Best Mulch For Strawberries
What is the best type of mulch to use on my strawberry patch?
The best type of protection is to use straw mulch or pine needle straw.
Benefits of Mulching Strawberries
Mulching your strawberries is important. It keeps the weeds down and protects the plant in the winter months. Mulch is spread over the plants in the late fall. It is protection for the plants by keeping their crowns and shallow roots insulated from low temperatures. In the spring, the mulch is raked off of the plants at the first signs of growth. The mulch is raked between the plants offering many benefits. It suppresses weed growth in your strawberry patch, it keeps the soil temperature cooler and constant. It also keeps the berries off the soil providing a cleaner berry.
Mulch For Strawberries – Types of Mulch Material
Straw Mulch
This is my favorite choice for strawberry mulch. A 1-2 inch thick layer of clean straw will keep the weeds down and hold strawberries off of the soil. Straw is a product left over from harvesting grain. It is the stalk and leftover parts of wheat, oats, or barley once the grain has been removed. This product is baled into squares or bagged. The one thing that you must know about straw mulch before you purchase it – make sure it is clean. Some straw that is harvested contains seed pods from weeds in the grain field. If you use a dirty straw with seeds in it, you are planting these seeds in your garden and you will have these plants come up (usually weeds). Now you have to rid the soil of all the weeds that come. Be sure to find a clean source of straw for your plants.
Pine Needle Mulch
Pine needle mulch or pine straw is also a great choice for mulching strawberries. As with straw mulch, a 1- 2 inch thick layer of pine needles over your berries works very well. If you know where there is a pine tree growing (pine trees have long needles), you can collect (by raking) the fallen needles on the ground to use. This makes it a very affordable choice. This mulch lies flat and does not blow away.
Some people may have concerns with the pH of the soil using pine mulch. The pine mulch does not change the pH in the soil. The fact is that pine needles have a pH of 3.2 to 3.8 (neutral is 7.0) when they drop from a tree. If you take these freshly fallen needles before they decompose and turn them into the soil immediately, you may see a slight drop in the soil pH. This will not be enough to damage the plants. If the needles lay on the ground for some time, the microbes in the soil will neutralize them. If you use these, they will keep moisture in the ground, suppress the weeds, and eventually add organic matter to your soil when they decompose completely.
Fabric Or Plastic Sheeting
Fabric sheeting (landscape fabric) is a great choice for suppressing weeds. The fabric will allow water to pass through. Without letting weeds come up in the strawberry patch between the plants. As much as it is very easy to keep your patch clean, this is not my favorite method for strawberries. Strawberries produce runners constantly. If there is no soil for the plant to attach to, it will not root itself and propagate. You would have to go along and open up the fabric for the plant to root. This also does not give the plant any top winter protection if it gets very cold in your area. This is a great method to use around regular vegetable plants like tomatoes, peppers, and any other plant that does not have runners.
I am not a fan of plastic sheeting as water does not go through plastic. This is not something I would choose. Also, we are trying to rid the world of unnecessary plastics.
Grass Clippings / Leaf Mulch
Grass clippings from cutting your grass can be used as mulch for your strawberries. Grass clippings are full of nitrogen and great for the soil. The grass clippings do decompose quite quickly so they would need to be added every few weeks in thin layers of about ¼ to ½”. It is best if they are dry, but fresh clippings can also be used.
Leaf Mulch can be applied much like grass clippings. It is best to allow them to dry and then chop them up with a mulching lawnmower with a bag if you have one, then use them as mulch.
Wood Chip Mulch
Wood chip mulch is also a viable choice for mulching strawberries, although not the best choice and it can be very expensive. It would have to be applied quite thinly to avoid mold in your strawberry patch.
In summary, if you are trying to decide which mulch method is the best, I would suggest using a clean straw mulch or a pine straw mulch for my strawberry patch.
