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strawberries


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  #1  
Old 12-30-2009, 09:07 PM
natty18 natty18 is offline
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Default strawberries

i am new to hydroponic growing techniques and am thinking i might grow strawberries hydroponically vertically using some pvc pipe and cutting holes in them. coco and pertile mix for the media and hps light.

how many hours of light do they need?
what determines vegetative or flowering growth?
length of days?
temperature?


any help would be great!

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  #2  
Old 12-31-2009, 04:09 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
how many hours of light do they need?
Need or would like? Strawberry's like about as much light as they can get in general. Some varieties are bred for cooler claimants, and most will still do fine in part shade, so generally speaking the more light the better. In Alaska they get almost 24 hours of sunlight during summer months, and Alaska is well known for producing HUGE fruits and vegetables.
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length of days?
I grow outside in natural sunlight but if I were growing strawberry's with artificial lights I would want strong lighting and would have them on 18 to 20 hours (maybe 12 to 16 if they were small).
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temperature?
Well that would mostly depend on the variety. As I mentioned before some variety's are bred for cooler claimants but in general they like warm temperatures. If I had control of the claimant I would set it for 85 degrees, no cooler than 80 unless they were for cool claimants. They should do fine all the way up to 95 degrees and for a few days even up to say 105. Though from experience growing them in California, I would recommend the air temp be 85 to 90 degrees, with low to medium humidity, and plenty of air circulation. The nutrient temp however should be between 68 and 72 degrees for all plants.
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what determines vegetative or flowering growth?
This is quite simple when broken down:

Vegetative Growth/stage- refers to the leaves
Flowering Growth/stage-refers to the flowers/fruit

Now for the not so simple part because not all plants grow the same. When they say Vegetative Growth/stage they are usually referring to plants that don't flower until near the end of there life cycle, then flower. They refer to this part as the Flowering Growth/stage, because this type of plant is just about full grown before it start to flower. Strawberry's are what is called a continuously flowering/fruiting plant. Strawberry's actually have both stages at the same time, so they don't have a vegetative growth or a flowering growth stage but both at once. They also need the nutrients for both stages of growth thought there entire life cycle.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 12-31-2009 at 06:38 AM.
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Old 12-31-2009, 07:19 PM
GGM GGM is offline
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Think he/she means what triggers flowering/fruiting, sunlight hours? age of plant? temperature?
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Old 01-01-2010, 04:06 AM
natty18 natty18 is offline
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Originally Posted by GGM View Post
Think he/she means what triggers flowering/fruiting, sunlight hours? age of plant? temperature?
yeh thats what i meant... but i think he/she answered the question.

thankyou!!
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Old 01-01-2010, 05:16 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I have only grown strawberry's for one season hydroponically, but in California I had them almost every summer growing in soil. I cant speak to what exactly educes fruiting/flowering for strawberry's but I have never had a problem with them doing so.

Though there are two basic types of artificial light, one is generally for vegetation and one is for fruiting. The difference is in what spectrum of light they put out. As I mentioned before strawberry's are a continuously fruiting plant and that's the difference. Strawberry's fruit/flower their entire life. The sun gives off different spectrum's of light depending on the time of year. Some plants tell when to fruit/flower by the spectrum of light. Plants know that it's early spring by this spectrum of light, they also know when it's fall for the same reason, and just before fall most plants start to flower/fruit.

All sunlight is from the same source, the sun. During the spring the sun is at a different angle in the sky than in the fall. The atmosphere plays a part in the spectrum also (ever seen a sunset). Strawberry's fruit all summer so I am not sure how much the spectrum of lighting plays. Bottom line, I have never had a problem with them fruiting, but If I was only able to give them one spectrum of light it would be the late fall for fruiting. I am not an expert but I like to try to help if I think I can.

P.S. I'm sorry if I get the question wrong, sometimes I do that. As with every one else I just want to help, don't be afraid to ask anyone to clarify something. Personally I would rather spend many hours explaining something than for something to go wrong with your crops. I'm not an expert but want to help any way I can and will do my best to do so.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 01-01-2010 at 05:47 AM.
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  #6  
Old 01-01-2010, 10:48 AM
natty18 natty18 is offline
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Default cool :)

basically the set up i have in mind is going to have the strawberries in vertical pvc pipes about 15 - 20 cm apart. they will be around 8 ft tall and be in vertical columns in a circle sourrounding two lights set up one on top of the other in cooltubes. i will most probably use a coco and perlite media and have them fed with an automated drip.
what do you think of my set up?
any reccomendations for nutrients?

cheers
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