A question about cloches and strawberries

I've just been given an old plastic cloche (and the support wires, etc).

The plastic is semi-opaque, so it'll let light through but of course it's not clear/fully transparent.

Would the use of this block the sun's rays too much and so affect the ripening of the strawberries?

 

With the weather we have been having I'd not bother covering them.

 

my young seedlings are making fruit now in the open but i am far south.
i think the warmth does speed it up so in colder years it will help. but the farmers are impatient because the prices are higher for the first strawbs

 

The cover would be to prevent birds, etc eating ripening strawberries. I don't want to use netting due to the risk of birds getting tangled in the stuff.

But as it's the ripening stage that I want to protect I'm interested in whether semi-opaque plastic would slow down the ripening.

 

I'm curious about whether semi-opaque plastic cloches would prevent the strawberries from ripening.

 

They would still ripen would be my guess, but as long as its not cutting out too much sunlight .
They could get too hot on very sunny days.

 

Thanks very much.

 

Maybe a stupid question but will the cloches stop the pollinators?

 

Yes but once the petals drop,no need for pollination, the job is done. If various varieties are grown, its best to plant them in blocks.
Use scaffold debris netting which will not tangle wildlife nor enmesh fruits.

 

Not all varieties produce at the same rate - I have 2 varieties growing in the GH, under cloches and outside. At this point, all are flowering and have either fruit forming or have already produced ripe fruit. If you are concerned, then open your cloche for a few hours to let any beneficial insects check them out. Just a thought, but I'd also consider the age of the plastic cloche - like a lot of plastic, it will deteriorate over time so it may well not be quite as opaque as a new one.

 

Is it too late to dig up and replant perpetual strawberries which are already flowering?

I meant to do it a month or so ago but other jobs got in the way.

 

if you can pull a lot of soil up so the roots arent too badly hurt theyll be ok but if you break most of the roots itll set it back considerably. if you did do so, cut all the big leaves off leaving the leaf sprouts to help avoid it dehydrating. better to just pot up suckers, my alpine strawbs dont make those though.

 

If it has to be done, I agree with @Adam I keep as much root and soil as possible and reduce the large leaves - a good water and out of full sun for a while until you think it's settled.