Covering strawberry plants- what type of straw?

"One of the simplest and most common methods of protecting the strawberry crowns is to use a thick layer of straw mulch to cover and protect the vulnerable crowns during the cold of winter. It is relative easy to apply and serves several beneficial functions for your plants...Oat, rye, or wheat straw are the best mulching straw types because it isn't heavy, is loose, and won't smother the plants. Leaves will form a dense, smothering layer, and hay usually contains a host of weed and grass seeds that will germinate in warmer weather and will compete with or choke out your strawberries. Using straw also reduces the chance of inoculating your bed with insect pests or other pathogens. One bale of straw will typically cover about 30 feet of 4-foot-wide matted row." Read more here: https://strawberryplants.org/2012/10/mulching-strawberry-plants-with-straw-for-winter/

I buy straw in bales from a farm store. It is regular wheat straw - not pine straw. I would be concerned about seeds in oat rye straw. Check the bales closely. Regular straw has hollow stems that seem to hold the heat better. I cover my strawberries with a minimum of 3 inches of straw. Maybe more in your area.

Make sure that you are buying straw and not hay. Hay is for feeding livestock and will have the seed heads. Straw is just the plant stem.

Straw is just the stalks of plants without the seed heads so it can come from a variety of grains. Cover the plants lightly with loose straw. You can put it on thicker where there are no plants, but you want to make sure you are getting it on thick enough but loose so the weight isn't a problem, it is the trapping of air that creates the insulating shield. You might want to put some compost on your plants before you put the straw on, it will be a nice boost for the plants when the spring rains come and wash those nutrients into the soil.

Thank yo to all of you this was a great help. I won't forget this time.