North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William Freels" <w.freels@worldnet.att.net>]

Friends:

My father was one of the most successful at raising strawberries in Western
Kentucky in the  1940s.

The straw was scattered  1" deep over the matted row during the first
freeze.  This kept the plants from freezing out of the ground during the
freezing and thawing that happened many times during the winter.

This straw was raked to the middles, between the matted rows, as soon as
freezing weather was over.

This straw in the middles kept the ground   less muddy  for the pickers.
Seems like picking time was always cold and rainy weather  This straw
sometimes would be the reason that pickers were working in my father's
fields instead of the neighbor's ( no straw ) fields that were really bad.

Best regards,  Bill Freels, Paducah, Ky
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark or Helen Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 11:50 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] Strawberry mulch


> Any ideas  on the best time to mulch strawberries?  We've had a strawberry
> patch for three years now and never winter mulched.  This year I'm trying
to
> do things right.  Jim's mentioned he's had good results with pine needles
as
> mulch so I thought I'd give them a try.  I've been able to aquire bags of
> needles but don't know when to put them on.  How much should the plants
die
> back before I cover them?  (So far the plants' foliage is as green as
ever,
> we've only had lows of 30F.  And trees are losing their leaves but not
fully
> dormant.)  Also after covering up the plants, do you have to remove the
> mulch in the springtime, or will the strawberry plants push up through the
> mulch pack?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark Angermayer
> Zone 5 Kansas
>
>
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