way.
How to choose a cover material
Actually, there are a lot of such materials. You need to proceed from your needs when choosing. There are summer residents who use the cheapest of covering materials - polyethylene. But this is not the best option - the ground under the film rumbles, the polyethylene itself deteriorates from the heat, cracks, the soil does not breathe, fermentation does not occur, and besides, condensate accumulates.
The best option would be agrofibre, which has a lot of advantages, and although it is more expensive in price, it turns out cheaper, since it can serve for several years. If you lay a strawberry bed, and buy agrofibre for it, then just for 3-4 years, until you need to transfer the bed, you will be provided with covering material. And it will be necessary to buy a new one in a new garden. The main advantage of agrofibre: a porous structure that allows air and moisture to pass through.
Agrofibre can be of several colors, and you need to buy it depending on what purpose you are pursuing. Black material (spunbond, lutrasil showed itself perfectly) can be used all year round, securely fixed to the ground.
The film can be, in addition to black and white, still two-tone. This option is also popular due to the fact that the upper light background beats off the sun's rays and the strawberry is not prone to burns, the inner black prevents the weeds from developing, and holds the soil in excellent condition. Lutrasil, spanbel and agrospan are also good as covering material.
Moreover, lutrasil is produced both for sheltering greenhouses and for mulching the soil. It is very light and durable. White spanbond and agrospan are good for sheltering beds during spring frosts, black - for mulching is ideal.
Interesting information: a garden for a bummer who does not dig up all the secrets.
Site selection
Initially, even before the purchase of covering material, you need to choose a bed - solar and ventilated. Weed weeds, fertilize with soil mixture. You can prepare such a nutritious substance: a bucket of compost, a bucket of earth, horse manure overripe another bucket, add 2 cups of ash, mix - and a great dressing for your future pets is ready. Just sprinkle the soil with the mixture, then spill the garden bed with plenty of water and HB-101 solution and cover for another week.
Preparation for landing
If you have strawberries in pots - pour them in water before transplanting at least an hour, if in peat pots - lower them into the water for half a minute so that the pot is softened a little, and it will be difficult for the roots to break through. If open roots - it is better to soak overnight in the composition for roots of type HB-101.
In the covering material, make cross-shaped cuts so that the bush just barely fits, you don’t need anymore, otherwise the weeds will climb, and lift the bushes slightly on the ridges so that there, in the dimples, the water does not stagnate, which can lead to decay.All planted strawberries, and now it will grow on top of agrofibre. The mustache is easy to remove, the berry is clean, there are no weeds, productivity increases, the soil does not overheat.
Tip: if you cover the bed with white agrofibre, you will get the crop 6-7 days earlier.
See also: sowing calendar for 2015 for central Russia.
Strawberry Care
The bed was correctly chosen, fertilized, planted correctly, and the right material was chosen, now you still need to know how to care for the fragrant beauty. The main thing is to water on time when the leaves grow in the spring, when it begins to bloom, then when the berries go into the course, after it ceases to bear fruit - also water well. After all, then the kidneys for the next year are just laid. In general, it is necessary to ensure that the soil on the strawberry bed is moist, but not too wet, so that excess moisture does not stagnate, but not bring to drying.
A month will pass after planting, and you need to feed strawberries with vermicompost, repeat after 14-16 days. Also, at the beginning of August, water the beds well and sprinkle them with a pound of ash, at the end of August, again apply biohumus on the sheets.
In the first year, remove the mustache, preferably flower stalks, let the strawberries take root well and prepare reliably for the winter. In the second year at the end of the harvest, carefully cut off the old leaves. Some summer residents say that you can mow all the foliage - in principle, you can, you just need to catch it, if only strawberries did not come to frost. Experienced gardeners advise against this - yes, the bushes will drive out the leaves, but it will take a lot of effort to grow them, and they are needed for laying nutrients in the spring to form a good crop.
Protecting Strawberries from Pests
The covering material gives a lot of free time to the gardener and the crop protects the leaves do not contact the ground, so the pests have less expanse, but still, you need to hedge the strawberries a little more.
• The preparation “Summer resident” proved to be good for weevil, treat strawberries in August from this pest.
• An infusion of dandelion (a pound of leaves per bucket of water) and an infusion of garlic 100 g of dry arrows per bucket of water will protect against pests.
Adhering to these tips, you will get a wonderful strawberry crop, good luck!
You might be interested in: marvelous tomatoes from russian gardens reviews.
When to plant strawberries for seedlings from seeds in 2019
What month is better to choose for a strawberry transplant in the fall
How to cover strawberries for the winter
Proper care and pruning strawberries in the fall in the suburbs