Project Overview
Commodities
- Fruits: berries (strawberries)
Practices
- Crop Production: cropping systems
- Soil Management: soil analysis, soil chemistry
Summary:
Production of strawberries in many parts of the country has moved away from a perennial matted-row system to an annual plasticulture system. An annual plasticulture system has the potential to produce higher yields of strawberries, but requires more frequent soil tillage and higher input costs. Soil tillage increases soil erosion, alters soil biology, and reduces soil quality over time. This project tested a combination growing method in which strawberries were grown for the first year on plastic mulch and subsequently retained for a second year using matted-rows. For plants that were retained for a second year we compared rows in which all plants were retained and runners removed throughout the summer (crown treatment) and rows in which plants were alternately removed from the row and runners allowed to fill in over the summer (runner treatment). We compared the second-year crown and runner treatments to annual plasticulture rows (annual treatment). We compared overall yield, strawberry size, and soil health between the combination method (crown and runner treatments) and annual plasticulture method (annual treatment).
Overall yield was highest for the crown treatment rows, followed by the runner and annual treatment rows. Similarly, average berry size was highest for the crown treatment rows. Soil organic matter ranged from 3.2 - 3.8% on the field and was similar between all treatments over the course of the study. Soil respiration and soil health scores increased over time for all treatments. Both soil health and soil respiration values were similar for all treatments at the beginning of the study but were highest in the annual treatment by the end of the project. The crown and runner treatment rows had higher values for percentage soil fungi, while the annual treatment rows had higher values for soil bacteria. This may have been due to reduced tillage in the second-year rows.
The study took place in a relatively poor growing season for strawberries in our area. The strawberry size and overall yields observed for all treatments were much lower than what we harvest in a normal year. In this case, the advantage of using a second-year production method is that growers would have an opportunity to recoup some of the investment lost during a poor year. Our findings suggest that it may be worth trying a combination production method if labor is available for summer weeding and row maintenance following the initial harvest and removal of plastic mulch.
Project objectives:
- Evaluate the yield of a combination plasticulture / matted-row strawberry production system.
- Compare measurements of soil health for a combination plasticulture / matted-row strawberry production system and an annual plasticulture system.
- Share findings by hosting a field day with the regional Growing Growers apprenticeship program that promotes sustainable agriculture throughout south-central Kansas; hosting a workshop for county FFA clubs, presenting results at the Wichita Local Food Producers conference, and demonstrating production methods using videos on social media and farm website.