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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] strawberry planting
  • Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 22:32:56 -0500


On Feb 12, 2005, at 10:08 PM, Tradingpost wrote:


I saw landscape fabric laid out on strawberry rows at the extension farm in
Alcalde, NM, and they're organic. No weeds. Of course they installed drip
irrigation to go with it.

Yes, that's a good point; planting in landscape fabric or plastic mulch would work. If the mulch is dark, you might need straw over it to keep the berries from overheating, and if you want runners to set you'd have to set them through the mulch yourself.

If you're going to certify as organic, check with your certifier first. The landscape fabric/plastic needs to be in the field continuously for more than a year to use it with strawberries, and at least some certifiers used to object to this. I'm not sure how the federal standards have affected this issue. If you're not getting certified, of course, this isn't an issue.

But they used a smother crop in the blackberry rows, New Zealand white
clover. Going by the taste of the berries, I'd say both methods work.

Clovers are a good cover crop, but might be too slow establishing for a smother crop. They're sometimes seeded mixed with oats, so the oats can discourage the weeds while the clover gets going. Also I think clovers work better if they have longer to stay in the field than in the relatively quick repetition of cover crops and tillage that I was suggesting to discourage the weeds.

I also don't know if you want clover in strawberries, even the low growing New Zealand. Clovers do spread. The blackberries wouldn't be bothered as they grow much taller, but I think strawberries would have trouble competing with the clover. I bet it works well in blackberries, though.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale





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