How to grow strawberries on agrofiber

In spring, every grower has a hot time when it's time to do a lot. This is cleaning the site, preparing the soil for new plantings, caring for seedlings and inventory. And, forgetting about the progress that has come to the agrarian sphere, many in the old fashion are constantly digging, loosening and weeding their plantations, bending their back in three deaths, from May to September.

Is not it easier to learn about new products that help people in garden activities? One of such assistants became agrovolokno - light fabric from a polypropylene fiber.

Growing strawberries with agrofiber gives a huge number of advantages to summer residents and truck farmers. Let's talk about this material and the features of working with it.

Agrofibre and its advantages

This is a modern covering material that is made of polypropylene fiber. It is environmentally friendly, has the structure of thin and air fabric fabric. Spunbond( another name for agrofiber) is used for growing garden and vegetable crops and protecting fields from wind and cold instead of snow, and it is also indispensable for landscape design.

The use of agrofiber in growing strawberries has several advantages:

1. Such material can be of different colors - white and black.
   • White strawberries are saved by strawberry bushes from the scorching sun or from the last spring frosts, and some truck farmers cover them with strawberries even for the winter. You can not be afraid of the fact that the agribusiness will crush the plant with its weight, and this will hinder their growth. In fact, it is an easy covering material, and its main purpose is to maintain a temperature balance between the earth, the plant and the environment. You can safely cover them with strawberries after planting and open only before flowering.
   • Black cloth used for mulching the ground: cover it under the plants to get rid of weeds, over-drying the soil, against washing out fertilizers and for the convenience of processing bushes, harvesting.
     
     
     
2. Agglomerate can be of different density: from 10 g / m2 to 60 g / m2.And the density of the material depends on its purpose.
   • The greater the density of the white cloth, the more resistant to spring or night frost will be the strawberry, hidden under it. Strawberry bushes, covered with a cloth with a density of 40 g / m 2 - 60 g / m2, can withstand temperatures up to -9 ° C.
   • With a warmer and more comfortable weather, the light fabric needs to be replaced with a lighter and airy one: it better passes water, air and light. The fabric of lower density will be lighter in weight and therefore more comfortable for tender young plants.
   • Black agrovolokno for strawberries is better to choose a higher density, so that in the beds you forget about the control of weeds for several seasons. Strong large weeds eventually break through the fabric, especially if the plot is not processed for many years or too carefully. Therefore, in your interests, save yourself from unnecessary worries for several seasons and use a thick cloth for strawberries.
     
     
     
3. Also varies agrofiber and width: it is sold in rolls of 1.6 m or 3.2 m. Depending on the width and length of the bed, the squares of the strawberry plot and the methods of planting, each gardener chooses the most profitable size of fabric.

Soil preparation for strawberry

For any garden and vegetable crops, it is necessary to prepare the soil carefully and qualitatively. But especially it is worthwhile to approach the preparation of the soil if you are going to cover it with agrofiber. After planting strawberries on it, you will not be able to work with the ground for several years: loosen, add solid fertilizers, and break up clods. Therefore, everything should be done immediately and for a long time:

1. Plot for strawberries choose sunny, preferably, away from groundwater and wet places. Soil dig, it is better not at once, getting rid of strong roots and deeply ingrown weeds, cleansing of stones, branches and debris.
2. Fill the land with manure, sand or peat, depending on the quality of the soil, the planting area, seasonal humidity and even the ecological situation in the region - each section of the land requires its own fertilizer. Do not be limited to one thing, because a well-prepared land will give the best harvest. In addition to organic fertilizers, the soil should receive mineral substances, which at this stage can be used granulated, especially for strawberries produced by the industry.
3. After the earth is fertilized, it is best to dig it once more, and then rake up large clods of earth and straighten the strawberry beds. The land must be light, loose and "fluffy".Remember that you spend this work once and for several years, so do not be lazy, do everything qualitatively. If suddenly the ground is damp because of late spring or heavy rains and the wet clods do not become fluffy, postpone the spring planting of the strawberry for a while until the soil is ready.
   
   
   

Planting strawberries on agrovolokno

After preparing the soil, go to the planting of strawberries, but first cover the bed with black agrofiber:

1. Choose a thick material for the required size for strawberries. We lay it on the prepared loose soil, trying not to step on the fabric. Gusts of the wind will not displace and will not tear the panel, if it is strengthened. Competent gardeners for these purposes use studs made independently of strong wire in length from 10 to 20 cm. To prevent the wire from tearing the material, we puncture the pieces of old linoleum on it, and only after that we pin the fabric to the ground. On the perimeter of the bed, it is best to put paving stones on the edges of the fabric, which will be both a garden path and cargo. You can use bricks or boards for this purpose.
   
   
   
2. If you have conceived a large strawberry, you will have to use several cuts of agglomerate lapped. It is important to know that you can not stack pieces of cloth butt. In this case, weeds will certainly find a way to the light and half of your garden will soon overgrow them. A strawberry mustache, in turn, will find a way to take root in the formed piece of land. The fabric must always be overlapped at least 10 cm. It is also good to strengthen the joints of the fabric with studs or close the board.
   
