Planting strawberries on agrofiber and laying drip irrigation

Strawberries throughout the season require increased attention from the gardener. Watering, cultivating, weeding from weeds - this is just a small list of mandatory work on a strawberry plantation. Fortunately, modern technology gave us agrofibre, thanks to which it became much easier to process strawberries.

Why plant strawberries on agrofiber

Agrofibre - a modern non-woven material, available in white and black and having different densities. White agrofiber, also called spandbond, is used as a covering material for greenhouses, and depending on its thickness, it can protect plants up to 9 degrees below zero. Black agrofibre is used as a mulching material, it perfectly passes air and moisture, but does not allow sunlight to break through to the ground, thanks to this weeds do not grow under it.

Strawberry plantings are covered with white spandbond to protect it from frost and vet

Black agrofibre is chosen for planting strawberries, however, even here you need to be careful, since this material will be used for at least 3 years, you must definitely read the characteristics and properties of the material purchased. An ordinary black spandbond is very similar in appearance to agrofibre, however it is less durable and does not have UV filters, and therefore, after a few months it may become worthless. High-quality agrofibre is produced by such companies as Agrin, Agroteks and Plant-Proteks.

Photo gallery - the best companies producing agrofibre with UV filters

Advantages of planting strawberries on agrofiber:

• weeds do not grow - no need to weed;
• the berry does not get dirty with earth, as it lies on black material;
• the mustache does not take root and does not thicken the bed;
• the ground freezes less;
• agrofibre retains moisture, so watering less often;
• in the spring such a bed warms up faster.

Cons planting strawberries on agrofiber:

• costs for the purchase, transportation and laying on the bed;
• big problems with the reproduction of the necessary strawberry bushes, since it is necessary to come up with boxes or pots for rooting the mustache;
• there is no way to loosen the bed if the soil is too compacted;
• harder to water.

Photo Gallery - Pros and Cons of Agrofibre

How to plant strawberries on agrofiber

For planting strawberries, you need to choose a sunny, windless place, preferably without a slope and nearby groundwater.

Strawberries are very fond of eating, and if you can feed the plant at any time on ordinary beds, then under agrofibre this will be much more difficult, so you need to refuel the garden for at least three years.

In arid areas, it is better not to make raised beds, but to grow strawberries on a flat surface.

Very often, such a bed is made slightly elevated above the ground, however, in regions with very hot summers this should not be done.

Stages of planting strawberries on agrofiber

1. For each square meter of soil you need to make 3-4 buckets of compost or humus, carefully dig and make beds. The width of the beds depends on the width of the agrofibre, in addition, it should be convenient for you to pick the berry without stepping on the bed.
   

   The beds are necessarily filled with compost or humus

2. Lay the agrofibre on the bed, observing the top and bottom, for this, pour a little water on the stretched canvas and see if it passes through the fabric. If it passes, then this is the top.
3. The passage between the beds, if desired, can also be closed with agrofibre, but you can also leave it empty and mulch with straw in the future. So the water will be better to go into the soil.
   

   Between the beds you can leave spandbond, you can lay boards or even paving slabs
4. On the edges of the beds you need to press agrofibre with brackets, bricks, or sprinkle with earth. If agrofibre also lies between the beds, then wide boards can be put in this passage.
5. On the resulting garden we mark out a place for slots, where we will plant strawberry seedlings. The distance between seedlings may vary depending on the variety. For large and sprawling bushes, leave 50 cm between plants, for medium - 30-40 cm.
   

   We mark the places for bushes on the agrofibre; a spandbond with holes already made is also sold

6. We make slots on the agrofibre in the form of a cross, bend the corners inward. The hole should be about 5-7 cm.
7. We plant strawberries in the slots, you can also add mineral fertilizers to each well. Be sure to ensure that the heart of the strawberry is at the level of the soil, and the roots are not bent.
   

   Plant strawberries in the slots without deepening the heart

8. We spill a bed from a watering can with a strainer.

Video - planting strawberries on agrofiber

Planting strawberries on agrofiber with drip irrigation

To further simplify your care for planting strawberries, you can carry out drip irrigation, so that moisture will be added to each bush.

The drip irrigation tape can be laid both under the agrofibre and left on the surface. In regions with mild and warm winters without freezing temperatures, it is better to hide the drip irrigation tape under agrofibre. If the water in the droppers freezes, then the tape will be damaged, so most often it is laid on top of the agrofibre so that in the fall it can be put into a warm room for storage.

