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Strawberry questions
Steve B wrote:
We bought some killer one gallon strawberry plants the other day. They all have strawberries on them, some ripe. I want to grow a bunch of them. I have four 8' railroad ties. OLD railroad ties that are bleached white, so most of the chemicals should be gone. Would an 8' bed raised that high (about 8") be a good bed? We got 10 yards of good compost from a nursery, and it is very high quality. 8" would be good for strawberries their roots are not very deep. An 8' square bed will have one big problem, that is you cannot get to the middle without walking on it. Two 4' X 8' would be much better if you can get more timber. Or just start with one bed, 4' X 8' is quite a lot of strawberries. Should I mix anything else with the compost? The local dirt is sand dune blowsand. Should I mix any gravel in for drainage? I would try to build soil by amalgamating what ever you have with compost and other additions depending on the situation. I want to put the black half inch pipe in there for irrigation. A friend who has a lot of strawberries says that they like a lot of water here. It gets blazing hot in the summer, and pretty cold in the winter. How wet should I keep them? They will wilt if too dry. Check the soil for moisture when it is hot or windy and water before they wilt. I like using different meals, blood, bone, etc, instead of chemical fertilizers. What would be a good amendment? It depends on what is in your compost and the pH of it and the natural soil. You are aiming to correct deficiencies not to overdo it. You are likely to need more manures or blood and bone etc in subsequent years after some of the nutrients in your compost are used up. Lastly, propagation. Do you just plant them and let them grow? They will spread quite quickly in good conditions. You can expect each plant to have some pups by the end of the first growing season. You can plant these out if you want to speed things up for the next year. How far would I separate the plants? Broadly speaking about 30-45cm (12-18in) apart. It depends on how much you want to spend on stock and how long you are prepared to wait for the bed to fill. To be economical spread them out, to be quick buy more and put them closer. David |
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