How to cover strawberries for cold protection and moisture retention so they overwinter safely

    As strawberries grow into late autumn, they gradually enter dormancy. Strawberry roots are shallow and can tolerate -8°C low temperatures and short periods of -10°C low temperatures; if the temperature drops further, freeze damage occurs, and in severe cases the plants die. In the north, the main measure for overwintering cold protection of strawberries is covering. Overwintering cover provides both cold protection and moisture retention, which benefits strawberry growth. Strawberries covered roughly sprout late, grow weakly, and their yield decreases noticeably.

Strawberry cold protection covering

    1. Covering time:

    Every year in early winter, after the strawberries have been hardened by several frosts and low temperatures, do this before the temperature drops to -7°C; when the soil "thaws by day and freezes by night," covering is most suitable.

    2. Covering methods:

    1. Covering time. Before covering strawberries with cold protection material, first irrigate once with antifreeze water, and irrigate fully and thoroughly. Irrigation should be done when the soil is about to enter the freezing period, and ground covering should be done one week after irrigation.

    2. Covering materials. Crop straw, leaves, soft grass, rotted horse manure, finely broken barnyard manure soil, etc. can be used. If soil is used for covering, first cover with a small amount of grass, then cover with soil, to prevent damage to the strawberries when the soil is removed in spring.

    3. Covering thickness. This depends on the local climate and the insulation performance of the covering material. Generally the thickness is 3-5 cm, using about 200-300 kg of grass per mu.

    4. Covering method. Covering is done in two stages: after watering with the freeze-sealing water, when slightly dry, first cover part of the material; after a few days, when the temperature no longer rises, cover fully and tightly.

    5. Set up windbreaks for cold protection. Where snow cover is stable, windbreaks can be set up for cold protection instead of ground covering, with one windbreak every 10-15 m, using sorghum stalks, corn stalks, reed mats, etc. The windbreak height is 2-2.5 m. If conditions permit, cold protection cloth, colored steel tiles, etc. can be used to set up windbreaks in the orchard, and the effect is also very good.

    6. Time to remove the covering. In the second year, after thawing begins in spring, do it in two stages. The first time, when the average temperature is above 0°C, remove the covering that has already thawed. If there is too much rain and snow in winter, remove it even more promptly to promote thawing of the lower layer, allow sunlight to reach it, and raise the ground temperature. The second time is when the strawberries are about to sprout; do not remove the cold protection material too late, so as not to damage the new stems.

    7. Use plastic film covering. Use transparent polyethylene film 0.008-0.015 mm thick. After watering the strawberries with freeze-sealing water, wait until the soil surface is slightly dry, level the bed surface, and cover with plastic film along the direction of the bed. When covering with film, pull the film tight and spread it flat so that the film fits closely against the bed surface, press the edges of the film firmly with soil, and then place small mounds of soil in the middle to prevent wind from blowing through the film, then cover with covering material. In areas with snow cover, you can directly cover the strawberries with a 10 cm layer of wheat straw, thatch, rice straw, etc., and then cover with plastic film; the effect is better than first covering with plastic film and then adding covering material.