Practical Opportunities to Reduce Sprinkler Irrigation Usage with Row Cover Technology for Pre-bloom and Bloom Cold Protection and Preliminary Observations on using Drip Irrigation under Row Covers for Frost Control

In the short term, strawberry plasticulture growers across the Mid-South (NC, VA, SC, GA, TN), mid-America (AR, MI, KY, OK), and Mid-Atlantic regions, are critically dependent on sprinkler irrigation for plant establishment and for managing extremes of heat and cold, especially during the critical pre-bloom and bloom period.  This paper will identify practical opportunities to reduce sprinkler irrigation during plant establishment, as well explore opportunities to use row covers alone, as well as in conjunction with sprinkling, to prevent catastrophic crop losses during windborne freezes and black frosts in the Mid-South.  In addition, a new strategy for strawberry frost protection of running drip irrigation underneath row covers will be discussed.