Black covering material - pros and cons of different types. The difference between agrofibre and spunbond
Black agrofibre is actively used in summer cottages, on farms, for early harvesting of berries, fruits and vegetables. The material has long replaced polyethylene film, which is characterized by a number of disadvantages. First of all, impermeability to air, which causes the death of plants in the absence of ventilation.
To produce non-woven covering material, spunbond technology is used, which was the reason for the name of the fabric. Polypropylene is melted and passed through special dies. The result is strong threads, which in turn are connected to each other using high temperature on a special conveyor. During the production process, stabilizers are added to the starting material.
In this case, the finished product is called agrofibre. These substances protect agrofibre from destruction under the influence of sunlight. This extends the service life of the fiber to 4-6 years, which is significantly higher than that of polyethylene film.
Spunbond or agrofibre are produced with varying degrees of density. Black covering material is produced with a density of 60 grams per square meter. It can allow air and moisture to pass through. The soil covered with black covering material can be watered with fertilizers without fear of mold fungi appearing in the soil.
Black agrofibre does not allow sunlight to pass through, which stops the development of weeds. Keeps the berries clean, preventing them from touching the ground. During wintering, the root system is protected from stress caused by sub-zero temperatures.
Additional soil preparation tips
Experienced gardeners advise forming beds in advance by hand for plants of any variety. This method will help you not only select a suitable area for the plantation, but also manually loosen the soil. The most popular types of beds for agrofibre are rectangular or square shapes.
Advice! If the planting zone is located in the climatic zone of Siberia or the Urals, then gardeners recommend choosing a high type of beds. This life hack will allow the berries in such latitudes to receive additional warming from the sun, and in the spring it will protect the roots from excess moisture after the snow melts.
It is recommended to mulch the beds as soon as they are ready. The most popular methods are straw or grass. A number of gardeners dry mulches and mix them in equal proportions. If you need to know the answer to the question of how to plant strawberries under agrofibre, then first you need to do all the manipulations listed earlier. And then, after mulching, spread the fabric. Mulch poured onto the fabric will only be a useless burden.
Why plant strawberries under covering material. Pros and cons of planting strawberries on agrofibre
Covering material has become firmly established among summer residents and gardeners. The advantages of using agrofibre and spunbond are undoubted:
- It usually takes a lot of time to apply mulching materials under strawberry bushes. If you plant a crop under black spunbond, this procedure is eliminated, since non-woven material replaces mulch, retaining almost all of its positive properties. Unless it is capable of decomposing and serving as an additional source of nutrition for strawberries, as happens with plant residues;
- Strawberries need regular watering. Drying out the soil negatively affects the taste of the berries and the amount of harvest. It takes a lot of effort to organize daily watering in dry summers. Non-woven material maintains an acceptable level of moisture in the soil, relieving owners of strawberry plantations from this need;
- On fertile soils, which strawberries need, a lot of weeds always grow. Planting crops on agrofibre helps to get rid of the grueling weeding process. This frees up time, which is always in short supply during the growing season;
- During the development of bushes, a large number of whiskers are formed. To prevent this from affecting the harvest, they should be removed in a timely manner. The mustache cannot take root on agrofibre. This is a kind of saving of nutrients in the soil;
Advantages
There are many advantages to using agrofibre when growing crops such as strawberries. We will consider the beneficial properties of the material in more detail further.
Firstly, agrofibre perfectly transmits water, air, light, which creates optimal conditions for strawberries that love the sun's rays and a sufficient amount of oxygen.
The shelter perfectly retains heat inside, so heat-loving plants will be quite comfortable. In addition, agrofibre can protect strawberries from frost. In hot weather, the fiber protects the bushes from overheating, so the strawberries do not die from the greenhouse effect and do not dry out from the sun.
The material prevents weeds from germinating, while the strawberries themselves grow quite comfortably. This saves the gardener from having to clean the beds, and the strawberries from unwanted and nutrient-robbing “neighbors.”
Mold fungi and slugs, the enemies of strawberries, cannot reproduce under agrofibre. Therefore, you can avoid using toxic or any other herbicides, which makes the products more environmentally friendly and safe.
Agrofibre is lightweight and can be easily laid on beds. The soil underneath is protected from both weathering and drying out. The material protects the berries from contamination after watering and rain.
In addition, the number of waterings can be reduced. Due to the fact that the contact of the berries with the ground is prevented, the strawberries do not rot, and fungal infection also bypasses the covered strawberries. Spunbond makes it possible to limit the growth of mustaches. And the harvest can be harvested 2-3 weeks earlier. In general, growing under agrofibre greatly simplifies the gardener’s work.
