Rotten strawberries
 

The strawberries in my container garden are bearing fruit, but as the
berries get heavier, they lie in the dirt and the side touching the
dirt rots.

Am I missing something here?

Rotten strawberries
 

On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:52:12 -0400 in Richard Evans wrote:
The strawberries in my container garden are bearing fruit, but as the
berries get heavier, they lie in the dirt and the side touching the
dirt rots.

Am I missing something here?

Mulch.


--
Chris Dukes
davej eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. I have two. Bullshit.

Rotten strawberries
 

Rotten strawberries
 

Richard Evans wrote:
wrote:

On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:52:12 -0400 in Richard Evans wrote:
The strawberries in my container garden are bearing fruit, but as the
berries get heavier, they lie in the dirt and the side touching the
dirt rots.

Am I missing something here?
Mulch.

Why would that make a difference? I'm assuming the rot is caused by
trapped moisture. What difference whether it's trapped between berry
and dirt or berry and mulch?

The dirt, top soil, is usually wet on the surface. The wet soil is what
causes the rotting. It does take much time for a ripe strawberry to rot
if it touches the wet soil surface.

Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

Rotten strawberries
 

KTTT wrote:
Richard Evans wrote:
wrote:

On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:52:12 -0400 in
Richard Evans
wrote:
The strawberries in my container garden are bearing fruit, but as the
berries get heavier, they lie in the dirt and the side touching the
dirt rots.

Am I missing something here?
Mulch.

Why would that make a difference? I'm assuming the rot is caused by
trapped moisture. What difference whether it's trapped between berry
and dirt or berry and mulch?

The dirt, top soil, is usually wet on the surface. The wet soil is what
causes the rotting. It does take much time for a ripe strawberry to rot
if it touches the wet soil surface.

I meant it does not take much time...


Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

Rotten strawberries
 

KTTT wrote:


Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

What kind of mulch do you recommend? Pine straw? Bark? Pulverized
rubber? Bear in mind I only have eight plants in a circular three-foot
container.

Rotten strawberries
 

Richard Evans wrote:
KTTT wrote:

Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

What kind of mulch do you recommend? Pine straw? Bark? Pulverized
rubber? Bear in mind I only have eight plants in a circular three-foot
container.

- Ideally, I would use the rubber mulch since it dries out much faster
than anything else and lasts forever. However, this thing will get
quite hot as it seems to absorb heat and does not want to release it. I
would use this rubber mulch in a container only if the foliage of the
plants is large enough to cover most of the soil surface.

- Cypress mulch last very long. And with its fine texture, there will
less surface area for the strawberry to come in contact with. However,
cypress mulch pack down very quickly. The strawberry runners would have
a hard time to root though this packed layer of mulch. (It should not
matter if you plan to buy new strawberry plants next year.)

- Bark, like the rubber stuff, will dry out very fast too but the flat
surface area of the bark chip will collect lot of heat, especially for
plants in container where the soil is already hotter than usual.

- That would leave pine straw as the best option. The fine texture of
pine straw will minimize the surface area that the strawberry would come
in contact with. It dries out very fast too. But it doesn't last very
long. With daily watering and frequent fertilizing, pine straw would
break down in about two years or so. And when it breaks down, it will
stay wet longer (but still much better than bare soil.)

If it was me, I would use pine straw for the strawberry plants inside a
container.

Rotten strawberries
 

KTTT wrote:


If it was me, I would use pine straw for the strawberry plants inside a
container.

In that case, I'm probably better off just raking up some straw from
under my pine trees than buying a whole bale for such a small area.

Rotten strawberries
 

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:56:30 -0400 in Richard Evans wrote:
KTTT wrote:


Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

What kind of mulch do you recommend? Pine straw? Bark? Pulverized
rubber? Bear in mind I only have eight plants in a circular three-foot
container.

I'd probably opt for a layer or few of a light colored spun fabric (Like
the weed stop stuff, but white/off white). If you put in a chunk of pipe
or hose so you can water from the bottom without splashing dirt, white
plastic should work as well.
And then there's always straw and pine straw...


--
Chris Dukes
davej eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. I have two. Bullshit.

Rotten strawberries
 

On 2009-04-27, wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:52:12 -0400 in Richard Evans wrote:
The strawberries in my container garden are bearing fruit, but as the
berries get heavier, they lie in the dirt and the side touching the
dirt rots.

Am I missing something here?

Mulch.



Or some sand for drainage

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

Rotten strawberries
 

On 2009-04-28, Richard Evans wrote:
KTTT wrote:


Mulch will help to reduce rotting significantly since the surface of the
mulch will dry out much faster than that of top soil after watering.

Even if the mulch does not dry out fast, because of the coarse nature of
the mulch, there is less surface area where the strawberry and the mulch
are in contact with one another. Less wet surface area translated to
less rotting.

What kind of mulch do you recommend? Pine straw? Bark? Pulverized
rubber? Bear in mind I only have eight plants in a circular three-foot
container.

This is hindsight, but I notice Pick it yourself farms use plastic with
the plants poking out of holes. You might try plastic or landscaping
fabric that allows moisture to pass. you just need some kind of barrier
between soil and berry.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.