The use of strawberries as living mulch in organic orchards and vineyards (DOMINO Practice Abstract)

Summary

Living mulch reduces the need for further soil management, starting from the second year after planting vines or trees. It assures a full soil cover during winter, thus reducing soil erosion and weed competition. It maintains a diversified plant community and provides potentially a secondary income.
• Select species with a limited summer growth(a sort of stasisor summer dormancy)to avoid or reduce water competition during the dry season.
• In mild winter climates (like Central Italy),transplant strawberry in autumn (generally the rainy season) to avoid drought stress to young strawberry plants.
• Transplant strawberry plants after soil tillage under the rowsof trees or vines, to stimulate competition of living mulch against weeds at the initial stage.
• Transplant the strawberries close to the main trunk. One plantlet per side should be enough to reach a quick soil coverin cool environments(double the density in case of clay soil or risk of waterstress).
• In the case of low tree/vine density, the strawberry must be planted along the row even far from the trunk (1 plant per meter), thus it is necessary to use an iron stick to protect the isolated plants against damages during soil tillage(picture 2).
• Remember that shallow tillage with a horizontal blade stimulates the growth of strawberry but strongly damages the tap root of several weeds