In addition, agrofibre is not a disposable material; you can cover strawberries with it for several seasons: on average, three to four.
And finally, agrofibre has an affordable price, so all gardeners can afford this expense (which will 100% pay for itself).
Methods for planting strawberries under black covering material
Site selection
Strawberries prefer bright places. The culture is not afraid of drafts and wind-blown areas. Only in the shade it is impossible to achieve abundant fruiting.
Preparation of beds
It is preferable to make a bed in the shape of a box. The length of the structure depends on the preferences of the owner. As for the width, the rational value in all respects is 80 centimeters.
Soil preparation
After collecting the box, you need to fill it with a nutrient mixture. Sequencing:
- clear the place of weeds;
- the first layer is chernozem;
- humus mixed with wood ash is poured on top;
- thoroughly mix the layers together;
- if there are weeds left, remove them and break up the clods of earth. This must be done before the bed is covered with agrofibre. There is no need to dig for three years.
Planting strawberry bushes:
- the soil is watered abundantly and then covered with spunbond with a density of 60-80 g/m2;
- agrofibre is laid so that the rough surface is on top. This is explained by the fact that it is the rough side that allows water to pass through better;
- Metal pins are used to secure the canvas. You can buy them in a store or make them yourself from wire;
- seedlings are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The distance between the bushes is 30 centimeters;
- in the planting areas on the agrofibre, scissors make cuts perpendicular to each other;
- The edges of the cuts are tucked in and pressed firmly to the ground.
General principles for planting strawberries:
- To be safe, it is recommended to plant any plant in the evening, or wait for cloudy weather. This principle also applies to transplanting strawberries onto black covering material;
- About an hour before starting work, the plant is watered. In the case of an open root system, the roots should be immersed in water, to which a drug must first be added to stimulate root growth;
- To prevent diseases and pests, you can soak the bushes in an infusion of garlic. It is prepared as follows. 5-8 cloves of garlic are crushed and filled with water. Leave for a day, then dilute in ten liters of water at room temperature;
- a seedling with 3-4 leaves and a root system, 10 centimeters long, is planted in holes;
- sockets should not be deeply buried to avoid their rotting;
- the bush is placed in a hole on a small mound of soil and sprinkled with a nutritious soil mixture;
- During the application, compact the soil with your hands. At the same time, water until the top layer of soil reaches the desired level. This technique allows you to achieve close contact between the roots and the surrounding nutrient mixture.
How to plant?
You can plant strawberries under agrofibre in both spring and autumn. But it is preferable in the spring - in this case there is a greater chance of successful rooting of plants and further abundant harvests. Planting strawberry bushes under agrofibre has several stages. Let's look at this process in detail.
Spreading agrofibre
When the beds are prepared, dug up and leveled, it is necessary to properly lay the spunbond. The covering material is laid as evenly as possible on the bed, secured on the sides with stones and cobblestones.
It is better not to use brick for fastening, as it tears the material. You can also make wire pins with which the fiber is secured: a piece of linoleum should be placed on top of the material so that the spunbond does not tear.
If it is necessary to use not one piece of spunbond, but two or three, they are laid overlapping with a gap of about 20 cm. Otherwise, the edges of the material will soon separate, and weeds will certainly sprout from the holes formed.
Attention: provide sufficiently wide paths between the beds to make strawberry care and harvesting easier.
Seedling selection
If you start planting strawberries in the spring, it is better to take already formed young seedlings, and if in the fall, it is better to take tendrils from the current harvest (from the strongest and most prolific bushes).
Inspect the planting material: it should be strong and healthy and not damaged. If you find seedling bushes with rotted roots, it is better to get rid of such material - it will be difficult to remove the rotted bushes, and the harvest is not guaranteed. The seedling material must have a well-developed root system. There should be at least five leaves: intact and healthy.
Before planting bushes in the beds, you should harden them off. Over the course of about a week, take them outside for a while, increasing the time spent outdoors longer each day.
If there are too many containers with seedlings, and taking them out into the air every day is problematic, you can place the seedlings in a cool room for several days - also a kind of hardening.
Landing
Scheme:
Mark the landing pattern on the spunbond fabric. Mark the places of the cuts with chalk - where the bushes will be located. The best distance between strawberry bushes grown under agrofibre is considered to be 40 cm, between rows - 30 cm. This is the optimal planting pattern.
