I've put a soaker under the pvc and spent quite a while adding some potassium to the strawberries. The rain has been quite heavy recently so not needed to do much watering. But suddenly there seems to be a huge amount of flowers appearing. So hoping for a bumper year this year for the strawberries. The section without pvc isn't looking quite as healthy. Or maybe it's just me.
I installed a dripper system in my strawberry bed so I could use black plastic 'mulch' and it worked fine last year. But here is the thing, the mulch is to keep the strawberries off the soil, so I won't even be putting the plastic down again for a month or so when I at least have flowers. I figure I might as well make the most of natural watering while I can, or is there some other benefit to plastic mulch that I have missed?
For what it's worth, I wasn't even that convinced that strawberries lying on damp black plastic (I live in Scotland) was any better than laying on damp soil
The plants on the red mulch are much bigger than the ones on the black mulch. And i've found three frogs hiding in the small pools that have developed amongst the plants. Think i'll be doing this again next year. Of course the real proof of a successful experiment will be in eating all the yummy strawberries.
Just thought i would post an update on the red PVC mulch experiment. The area with strawberries and black weed suppressing fabric has been fed and watered exactly the same as the strawberries with the red PVC fabric. There has been a mass of flowers on both areas and the foliage has been as plentiful and very healthy?
Recently the fruits have begun to swell on both sides but the red mulch side fruits have started changing colour already. Both sides have the same amount of sun.
Haven't yet eaten any as they aren't yet ready.
The two definite positive parts of using the PVC sheets has been it's fantastic for keeping the weeds down and a family of frogs have moved in as the ground wasn't even and four mini pools have appeared which they really love. So, no slug problems.
We are going to conduct a few taste tests when the strawberries finally ripen so will post the results from that soon. I will be using the red PVC again though next year as it's been really useful up to now anyway.
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Great idea!! Thank you so much for the suggestion Blue Onion.
Just stick a finger into the soil through the hole next to the plant to check occasionally that they are getting the correct amount of water.
I've put a soaker under the pvc and spent quite a while adding some potassium to the strawberries. The rain has been quite heavy recently so not needed to do much watering. But suddenly there seems to be a huge amount of flowers appearing. So hoping for a bumper year this year for the strawberries. The section without pvc isn't looking quite as healthy. Or maybe it's just me.
I installed a dripper system in my strawberry bed so I could use black plastic 'mulch' and it worked fine last year. But here is the thing, the mulch is to keep the strawberries off the soil, so I won't even be putting the plastic down again for a month or so when I at least have flowers. I figure I might as well make the most of natural watering while I can, or is there some other benefit to plastic mulch that I have missed?
For what it's worth, I wasn't even that convinced that strawberries lying on damp black plastic (I live in Scotland) was any better than laying on damp soil
The plants on the red mulch are much bigger than the ones on the black mulch. And i've found three frogs hiding in the small pools that have developed amongst the plants. Think i'll be doing this again next year. Of course the real proof of a successful experiment will be in eating all the yummy strawberries.
Thanks for the update. I look forward to your end results. Maybe the red plastic will even help keep the birds from spotting the ripening fruit?
That's a thought!! It might disguise the berries....that'll be another thing to monitor.
Just thought i would post an update on the red PVC mulch experiment. The area with strawberries and black weed suppressing fabric has been fed and watered exactly the same as the strawberries with the red PVC fabric. There has been a mass of flowers on both areas and the foliage has been as plentiful and very healthy?
Recently the fruits have begun to swell on both sides but the red mulch side fruits have started changing colour already. Both sides have the same amount of sun.
Haven't yet eaten any as they aren't yet ready.
The two definite positive parts of using the PVC sheets has been it's fantastic for keeping the weeds down and a family of frogs have moved in as the ground wasn't even and four mini pools have appeared which they really love. So, no slug problems.
We are going to conduct a few taste tests when the strawberries finally ripen so will post the results from that soon. I will be using the red PVC again though next year as it's been really useful up to now anyway.