WEED CONTROL AND WINTER PROTECTION OF STRAWBERRIES IN QUÉBEC USING INTERSEEDED CROPS

Several interseeds were evaluated both for their ability to compete against weeds and as potential straw substitutes for winter protection of strawberries in south western Québec.
For two successive years, strawberries were established in late May, mechanically cultivated until mid-July, after which interseeds were seeded either in mid-July or in mid-August.
Weed counts and biomass were taken the year of establishment and the following year prior to strawberry harvest.
Strawberry yield was also taken.
Plants grown using the standard treatment, herbicide and straw, outyielded most of the interseeded treatments but it was also the most costly treatment.
Barley was a most promising interseed since it died late in the fall, had sufficient lignin to stay erect for most of the winter, thereby acting as a snow fence.
It also fell to the ground in the spring, keeping the interrow clean.
Interseeds that survived winter, fall rye or ryegrass, kept the interrow clean for pickers and free of weeds, but required some mowing in order to keep their growth in check.

III International Strawberry Symposium

D.C. Cloutier, M. Lamarre

Fragaria x ananassa, winter frost injury, cover crop, living mulch

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.439.146