I am putting in a new strawberry bed and am curious? What does everyone mulch their strawberries with? Has anyone ever used the red cypress mulch? I am a little leery of using it near something edible. I know it is just supposed to be cypress wood, but want to know if anyone has any experience with it? Thanks

-- Mary (mlogan298@yahoo.com), June 08, 2000

Answers

Mary, I live near the strawberry capital of Louisiana, and I see no reason not to use the red cypress mulch. In the earlier days, the farmers used pinestraw very effectively, but today due to labor, they use black poly, which comes in convenient rolls. Old straw, even black inked newspaper would do to mulch, just use enough so as it decays, you still have something to protect the strawberries.

-- JerryR(La.) (jwr98@hotmail.com), June 08, 2000.

I'm in Ks. where we raise a lot of wheat!! We use wheat straw for everything we mulch--in the chickens nests--anything we need bedding for--we use straw! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), June 08, 2000.

Straw is very good but you can also use pine needles if you have a lot of those around. Since strawberries like acid conditions, they enjoy having the pine needles on them. (Can strawberries have emotions?) Okay, okay, they thrive with pine needles. (How's that?)

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), June 09, 2000.

Mary: Last year I mulched my pitiful strawberry patch with free straw that I was given by a farmer who didn't want it as it had sat outside for a couple years. I covered them with a thick layer during the winter, and removed it between the rows this spring. Now, the plants are so thick and beautiful! We live in a really dry area, lots of wind, and little rain, so the mulch is wonderful. Don't think it matters what you use, newspapers also work fine. I got an entire flat of plants free last year from a nursery/greenhouse that was going to toss them because they were overgrown, and it was the end of the season for them, about July. Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 09, 2000.

I have mulched with straw before and it worked great except for one thing: it made great "housing" for slugs and snails...they just came out at night and feasted on my strawberries. I can't let the ducks in to get them because they love strawberries, too! So I am back to just dirt. Been so cold and rainy here the last couple of days, I thought the plants were going to up and float away anyway....*sigh*

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), June 09, 2000.

Hi Sheepish,

I live in Washington, too, in Everett, and the slugs were feasting on my plants earlier this year. But I have a couple of standard poodles, and so I also have lots of dog hair. I put the hair an inch or so deep around the plants, and they have been slug free ever since. I think the slugs hate hair. I read about it somewhere, and it seems to work. It's the only reason my artichokes survived last year.

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), June 09, 2000.

Laura, Std Poodles are my favorite dog! When I get some someday, I will try this out! Smart dogs...did you know they ran the Iditarod?

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), June 09, 2000.

I wait til my grass is quite long (well over a foot or more) and then cut it and let it dry like hay. I use the "lawn hay" as poultry bedding. I use a scoop shovel to lift the bedding and it comes up like strips of carpet. I lay the "carpet" top down in the garden (where ever in rows of the 3/4 acre). The next spring I turn it under and start over.

-- William in WI (thetoebes@webtv.net), June 15, 2000.