NDSU WSU Strawberry Hydromulch Project Data 2022

This research was conducted as part of NIFA Project Number ND05057, Award Number 2021-51300-34909. This research was conducted in North Dakota and Washington state during the 2022 field season. The objective of the research was to evaluate the impact of various hydromulch formulations on weed suppression efficacy, mulch deterioration, soil moisture content, soil temperature, fruit yield, and fruit quality in a day-neutral strawberry production system. Hydromulch formulations were compared to the industry-standard polyethylene film mulch. Polyethylene (PE) mulches are widely used in strawberry (<i>Fragaria</i> <b>×</b> <i>ananassa</i> Duch) production for weed suppression and crop growth optimization. However, PE mulches are not biodegradable and contribute to plastic pollution. Our objective was to develop and test biodegradable liquid-applied ‘hydromulches’ (HMs) as a sustainable alternative to PE mulch. HM weed suppression efficacy, strawberry plant growth, and yield were evaluated. HM formulations consisted of shredded newsprint paper (NP), water, and a tackifier, either guar gum (GG) or psyllium husk (PH) added at 2 or 6%. Experiments were conducted at two environmentally distinct locations: northwest Washington (WA) and eastern North Dakota (ND). Five HM formulations were compared to black PE mulch within a randomized complete block design with four replications.README PDF file contain all the column headers and codes needed to understand and use the associated datasets.