When laying the drip irrigation tapes on the garden bed, it is necessary to precisely calculate where exactly the strawberry bushes will be located precisely in these rows and the tape is laid.

First, a drip irrigation tape is laid on the bed, and then the agrofibre is deployed

When laying the tape, droppers should look up to avoid clogging the soil.

After laying the tapes, the bed is covered with agrofiber, trying not to pull, but to unwind it so as not to move the tapes. Cut the fabric also very carefully so as not to damage the drip tape. Additionally, you can check whether it has turned over and how close it is to the hole. Further landing takes place as usual.

When deploying a spandbond on drip irrigation tapes, you need to act very carefully so that they do not move

In the event that the drip irrigation tape is laid on agrofibre, there are no special problems with its installation, you just need to lay it as close to the plants as possible.

The drip irrigation tape can be stacked on top of the agrofiber, bringing the droppers as close as possible to the plants

The scheme of planting strawberries on agrofibre

Most often, this planting method is used for the commercial cultivation of strawberries, to obtain high-quality products and minimize costs. The area occupied by strawberries is estimated from several hundredths to a hectare. And many works are performed mechanically, by tractor. Therefore, the width of the beds is also done taking into account the processing of such machines.

On an industrial scale, the beds are prepared by a tractor

In ordinary gardens, the width of the beds depends only on the personal preference of each gardener. Someone likes 50 cm wide single-row beds, while others like wide 100 cm beds with two or three rows of strawberries.

Photo gallery - strawberry planting patterns

Video - planting strawberries on black agrofiber in the garden

Video - errors when landing on agrofibre

Reviews

I want to say that you can mulch the soil with a spanbond, if you take into account the following: 1. The material must be black 2. Light-stabilizing substances must be present 3. The material must be dense micron 120, preferably in 2 layers. 4. Bury the material only around the perimeter, and in the middle it is better to press it down with boards, bricks or bags of earth. 5. Noticing bloating on the surface of the beds (there are very harmful weeds), it is necessary to raise the material and remove the weed, or press down with a brick. If you comply with all these rules, then your material will last you from 3 to 5 years. And all this time weed will be a minimum.

An2-nightwolf

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We have in the country a fairly long bed with strawberries, because this is a small plant, it quickly overgrows with weeds. During the season, we spilled our garden four times, and by the fall there was no trace of this weeding. And this year I decided to rid my family of this problem. The technology for using the material is as follows: first we dug up the bed, then fertilized it, then covered it with covering material, fixed the material around the edges. For July strawberries, material without holes was used. After fixing the material on the bed, using a ruler and crayon, I made notes in which places to cut holes. The distance for the strawberries between the bushes should be left about 30 cm. Next, I cut round holes. On our bed we got three rows of strawberries arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The width of the beds is 90 cm. Then strawberry mustaches were planted in these holes. What to look for when buying. Do I need to buy material with holes? Cutting holes did not take much time, and then I do it once in a few years. For a bed eight meters long, cutting holes took no more than half an hour. So if you plan to plant only one or several beds with this material, then the presence of cut holes is not important. If you plan to plant a whole field, then, of course, it is better to choose a material with holes. And one more nuance about holes. The distance between the cut holes is 30 cm. It is good if you plan to plant strawberries with this material, but if you want to plant another crop with it, the distance between plants for which should be different, then you definitely need to buy material without holes. Moreover, as I noted above, this process will not take much time. The thickness of the material. This is also an important selection criterion. The thicker your covering material, the longer it will last for you. So this is also worth paying attention to. But keep in mind that I am writing about my experience in using this material in the North-West of our country, how it will behave in a warmer climate - I do not know. If you live in a region with a warmer climate, I would advise you to first try it on a small section of the garden and experiment with different thicknesses, and experimentally determine which is more suitable for you. This is due to the fact that the ground under the covering material warms up more strongly and if your climate is hot, you need to see how the plants will respond to additional heating.

ElenaP55555

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My husband and I decided to plant strawberries so that the straw does not clog the grass, they lay the agrofiber of this company, it is comparatively cheaper than other companies, but it doesn’t differ in quality ... The crop was amazing, it’s been already a year, and it looks like it was laid yesterday, moisture and the air comes in perfectly. In general, who is thinking about which company to buy agrofibre, I can definitely say Agreen !!!

alyonavahenko

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Landing on agrofibre helps gardeners solve several problems at once: a mustache does not take root, weeds do not pass, the soil remains moist for a long time and warms up faster in spring. But the cost of arranging the beds increases: the purchase of agrofibre, if necessary, the installation of drip irrigation tapes.