bmolsen
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Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:25 pm
Location: Provo, UT

Strawberry runners and weed block fabric

Hi,
I have recently placed some weed blocking fabric in my garden where I planted my strawberries. I am concerned about my strawberries being able to spread and have the runners penetrate the weed blocking fabric. Should I pull up the weed blocking fabric or will the runners still be able to anchor into the ground?

Thanks,
bmolsen

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Kisal
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Location: Oregon

JMO, but I've never found porous weed block fabric to be very effective against weeds. All it has ever done is make the weeds nearly impossible to remove once the come up through it, because their roots are embedded in it.

My guess is that the roots of your strawberries won't have any trouble getting through it, either. However, should you ever want to remove a plant, you might have a problem. :wink:

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hendi_alex
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I find weed guard combined with a good layer of mulch to be highly effective against weeds. If a plant does happen to grow through there are lots of options, but one is to sweep back the mulch, remove most of the top growth of the plant, place several layers of newspaper, and then replace the mulch. I do find that tree roots can be a problem as they will grow through the weed fabric and into an open bottom container such as a raised bed. In those applications, I place a sheet of solid plastic underneath the raised bed and that is also very effective.

My strawberries are growing in beds and pots over weed guard and mulch. I try to keep the runners pinched off, except for those which will be allowed to make replacement plants. I generally place those runners either where they will grow in the raised bed, or they are placed in a one gallon nursery pot filled with soil, where they can take root and mature while awaiting transplant or gifting.

bmolsen
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I have also had the problem of weeds popping up from the bottom of the weed fabric, therefor I know it is not 100% effective. However my concern is whether any new runners will be able to penetrate the weed fabric from the top into the ground soil? If it will be a problem then I need to take up my weed fabric before my plants are too large.

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hendi_alex
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I agree that weed guard is not 100% effective, but for my uses it is 'very' effective. I do have a few runners that took root on top of the fabric and I would assume are shooting roots through to the ground. Since I let them go this long, may as let them make a few berries. Later, will snip the crown off above the fabric, problem solved. Given the number of runners that cascaded over the side, only a handful have taken root there. If the issue were to become a problem, I would just rake the mulch to the side and then cover the weed guard with solid sheet plastic, then remulch.

stickbow
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Location: michigan

In my experience, weeds are mostly air born. they get their seeds blown from the wind and end up in the soil from the top. then they grow into the fabric like anything else. but using weed cloth will slow them down and theirs easier to pull out. just like how weeds will end up in cracks in concrete, its not coming from the ground, its coming from the top. hop this helps everyone understand about how weeds pop up everywhere. THERES NO STOPPING THE WEEDS !!!!!

roadkinggirl63
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Location: Warner Robins, GA

Coming from Iowa to raise veggies in Humid GA is a challenge. I mulched my strawberries with straw and found my strawberries were rotting when just ripe. I found slugs, so I treated for them. Still found rotting berries. So, I took the straw out in a few places, berries were rotten on straw as well as on soil. Does anyone have any ideas????? I was thinking of putting down weed fabric around plants where berries are to keep them off the ground????
That's what I'm doing for canteloupe, squash and melons this year. thanks in advance.

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soil
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put a small pot with soil where the runners land, let them root and then cut from the mother plant. now you have a new strawberry to plant.



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