The cuts in the fiber are made cross-shaped, 10x10 cm. It is better to turn the curved corners of the cut holes outward. Holes are dug in the cuts: deep ones for seedlings from cups and smaller ones for ground seedlings. It is most convenient to make holes with a round stick. Make a notch on the stick to which you will dig.
For information: if you try, you can find on sale or order on the Internet special agrofibre for strawberries with ready-made cuts in the right places.
Dip each bush in a solution of clay and water to strengthen the plants. In addition, immediately before planting, the roots of the seedlings must be dipped in a pre-prepared solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection.
Bury the bushes so that their aboveground part is sure to look out from under the material. Otherwise, the bush may simply “suffocate.” Once the seedlings are in place, tuck the corners of the cuts on the agrofibre inward. Water the plants thoroughly. Landing completed.
Care and cultivation of strawberries under black covering material after planting
Caring for strawberry bushes on agrofibre is easier than with conventional planting.
At the same time, you should treat the agrofibre coating with care. You cannot walk on the surface of the ridges. Plantings can only be serviced from between rows.
They are lined with improvised materials. Small waste from wood processing - sawdust, shavings - is suitable. Straw is used from plant residues.
The passages between the rows are often lined with paving stones. An example is shown in the photo below.
Watering
For irrigation it is recommended to use a drip system. This will protect the coating from mechanical damage from a jet of water. For irrigation by sprinkling, nozzles are used to prevent soil from being washed away in the immediate vicinity of the bushes. As with the usual planting method, water the plants with warm water. The water temperature should not be significantly lower than the ambient temperature. It is recommended to use the water after it has settled.
Plantings need to be watered less often than with the usual method. However, regularity is required. In the initial period, about a couple of weeks after the planting process, watering is done as the soil dries. This will allow the plants to take root in a short time. In established dry weather - every other day, one bucket per square meter.
Features of the method
Agrofibre began to be used in gardening work recently - only 15-17 years ago. However, the benefits of this material have already been appreciated by many grateful farmers. Let's talk a little about this unique material.
Agrofibre is an artificial material, created using a non-woven method from thin polypropylene fibers. The material has a cellular, porous structure that does not prevent the penetration of both water and oxygen through it.
The composition of agrofibre is non-toxic, so the use of the material is completely safe for both plants, people and the environment. To completely dispel readers’ doubts on this matter, we note that containers for storing food products are also made from the same polymer from which agrofibre is made.
Agrofilm can protect plants from frost, provides an optimal microclimate, prevents the soil from drying out, and prevents weeds from germinating. In its effect, agrofibre is similar to mulching - it is in this way that the same favorable conditions for strawberries can be achieved. However, using fiber is a much more modern, profitable, convenient, time- and effort-saving method.
Possible mistakes
In the process of planting and growing strawberries on black covering material, gardeners make a number of mistakes. To avoid this, you should get to know them in advance:
- buy agrofibre with a density of at least 60g/m2. Otherwise, bright sunlight will penetrate through the fabric. Weeds appear in abundance under cover. All efforts to construct the structure will go down the drain;
- make sure that the edges of the agrofibre in the immediate vicinity of the bushes are pressed tightly to the ground. The mustache should not penetrate under the fabric. Rooted shoots will begin to delay nutrition, the yield will be lower than expected;
- It is necessary to cut through the fabric only after fixing it on the ridge.
Approximate prices
When purchasing agrofibre, you should pay attention to the density and its manufacturer . Products weighing 50–60 g/m2 are considered the most popular. m. The higher the density, the more expensive the fabric. The fabric is offered in rolls from 10 to 1500 m.
The next parameter when choosing fabric is its color.
According to the advice of gardeners, light colors are well suited for the southern regions.
- Agrofibre 60 UV from a Russian manufacturer with parameters 3.2x10 (m), black, can be purchased online for 665 rubles , where the first number (3.2) indicates the width of the fabric, the second (10) the length of the roll.
- Agrofibre 50 g/sq.m. m for strawberries from a Polish manufacturer with parameters 1.6x10 (m) - 150 rubles.
Reviews from experienced gardeners and gardeners
Alexander. Voronezh city.
I liked the method. The weeds prevailed. It is not always possible to remove weeds on time. In this case, you can’t count on a harvest. I have been using agrofibre for more than one year. I'm happy with it and use it for other crops as well.
Marina. City of Lipetsk.
This is the second year since I started using spunbond. I used to put straw under the bushes. So much trouble. The berries are large, sweet, ripen quickly and do not rot. I recommend.
