So healthy!
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Wow, its been almost a month since last update. So my attention is shifting towards getting ready for spring veggie and fruit planting and I just thought I would wrap up this project for those that have been following along. I’m going to be pulling the existing plants in the next two weeks and I’m thinking I might start from scratch using only 1/2 of the growing area - not really sure yet.
I would say this was a great trial run and I learned a lot from it. I can absolutely conclude that the berries were significantly tastier then store bought and much juicier. I grew two unlabeled varieties (Mara Des Bois and Evie 2) but it was pretty easy to tell that Mara Des Bois was the winner in terms of flavor. Evie 2 was only marginally better then store bought, even at peak ripeness. Productivity was about 2-3 berries every 2 days from about 4 plants - but I could see this being much higher with healthier plants.
In summary for what I learned (and a reminder to myself what to do next time):
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Best way to start hydroponic strawberries is from bareroot plants; pre-treat them for pests and maybe do a short soak in a dilute bleach solution for soilborne pathogens (although that has never been my problem); start at 0.6-0.8 EC for young plants and switch to 1.3-1.6 EC total when flowering and keep pH around 6; also consider putting out sticky traps for the first few weeks to let you know if you have any incoming pest issues
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Dry nutrients work just as well as liquid and are way way cheaper; if using the MASTERBLEND 4-18-38 mix it at 80% of the recommended rate for hydroponic strawberries; with fresh nutrients pH seems to drop the first week or so and then slowly increase going forward; larger, mature plants drink a lot of water so be sure to check and top off frequently so that your nutrient concentrations don’t get too high
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Decontamination is CRITICAL when growing in a tight controlled environment; make sure no pests can be introduced into your growing area in any way (soil, plants, your clothes, etc); Take action at first sight of pests and be overly aggressive, it only takes a week of neglect for things to get out of control; shortly after applying insecticide spray turn off the grow lights for 3 hours to reduce the risk of leaf burn
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16" spacing between plants minimum… strawberry plants can get surprisingly large; pick a day neutral variety that is known for good flavor not productivity, you get enough of a productivity boost from the hydroponics method
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Big D. Can you come over my house and set your grow station please!!!
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Will you be tossing the plants or transplanting them outside?
Hydroponic plants dont transplant well to soil in my experience. I’m also planning on not growing Evie 2 again because of its lack of flavor.
Its tempting to keep the plants going because they are really picking up in production but I would rather start from a clean slate.
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Interesting. Are you sure day neutrals are the way to go without a control group? Given the productivity advantage maybe it’s better to have regulars with overlapping yield dates.
I don’t have much experience growing June bearing or everbearing varieties. Day neutral varieties seem to perform better because they yield reliability their first year and are less sensitive to day length (DLI). I would expect day neutral varieties to outperform when growing indoors because they wouldn’t slow down from summer heat.
See also: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14620316.2001.11511330
Short photoperiods (12h) are harder to do with indoor growing because you need very powerful grow lights.
Nice, are the roots sitting in water with air pump?
Not quite. The method I use is commonly known as “NFT” or Nutrient film technique - where the oxygenated nutrient water is pumped from a reservoir to one or more channels that plants grow in. Looks like this:
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Nice, I have run a hydro but with nozzles sprayers. Every 30 mins it turns on for 5 mins or so.
I have notice brown spots n wilt leaves on the plant when the roots would be in water for to long.
HI
Very keen to learn about your experiences with Mara De Bois.
What sort of PAR and EC/PH levels did you use? Misting cycle times?
Are you still going?
best.
Andrew
I stopped because now that winter is over I would rather be gardening outside, also needed time to clean out and reset the system. I will definitely be growing strawberries again this winter because of the potential I saw the last time.
I don’t have a PAR meter but using reference measurements and a LUX meter I am pretty certain I run the lights at about 16 µmol/m²/d DLI @ 280 PPFD Avg. For pH I have 6.0 being the target, adjusted when off by +/- 0.2. For EC I used 0.6-0.8 EC for starting, 1.2-1.5 EC when flowering.
No misting because I used an NFT / DWC type hydroponics system.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks so much for your reply!
I am setting up a 40’ shipping container to grow strawberries aeroponically.
And would love to grow Mara De Bois if I can source them here,
Would be keen to keep in touch.
best
Andrew
Curious why you want to go the aeroponics route, are you trying to grow everything vertically? I find that NFT or DWC, or a mix of the two is more fail proof. There is only one or two pumps with them both and I have (accidentally) found that with a NFT/DWC hybrid plants can survive if the power cuts out for more than 48 hours. With aeroponics if the power cuts out or mist nozzles get clogged and the roots dry out your entire crop is done.
Yes, it may be am being overly technical here and may yet revert to a simpler system. I’m a software engineer by profession lol.
Aeroponics appeals due to the density it gives me (vertically), the efficiency of solution use, and the potential quality of the roots / speed of growth.
But you are right, I may well be setting myself up for failure.
I do like the idea of putting in a large flywheel battery, and utilising renewables - but this is some time down the track.
In the mean time, and as for power outages, the pumps are 24v so I can put in an array of batteries to at least keep the plants alive.
I’d like to see some more pictures of your operation? Here’s my fb page: AgSense Consulting - Home | Facebook
I have been thinking about your comments, and planning my approach to resilience.
We can run the controller and core pump/scavenge system on 24v. In the case of power cut, the misting cycle remains fine.
We won’t get lighting or ventilation, but plants should survive for extended period and until power resumes.
Very nice. I need to try this. What other variety of strawberry could be used? Any everbearing?
About water and pH. I have a large aquarium setup so i know a little about pH/hardness…have you thought about using reverse osmosis water? or even rainwater?
I think day neutral varieties are better because they have good yields their first year and are more tolerant of long light periods. But it could be that everbearing work just as well, I just haven’t tried it.
For hydroponics RO water is actually recommended, because you have a clean slate on which you can add nutrients to. I’m cheap and my water harness isn’t too high (350 ppm if i recall correctly) so I just use tap water.
@nzfarmer @warmwxrules You guys might be interested in this article I based a lot of my process on:
Environment conditions for strawberry
Strawberry plant responses to environmental conditions are complex topic. The following is what we consider as the current general understanding based on available literatures. Responses to specific cultivars need to be examined rather than simply applying this general information. Especially those cultivars that are bred for and cultivated in open fields do not have much information regarding responses to individual environmental factors (and their interactions). Greenhouse controlled environments allow independent control of photoperiod, light intensity and temperature among other factors, and thereby potentially control the plant growth and development to maximize the crop productivity and fruit quality.
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It’s a very interesting experience, Bravo Dimitri. I would like more details on some points that have not been addressed.
Regarding the lighting, what is the spectrum of your lamps that you use. Is it a grow light spectrum or leds at 6500k
a value of 280 PPFD seems to me very little to obtain a bloom like yours, we use this value for germination or at the beginning of the growth. For flowering and fruiting we are around 600 and 800 PPFD, are you sure of your number?
I will soon start growing strawberry plants in NFT and would love to learn more from your experience.
Thank you