Black Plastic Under Mulch--Yes or No?
bo_berrin
16 years ago
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sandradee
16 years agochena
16 years agoRelated Discussions
strawberries under black plastic-how to?
Comments (2)alan8 I'll be growing strawberries this Spring for the first time, myself, so I don't know a lot about it yet. But my immediate thought about the black plastic was what will you do with the runners? I've seen some people say they put out pots in the strawberry bed with growing soil in them and root the runners in them. Then they cut them from the mother plant. Maybe that's a possibility if you use black plastic. The site below discusses raising strawberries with black plastic and irrigation, but the discussion doesn't mention runners, just says that the plants are cut back to the crowns after the June harvest. ....this system also allows plants to be harvested for 2 to 3 years before production begins to drop off rather than replacing them each year as is the current practice. This lets you recover some of the increased costs," he said. To keep the plants producing for several years, they are cut back to the crowns right after harvesting ends in June. Not having to plug new plants each year offsets some of the increased labor required to put in this system, Erb pointed out. Keeping the plants in production this way usually causes yield to increase but fruit size to drop. However, the reduction in size does not seem to be large enough to warrant re-establishing the beds every year. I think I'd want to capture some runners to replace the mother plants before they ran out of steam in a couple of years though. As for the holes, most people don't make holes to set plants through black plastic. If you cut an X where you want to set each plant and just temporarily fold back the four points to set them in place, you won't have holes or big gaps around the plants. Just make sure you have irrigation under the plastic. Anyway, those with strawberry experience will be able to add to this discussion and give you more information than I can. It will benefit me, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Midwest Strawberry Production Adapts to Plastic and Drip Tape System...See MoreNC winter under plastic
Comments (9)Brian, Howdy from just south of Raleigh in Garner! I checked out your web page, pretty cool! I teach Social Studies in Johnston Co. and grow veggies for market in the summers. As for growing under plastic in the piedmont, sunlight is no scarce resource here. The main problem is venting on sunny days. Eliot Coleman's "Winter Harvest Manual" would have most of the info you need to answer your questions. Basically, when day length goes below 10 hrs., plants go dormant. Being a science teacher you may already know this. So for 35-36 degrees latitude, this is December 1 to around January 10. Sowing dates for fall are such that you want your plant to be mature before this date/first real fall freeze. Coleman has a whole system that works like gangbusters in the north b/c the natural cold helps to store the veggies in the ground all winter and he justs harvests at will. Here in NC we would have to vent tunnels all the time and some growers I have talked to have had some pest problems b/c the tunnel proves to be like a micro climate for pests like flea beetles. I have sucessfully overwintered several things with just Typar spun bonded fabric. Contact me if you are interested in talking shop! tom...See MoreBermuda and black plastic
Comments (4)I am manually pulling out bermuda in my raised beds up to my elbows. We have unfinished paths that are, well, half of them are still clear of bermuda 90%, the other 2 paths are filling in. So....that's going to get round-up. I feel like I can get it under control if I keep it far enough awaaaayyyy. The paths will be sack-crete and river rocks eventually. So then I will cover with black plastic and plant through it, with mulch on top. maybe that will help. As for the big area, a great big piece of black plastic sounds like a good idea....See MorePlastic sheeting under entire lawn!
Comments (25)If they're going to take care of it, no problems. I'd recommend against tilling simply because you'll end up with a bumpy soil surface (not important in a garden; very important in a lawn where you'll be mowing it and bouncing on the mower wheels). ETA: Aeration, however, is fine! They can double or even triple-aerate that area and it won't be an issue at all. It's not really necessary--nature will do the work for you over time--but it will accelerate the process and certainly won't hurt. /ETA As to why...it's often placed as a weed barrier. It works, after a fashion, as long as there's no soil atop it, or not enough to grow much root and not enough rainfall to keep the soil damp enough to sustain weeds. For the soil choice, make sure they get something close to your local top soil...but they're pretty certain to do that. Because that's going to be cheapest anyway. :-) For the seed...they're probably going to use an inexpensive tri-mix, which is most likely to match your lawn if you don't already know what you have. If you have a specialty lawn, make sure to speak with them (my HOA dropped tri-mix lawn due to an inability to flex, listen, or act like anything other than obdurate...but I don't use that language). You have the advantage of working with people you hired, so that shouldn't be a problem....See Moreaus_tx
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