How to plant strawberries under covering material

If you're determined to grow a lot of early strawberries, be sure to learn how to plant strawberries under black covering material. Your harvest will surely be abundant and high-quality. Furthermore, using covering material saves gardeners a lot of hassle, reducing the hassle and increasing the yield. By planting strawberries correctly under covering, you'll get clean, juicy berries, no weed control, moist and loose soil in the strawberry bed, earthworms fertilize it, and an excellent harvest follows.

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How to choose covering material

There are quite a few such materials. You need to choose based on your needs. Some gardeners use the cheapest covering material—polyethylene. But this isn't the best option—the soil underneath rots, the polyethylene itself deteriorates and cracks in the heat, the soil doesn't breathe, fermentation doesn't occur, and condensation accumulates.

The best option is agrofibre, which has many advantages. Although more expensive, it's actually cheaper in practice, as it can last for several years. If you plant a strawberry bed and buy agrofibre for it, the covering material will last for 3-4 years, until you need to move the bed. For a new bed, you'll need to buy a new one. The main advantage of agrofibre is its porous structure, which allows air and moisture to pass through.

Agrofibre comes in several colours, and you should choose it based on your intended purpose. Black material (such as spunbond and lutrasil have proven effective) can be used year-round if securely anchored to the ground.

In addition to black and white, the film can also be two-color. This option is also popular because the light top layer reflects sunlight and prevents strawberries from burning, while the black inner layer prevents weeds from developing and maintains excellent soil condition. Lutrasil, Spunbel, and Agrospan are also good covering materials.

Lutrasil is produced both for greenhouse covering and for soil mulching. It is very lightweight and durable. White spunbond and agrospan are good for covering garden beds during spring frosts, while black is ideal for mulching.

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Selecting a site

Before purchasing any covering material, choose a sunny and well-ventilated garden bed. Weed and fertilize with a potting mix. You can prepare the following nutrient solution: a bucket of compost, a bucket of soil, another bucket of rotted horse manure, add two cups of ash, mix everything together, and you've got yourself a wonderful fertilizer for your future plants. Simply sprinkle the mixture on the soil, then water the bed generously with water and a solution of HB-101, and cover it for a week or two.

Preparing for landing

If your strawberries are in pots, water them at least an hour before replanting. If they're in peat pots, soak them in water for half a minute to soften the pot a bit, otherwise the roots will have a hard time breaking through. If the roots are exposed, it's best to soak them overnight in a rooting solution like HB-101.

Make cross-shaped slits in the covering material to just barely accommodate the bush—no more than that, otherwise weeds will creep in. Raise the bushes slightly onto the ridges to prevent standing water in the holes, which can lead to rot. That's it, you've planted your strawberries, and now they'll be growing on top of the agrofibre. The runners are easy to remove, the berries are clean, weed-free, the yield increases, and the soil doesn't overheat.

Advice: If you cover the bed with white agrofibre, you will get the harvest 6-7 days earlier.

Caring for strawberries

Once you've chosen the right bed, fertilized it, planted it correctly, and selected the right materials, now you need to know how to care for this fragrant beauty. The key is to water it promptly when the leaves emerge in the spring, when it begins to bloom, then when the berries begin to set, and after it stops bearing fruit—water well. After all, that's when next year's buds are being formed. In general, you need to keep the soil in your strawberry bed moist, but not too wet to prevent excess moisture from stagnating, and don't let it dry out either.

A month after planting, you should feed the strawberries with vermicompost, repeating the treatment after 14-16 days. Also, in early August, water the beds thoroughly and sprinkle them with half a kilo of ash. Apply vermicompost again to the leaves at the end of August.

In the first year, remove the runners, preferably the flower stalks as well, to allow the strawberries to establish proper roots and prepare for winter. In the second year, after the harvest is complete, carefully trim off all the old leaves. Some gardeners say you can mow down all the foliage—in principle, you can, but you need to do it quickly, or the strawberries won't be bare when the frost hits. Experienced gardeners advise against this—yes, the leaves will be forced off the bushes, but it will take a lot of energy for them to grow back, and they are needed to store nutrients for a good spring harvest.

Protecting strawberries from pests

Covering material frees up a lot of time for the gardener and protects the harvest; the leaves don't touch the ground, so pests have less of a field to roam, but still, you need to provide some additional protection for your strawberries.

• The drug “Dachnik” has proven effective against weevils; treat strawberries in August against this pest.
• Dandelion infusion (half a kilo of leaves per bucket of water) and garlic infusion (100 g of dry shoots per bucket of water) will protect against pests.

By following these tips, you will get a wonderful strawberry harvest, good luck!
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