   
   
3. On the laid and fixed agrofibre we mark out the strawberry planting scheme with chalk. It is best to make the distance between the strawberry bushes about 40 cm, and between the rows - 30 cm. After marking the material, we make on it with a sharp knife or good scissors cross-shaped cuts about 10 cm, and the free edges of the fabric are tucked inside. If the strawberry bushes are initially lush and large, then the incisions can be made more. If the sprouts are small and thin, then the incisions, respectively, do less, to prevent weeds from finding an outlet to the light and hammering weak shoots.
   
   
   
4. Strawberry bushes can be planted in the prepared holes. One of the important conditions is not to bury the bush. The rosette( core) of the strawberry should be almost level with the ground or lower by no more than 1 cm. Otherwise, the strawberry will rot, or its growth will be permanently inhibited. To make it easier to plant plants, on each row of agglomerates it is possible to lay a board on which it will be convenient to stand or just lean.
5. After planting, each bush should be watered abundantly from the watering can, while making sure that the roots of the plant do not become bare.

Irrigation of strawberries

To water strawberries well, for each bush it is necessary for planting and in case of a very early and arid summer. In other cases, strawberry irrigation can be carried out in the usual way, for example, from a watering can: to bushes, agrovolokno or land.

Much more convenient than traditional drip irrigation strawberries with the help of special sprinklers. Such devices have a number of advantages, in particular, there is no need to lift and carry heavy watering cans with water.

Strawberry does not like moist soil, but during the flowering and ripening period of the fruit it should be regular and uniform, approximately 2-3 times a week.

Strawberry care

Under normal conditions, care for strawberries is to weed it out in time from weeds, water and clean from the released mustache. If strawberries are planted on agrofiber, care for it becomes easier and easier several times:

1. Given that the black cloth does not let light pass, under it weeds do not grow, it allows us to completely abandon the use of herbicides and do not waste time on constant strugglewith foreign plants.
2. Berries that ripen not on the ground, are less prone to fungal diseases, which makes it possible to less often look through the rows of strawberries in search of rotten fruits. In addition, berries lying on the agrofiber are much cleaner and more visible - they are more convenient to collect both in sunny and rainy weather.
3. Agrofiber is a moisture-transmitting material, therefore all rainwater easily gets to the roots of plants, which makes it possible to water them only if necessary.
4. Spunbond is a breathable material, under which the ground in hot weather does not overheat, and when the temperature drops, it keeps the heat much longer. This allows you to less often engage in cover works and not worry about the condition of plants.
5. For several years, you do not have to deal with additional loosening of the soil, which will save a lot of time.
6. One of the most important problems for gardeners in the cultivation of strawberries is the struggle with constantly growing mustaches.
   When using agrofiber, the mustache can not find the ground for rooting and does not cause any trouble for growers.
7. It's easier to process strawberry bushes after harvesting at the end of the summer season: you can easily remove old withered leaves, clean and trim the foliage. In the spring, such strawberries do not need to be prepared for the beginning of the season. It is enough to remove winter cover material from it and sweep out excess rubbish with a brush.
8. The necessary procedures for caring for strawberries include mandatory fertilizing with liquid mineral fertilizers, which are diluted in accordance with the instructions and are made several times a season directly under the berry bush. When bushes are planted in a strictly defined order, their watering and fertilization become not very burdensome procedures.
9. There is one more undeniable plus of agrofiber in the cultivation of strawberries: when using a black cloth as a mulching material, the earth warms up more quickly, which makes it possible for the roots of the plant to become stronger and easier to grow.
   
   
   

   And the use of white spunbond allows the tops not to freeze in the spring period of cold rains and winds. Thus, the harvest of berries can be obtained much earlier than neighbors - for 12-14 days, which is important for those summer residents who grow strawberries for sale.

Additional possibilities of the

agrofiber We have already talked about how to grow strawberries under agrofiber using a lightweight white cloth. In this case, it is important that the tissue does not crush the young plants and give them the opportunity to fully develop. But there is one more way to use agrofiber as a weather protection - a device for strawberry tunnel type:

1. If you want to experience the possibilities of this wonderful material already in the coming season, but you do not plan to change the strawberries yet, you can install metal or plastic arcs over the ready-made beds with plants, strengthening them in the ground, and casting agglomerates on top of the arcs. Now the bed will always be warm, and you can harvest a few days earlier than usual.
2. The tunnel type tunnels, covered not with a film, namely agrofiber, can not be removed from the beds all spring, until the flowering of plants. The only condition - before installing such a strawberry strawberry should be cleaned of dried leaves, old twigs and extra mustache, as well as from the weeds growing between the bushes.
3. After cleaning the plants, the ground needs to be loosened, watered and covered with a mulching coating: if not agrofiber, then sawdust, dried grass or straw. Only after this, you can install a greenhouse over the garden bed and wait for the harvest.

Most likely, you already had to be puzzled at times, where do your neighbors-gardeners have such large yields of delicious, beautiful, and most importantly, early strawberries. After all, the land is the same, and the climate, and you are spending no less effort, or even much more?

The answer is obvious and simple: you need to grow strawberries with the help of agricultural fiber, and then the harvest will please you not a very large investment of resources and resources, and your loved ones with tasty early berries. Good luck on the beds!

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Planting strawberries on agrofiber