Peach Tree Guilds

We're attempting to kill two birds with one stone fruit (then bury the feathery remains for fertilizer) by combining two guilds in one, peaches and strawberries.

We have been frustrated to watch our strawberries thrive for a single season then die away by the third year. Even rooting the stolons failed to keep the line going. I have since learned that the allelopathic strawberry plants may be poisoning themselves - a condition which I'm told  may be countered by planting other allelopathic species nearby whose toxins cancel each other out.

This year we're planting our strawberries in  peach tree guilds with alliums, mint, and clover, in the hope they will all support each other. Since the strawberries are shade tolerant, we planted the berry guilds beneath our peach trees, along with dandelions and curly dock for deep penetration and mulch.

We'll report back in 4-5 years to let you know if it works.

Strawberries tend to exhaust themselves in the same spot after a few years regardless of companions, the allelopathy thing is real but so is just general soil depletion. Might be worth rotating a fresh batch to a different patch every couple of years rather than trying to keep the same plants going indefinitely. The peach guild idea sounds solid though, dynamic accumulators under fruit trees work well once everything establishes.

Joao Winckler wrote:Strawberries tend to exhaust themselves in the same spot after a few years regardless of companions, the allelopathy thing is real but so is just general soil depletion.

I have some antique strawberries on my property. I would pin the runners into small pots of soil, so they'd put down roots, then I'd plant them in a new patch in the fall. These "new" strawberries will be more productive than their 3-4 year old parents even though they're essentially clones.

It also depends on whether you're trying to do this as a "strawberry farm", or as farm where a few weeks of strawberries to eat, freeze and/or jam is your goal.  I have found the "everbearing strawberries" disappointing in my ecosystem, and they were very poor at long term self renewal compared to my antique ones.

They grow very well under my apple trees. They also grow well in the lawn. It doesn't seem to hurt them to mow over them after they bear. They keep going that way for years.