This is what I found....
Soil tends to heave when subjected to wide temperature changes, pushing plant roots up out of the ground. Heaving is most harmful to relatively shallow-rooted plants, such as strawberries and newly planted specimens of any kind that have not yet had a chance to develop solid footing. Winter mulch also prevents extreme cold damage to above-ground plant parts.
In most cases, 2 to 4 inches of mulch, such as straw, pine needles, hay or bark chips, give adequate protection.
There is still plenty of time for applying winter mulches to strawberries and perennials. Ideally, the ground should just be starting to freeze, and plants should not be actively growing. The next few weekends should be about the right time for putting these down. Straw is the popular material.
Mulching
After growth has stopped in the fall, apply at least a three-inch layer of straw, marsh hay, pine needles, sudan grass or other suitable material over the tops of the plants. Avoid sawdust and leaves because they pack too tightly and smother the plants. Watering the mulch lightly will help settle it and reduce loss from wind.
Mulching helps protect the plants during severe winters, delays growth in spring (to protect against frosts), helps conserve moisture, and helps with weed control.Apply a mulch when the temperature drops to about 20 degrees for several days in a row or several times in a week. The rule of thumb is to mulch after the soil is frozen to a depth of one-half inch.
Don't apply mulch after several warm, sunny days. If you mulch during warm weather, the plants may start growing again. Then the plants can be severely damaged when the weather turns cold.
Remove the mulch in spring as soon as new leaf growth begins to turn yellow (due to lack of sunlight); but not before there is still any danger of temperatures dipping into the 20's. Part the mulch over the top of the row, moving the mulch into the alleyways. Leave a thin layer of mulch on the plants to protect the developing berries and help with moisture conservation.
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Renovation
If a strawberry bed is free of weed, disease, or insect problems and has borne a good crop of berries, you should consider fruiting the bed another year. After harvest, remove mulch and mow the foliage as close to the bed as possible. Remove weak and extra plants and weeds. Cultivate between the rows of plants. Apply fertilizer as indicated above. Treat as a "new" bed. Normally, mother plants and the first daughter plants to form are kept, because these are the most productive plants.
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Annette |
