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#1
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Growing Strawberry's
I live in Southern Kentucky. I am wanting to grow soem strawberry's at
home but because of my time demands want to do so if possible without alot of upkeep. Thought baout building a "container" for lack of a better term out of railroad ties. Kind of a pyramid, one square on top of another square, etc. Putting down plastic for weed control then on top of the plastic putting mulch. I have never grown strawberrys. Are they vines that put out "runners"? If so, will my idea not work because of the plastic? (Runners will not be able to root)? |
#2
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Here's a link:
http://www.garden.org/search?keyword...&submit=search Strawberries send out runners above the ground. At the end of each runner is a little plantlet which will take root under the right conditions. With the ones I've grown, the runners have been maybe 8-10" long, so that means you want 16-20" around each original plant. The mother plants tend to get weak & ratty after a couple of years, so you want to pay attention to the runners. Some may hang over the edge of the planter and die. I sort of helped mine by weighing them down on the soil with large bark chips. They're a bit labor intensive, but so what? The difference between fresh strawberries and store bought ones is analogous to either having sex, or listening to a love scene from the lobby of a movie theatre, but not getting to the door of the theatre quickly enough to see it. :-) By the way, one advantage of your pyramid idea is that when you're designing it in your head, you can include a way of making a tent using plastic mesh available at garden stores. Without that, you may end up sharing most of your crop with birds and other rascals. wrote in message oups.com... I live in Southern Kentucky. I am wanting to grow soem strawberry's at home but because of my time demands want to do so if possible without alot of upkeep. Thought baout building a "container" for lack of a better term out of railroad ties. Kind of a pyramid, one square on top of another square, etc. Putting down plastic for weed control then on top of the plastic putting mulch. I have never grown strawberrys. Are they vines that put out "runners"? If so, will my idea not work because of the plastic? (Runners will not be able to root)? |
#3
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Quote:
Please don't use railroad ties, especially for anything you plan to eat. I wouldn't use any treated wood for food. From this site: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/c...gardening.html "Avoid using creosote-treated railroad ties. Freshly treated creosote lumber can leach into the soil for several years and continues to give off vapors over a seven to nine year period." More pressure treated wood info. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsh...mer_safety.htm http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...tml?cmp=EM8707 Newt
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When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. |
#4
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"Newt" wrote in message
... Please don't use railroad ties, especially for anything you plan to eat. I wouldn't use any treated wood for food. From this site: http://tinyurl.com/663yt "Avoid using creosote-treated railroad ties. Freshly treated creosote lumber can leach into the soil for several years and continues to give off vapors over a seven to nine year period." More pressure treated wood info. http://tinyurl.com/59u5s http://tinyurl.com/728uu It's the strangest thing - I built a cold frame 10 years ago using UNtreated 2x10 lumber. It's been out in rain & snow every year but 2. No rotting, even the 2" or so of wood that's in constant contact with the soil. And, I didn't use rot-resistant wood like cedar or redwood - just whatever your average 2x10 at the lumber yard is made of. If it rots, so what? The frame's bolted together in such a way that in an hour, I can disassemble the sides, lay them on top of the new wood, trace the pattern & drilling points, and have a whole new frame in 2 hours, or 3 hours if the neighbors stop by to chat. 4 if they bring beer. I just don't see a reason for treated lumber to enter one's mind, at least not for structures which are above ground. The OP's strawberry planter fits this category. |
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