Having some success this year for indoor strawberry would like to share. (in small pots and hydroponics deep water culture) This is year 3 of the experiment.
Variety: Seascape
Condition: 100% LED lighting (200+ umol/m2/s), No spray. Temperature: 60-70F. Hand pollenate.
Takeaways:
indoor pest is much less. watch out for spider mites.
small containers can grow large berries as long as watering frequency is adjusted.
Harvest highlight from small pot (4 inch, potting mix)
Some quick update on this project as end of March. The strawberry seems still producing. The fruit size has been decent. The quality (taste and fragrance are way better than the ones sold in supermarket)
New takeaways:
Certain amount of Nitrogen seems keep the plants’ vigor and keep them active to produce flower. (I think it’s a bit counterintuitive)
It seems Hydroponics are more productive than the one in potting mix 4 inch pots, however potting mix strawberries have stronger flavor (maybe due to non-optimized nutrient solution?)
Hi Wil,
I do not know the specific spectrum of the blue-red color led panels. I got those inexpensive generic panels from amz. I will mention related info in case you are interested in. i) the blue-red color lights seem to make leaves ‘dark’ green comparing to yellow 2800K-5000K led. ii) the panel with uv light seems make leaves thicker and waxy. iii) I don’t think light spectrum makes much difference in terms of fruit quality or fruiting behavior.
Hi, just dropping in, I’m no expert, but have some experience with led lighting, do you happen to have the ppfd or umol chart that they usually come with? And the Uv light chart. Usually looks like a pyramid from the light as to intensity from top to bottom for placement of light
Honestly these panels are so cheap, i don’t know I will trust the documentation but I do remember seeing 2 peaks red (630nm?) and blue (460nm?). some panels come with a couple of LEDs of uva (400nm?) and ir (730nm?).
I gave up these inexpensive red/blue led panels, because they are not very energy efficient (comparing to some high-end “full” spectrum 3000K panels from reputable sources). my experiment mainly focused on energy efficiency before.
That’s cool, keep me posted on your led projects. You may have inspired me to do some as well. The UVA is supposed to slightly stress the plant could explain the waxier feel for the plants under the UVA
but I do remember seeing 2 peaks red (630nm?) and blue (460nm?). some panels come with a couple of LEDs of uva (400nm?) and ir (730nm?).