Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - [Market-farming] Strawberry Questions

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: pam AT twinoaks.org
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Strawberry Questions
  • Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 13:42:44 -0400


We grow 1400' organic strawberries (more than
one
variety), and have been replacing one quarter
of the
rows each fall. We don't like the quantity of
weeding
and thinning this involves. This spring one
patch all
but drowned. We're going to use this
opportunity to try
switching to replacing plants after 2 seasons. I
have
several questions I'm looking for help on.
1. I read that you should avoid growing
strawberries where nightshades were growing
previously (to avoid spreading Verticillium Wilt).
Our
new strawberry patches usually follow sweet
corn
undersown with soy, which fits nicely within the
recommended previous crops (grasses,
brassicas,
legumes). What about growing tomatoes and
peppers
in the year following the strawberries?? We'd till
in the
strawberries in June, after 2 years of fruiting,
grow
summer cover crops, plant rye and hairy vetch
in early
September, and do organic no-till tomatoes the
next
year. Is this risky?
2. How would I recognise Verticillium Wilt from
all
the other ills that tomatoes are prone to in a
humid
climate? (We're in zone 6b in central Virginia).
Are
there any good resources to distinguish
diseases?
3. We often propagate from our own plants,
transplanting runners in October. Could I do
this
earlier (zone 6b)? September? Late August?
We have
overhead irrigation only at this point.
4. I've read of planting out "dormant root
plants"
in late summer. What are these? Could I dig up
runners now and refrigerate them until planting
time?
Any help with these questions would be
appreciated.
Thanks,
Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community, Louisa,
VA
------- End of forwarded message -------





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page