[snow white]

As the title sayes.  I have a new strawberry bed to plant.  I am toying with the ideal of putting heavy duty weed control membrance down to control the weeds.  It is the type that lets water through.  Do any of you have any experience or advise concerning this?

[m1ckz]

i tried out 2 rows this year,they grew ok  BUT the slugs had a lovely home ,and didnt have to tavel far for dinner

[gavinjconway]

Hi Snowie... I have 2 beds like this and they worked really well. Slugs seemed to stay away as well... maybe they dont like creeping along it - dont know..  I just did a slit about 8" long and planted them through it.. simples.. I fed them with normal fertilizer thrown on top and watered well.. It all went through the fabric no probs.. i did also scatter slug pellets but seemed in vain as I didn't really find any culprits..

Dig in loads of manure and compost first and get good quality fabric as it will be there for at least 3 years..  

First pic is while I'm trimming the leaves.. second pic is the new bed..

[8doubles]

I grow strawbs through pea shingle covered  weed control fabric and they grow very well.

The only problem i have is with wooldice eating the fruit but that is easily solved with a few carefully placed slug pellets.

[angelavdavis]

I also grow strawberries through weed control fabric.  I find the fabric keeps the soil nice and warm.  I use filled pots to propagate strawberry runners if needed.

[GYO Girl]

Thanks for starting this thread snow white, as I was thinking of trying this next year too.  I currently have mine in the green planter bags but I found they were drying out soooo quickly this year, even with the amount of rain we have had so I thought they have got to be better off in the ground. 

I am planning on making a bigger use of weed fabric next year as I have been losing the will to live with the amount of weeds and speed of their return this year!

[bigben]

I planted a bed last year without fabric and have been kept busy with weeds. The only advantage was the strawberry runners plant themselves when they can touch soil. With fabric you will need to put little pots for to propagate them into. This will however mean they will probably end up with better spacings.

[syks grower]

I have two beds covered with weed control fabric and covered with ornimental bark which
the runners root into.   I just pot up what I need.

[savbo]

we've done this for years and it works very well...my only comment is don't be tempted to plant too close together - we planted only about 12" each way and it's really too close...the plants get bigger than you think and the solid mass of leaves encourages rot...

[snow white]

Thanks for all your replies.  I will go ahead now.  manure ready to be dug in tomorrow.