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Growing strawberries is fraught with many difficulties, but one of the main problems that a conscientious gardener has to face is the fight against weeds. The point is not only that weeding itself is a rather exhausting task, but also that the delicate surface roots of strawberries react poorly to the slightest damage. But when removing weeds from strawberry plantings, wittingly or unwittingly one has to touch its roots. Therefore, protecting strawberries from weeds is the most important task when growing this beloved berry. It is advisable to prevent them from appearing in the strawberry beds in general, so that you don’t have to fight with someone later.
Where do weeds come from on strawberries?
Before you think about how to get rid of weeds, you need to understand how they got there in the first place. Most often, the problem begins long before planting strawberries when choosing and developing a site intended for growing them. The fact is that strawberries are the crop for which, when preparing planting beds The process of clearing the land of weeds is vitally important.If you do not pay attention at this point and leave the rhizomes of perennial weeds in the soil, then this is quite capable of destroying a significant part of the crop.
But even if the strawberry plantings were initially well cleared of weeds, usually after harvesting, gardeners tend to forget about the strawberries and until the fall the weeds manage to germinate again and even become seeded. The result that appears before your eyes in early spring is depressingly serious - the strawberry bushes are framed by the greenery of the weeds and everything has to start all over again.
The first stage of protecting strawberries from weeds
If you manage to completely clear the soil of the rhizomes of perennial weeds before planting a strawberry plantation (with any mechanical treatment, the seeds will in any case remain in the soil), then we can already consider that half the job is done. If you have to deal with “virgin soil” heavily overgrown with bindweed, wheatgrass, thistle and other perennial weeds, then the digging method with careful selection of all rhizomes works only in very small areas.
This is where the tactic of using continuous herbicides will ideally work.
Use of herbicides in the pre-planting period
The best thing preparing a site for planting strawberries start in the autumn, although it is possible to do this in early spring. Processing of future beds must be completed no later than two weeks before planting strawberry or garden strawberry seedlings. You can use the following drugs:
- Hurricane Forte;
- Roundup;
- Tornado.
All these preparations contain glyphosate as the main active ingredient, which is approved for use in summer cottages. Depending on the manufacturer, different packages may contain different percentages of the active ingredient. Please pay attention to this, as the cost and dosage may vary greatly as a result. The preparations are quite effective for pre-planting soil treatment if the instructions for use are followed and allow you to get rid of almost all popular varieties of weeds.
You can achieve better results with proper preparation of the beds. Since the drugs do not act on weed seeds in the soil, it is necessary to stimulate their germination as much as possible.
To do this, all unnecessary vegetation must first be mowed and removed from the beds. Then loosen the beds with a flat cutter or cultivator and compact the surface layer to ensure better contact of weed seeds with the soil.
The next step requires good watering.
When young weeds reach a height of 10-15 cm, they are treated with the selected herbicide strictly according to the instructions. After treatment, it is necessary that there is no rain or other watering for a day or two. It is also important not to loosen the treated soil for one to two weeks.
Application of organic technologies
If you want to know how to protect strawberries from weeds on your site before planting without using chemicals, then there is another equally effective technology.For more than 10 years, supporters of organic farming have been using EM preparations. The essence of their use for weed control is as follows.
On the selected plot of land, you need to mow down all unnecessary vegetation with a regular scythe or flat cutter. Then on the same day, the entire area is thoroughly drenched with any of the EM preparations. It is important that the concentration is 10 times higher than the usual one, which is used for treating cultivated plants.
The active microorganisms included in the EM preparations, once on fresh cuttings of weeds, begin to actively feed on them and soon the weeds die along with the roots. It is interesting that at the same time microorganisms that enter the soil cause active germination of weed seeds. If this procedure is carried out in the fall several weeks before frost, then the weed seedlings will soon be destroyed by the first autumn frosts.
If you have a sufficient quantity of any black material (film, roofing felt, non-woven material), then by covering all future strawberry beds with it before planting, you can finally get rid of the weeds. After all, after spending several months without sunlight, both young shoots and seedlings of weed rhizomes will die.
Protecting strawberries from weeds during the growing season
Unfortunately, even if you plant strawberries in beds that are completely cleared of weeds, weeds may appear on them from seeds blown by the wind, or from those that still remain in the soil (many seeds are stored in the soil and germinate only after 3 days). 5 years). In this case, modern covering materials can come to the aid of the gardener.
Using mulch when growing strawberries is not a new technique in gardening.
Straw mulch is an almost ideal option for strawberry beds, but in order to effectively resist weed control, a layer of straw of at least 6-8 cm is required. In the modern world, not every summer resident has the opportunity to obtain such an amount of straw. In addition, it is advisable to renew the straw layer every year.
Also very popular in past years for covering strawberries. weed control black film. This option really protects strawberry plantings well from weeds, but creates favorable conditions for the development of slugs, as well as many fungal diseases. Therefore, it is advisable to use film only in annual crops, when remontant strawberry varieties are grown only for one season.
Modern non-woven covering materials do not have all these disadvantages, among which are the following:
- Spunbond;
- Agril;
- Lutrasil;
- Agrospan;
- Agrotex.
There are many varieties of different colors and thicknesses available, but to protect strawberries from weeds, it is advisable to use black material with a density of at least 50-60 grams per square meter. meter.
The use of black non-woven material provides the following advantages:
- It allows moisture and air to penetrate, and the soil underneath always remains moist and loose, which is very important for strawberries.
- It can be used repeatedly. Manufacturers usually provide a 3-year warranty due to treatment with special ultraviolet protection agents.In the southern regions, sunlight is too intense, and it is advisable to protect the covering itself and the ground underneath by laying straw or mown grass on top.
- Under the non-woven material, slugs do not grow and fungal diseases do not multiply.
- The soil under such a covering warms up much faster, which allows strawberries to ripen a week or two earlier than usual.
- The material itself, which is made from polypropylene fiber, does not interact with water, soil or nutrient solutions and does not emit any harmful substances due to strong heating by the sun.
- Non-woven material will protect not only from annual, but also perennial weeds with spreading rhizomes.
- Strawberries growing on top of such a shelter do not come into contact with the soil, so they rot less and are always clean, even during heavy rains.
Residents of the southern regions will be especially interested in a new product that has appeared in recent years - a non-woven material consisting of two layers. The bottom one is black and the top one is white. It has all the above-mentioned advantages, but also prevents the strawberry root system from overheating due to the reflection of sunlight from the light surface.
Basic principles of using covering material
When using non-woven material to protect strawberries from weeds, it is important to consider the following:
You can spread the material on the beds both in autumn and spring, preferably before planting strawberry seedlings. To do this, first carefully level the soil. Then the material is spread on top and tightly fixed around the edges. It is better to use homemade U-shaped wire pins, but you can also use bricks, stones, boards and other materials.Cross-shaped or o-shaped cuts are marked and made, at a distance of at least 40 cm from each other. Strawberry seedlings are planted in them.
You can water strawberries directly over the material, but it is better to feed directly through the holes made in it.
In this case, the whiskers will not be able to penetrate under the surface of the material.
In protected ground, all the principles of using covering nonwoven material remain the same.
There is no need to remove the covering material for the winter. It may well last up to three years or more, and it is advisable to remove it along with moving the plantation to a new location.
Using all of the above methods, you can simplify the most basic strawberry care tasks and enjoy clean, sweet and beautiful berries.
