Hydroponic Strawberries & Tomatoes DWC
 

Well these plants have been going for about a month now. Bought them as seedlings in soil from a local nursery. I asked if they had any Day-Neutral strawberries, and they had no idea what I meant. So I got these Ever-Bearing(can't remember exact strain) and they have been going good since. My set-up is 3.5' x 1.75' and about 5' tall. Its made from an unused clothes rack we had, some cardboard, and wrapping paper. The fan was like $20 from Lowes, and got the 150w HPS from a local hydro store, on sale for $70. The plants are in a 5 gallon DWC system. The lid I also got from the hydro store, its a 6 inch net pot, using Hydroton as well. I've been using General Hydroponics Maxi System and the recommended schedule they provide on their website. They have been on 18-6 since I got them. I don't really check the water because my tap water comes out at pH 7 and 0 ppm. When I did check it during peak vegetative nutrients, it was about 6.5 so anything between that and 7 is fine by me.

My real question is when will she flower/fruit? I've read around here a bit and most say they just begin to when they can, but I was wondering if I was getting close to that time.

Also, the tomato plant on the side was given to me by a friends mother who has been working on her own strains of vegetables for several years in her greenhouse so it should be a good strong one. Going to transplant that tomorrow but am wondering if I should just soil it so it doesn't out-grow my box. By the way, its a Sweet 100.

Thanks for any help. Pictures of set-up below.

OTIS

Some more pictures.....

OTIS

No replies?

OTIS

Because of the color of the light it is hard to see the real color of the roots and foliage, but they look like they are doing good. Looks like lots of good root growth. Although I would try for a little lower pH, about 6.0.
A lot will depend on the variety, and if the plant has been conditioned first, kept in cold storage before planting. Also from what I understand most strawberry variety don't fruit the first year when started from seeds, rather than from bare root plants or plugs that were started from the runners of the mother plant, then placed in cold storage before planting.

Here are two articles written by Dr. Lynette Morgan. Ph.D on growing hydroponic strawberry's.
Maximum Yield - Indoor Gardening
The Growing Edge Community - Guide for growing hydroponic strawberries.
Unless it's a small bush or dwarf variety, it will get much bigger than the box you have. You can always cut and trim it back, but if the box is all the space you have inside for it, I would just stick it outside.

Awesome response, thank you.

This plant was bought from a nursery in soil, then I washed the roots off and placed into the hydroton.

I had assumed they had already winterized the plant but maybe they did not, read somewhere most plants bought are already winterized.

As for the tomato, I think I'll try it out and if it does keep getting too large, I will LST(Low Stress Training) into a lattice to keep it more manageable.

I will borrow my buddies pH test kit sometime this week.

More replies the better, thank you though.

-C

Not sure of your questions, but you do know that you can put the end of those runners in netcups with a moist medium to make more plants.

I have read about that, but my question was is that where the strawberries come from? I guess I don't really know where the flower is supposed to be growing from, so I don't know what to look for.

OTIS

The flowers come out of the base of the plant (the crown) just like the runners in your picture, except they will either have a single flower bud, or a burst of flowers on it. If you are not in need of the runners to start other plants with, I would cut them off so the plant wont wast energy on something you don't need. I added a couple of pictures of the flowers on my strawberry plants last summer. I am also not sure if you said you were using a bloom formula for your nutrient solution or not, but it should be.

Awesome again.

I think I am going to root a couple of these into smaller cups and then remove them from the plant, but no I am not using the runners other then that, but that is good to know that I don't need them.

I'm using the Maxi series by GH. Its a two part dry mix. I am now in the Bloom stage of the feeding schedule. I believe 1 1/2tsp/gal. and my res. is about 3.25 gal.

I have just recently changed my light schedule to 12/12 after reading the article you linked me to(awesome again btw).

I feel the plants are definitely nice and healthy, very robust. They leaves are about the size of my hand and nice and dark, so I assume they are getting adequate light. Just for the record its a HydroFarm 150w HPS.

The tomato has perked up, still don't have time to do much, so its getting stronger(had a bit of a 'lean'). Probably going to lattice the both of them together, making water changes a bit harder, but light more even. Will post pictures of this later/eventually.

Thanks for any/all help.

OTIS

Just wondering, do you have any pictures of the flower stalks before they produce the flower? I just don't think my plant is putting anything out except for leafs and runners.

OTIS

Not from my plants, but I might be able to find some online later. Though it should be quite obvious that they were going to be flower buds, and only a matter of a couple of days before they open into the flowers.

I used Google images and found, for some reason, a lot of marijuana images when searching "strawberry preflower", but anyways, I really do not think the plants I bought were winterized by the nursery and I will have to take some runners and re-do the hydro. These plants are just mazzive and I don't see how/why they wouldn't be flowering yet if they were going to.

OTIS

So I'm going to take some runners from the hydro plants and then try and transplant the hydro plant to soil and plant it outside. Whats the best way to take runners, and do I winterize them before or after I root them? Thanks.

OTIS

You'll want the runners to be able to grow roots first (not a lot, but just start), either in growing medium or potting soil. But soil can introduce diseases into your system (even when washed off). Let the roots start then cut the runner off and allow the plant and root system to grow into a medium sized plant. Then clean off the roots and trim the leaves off so all that's left is the crown and root ball. Then pack them in a small amount of moist sawdust in an mesh cloth bag, then refrigerate for about 2-4 months before replanting.

If I remember the articles correctly, it's 3-4 months, 6 months would be pushing it, and a year is not good. Although I have not tried to winterize mine yet, so I don't have first hand experience with how well they will keep. I have bought bare root (live plants) before, that is how they arrived. Packed in open mesh bags with a little sawdust. I do have some in the fridge that I bought from BloomingBulb and are about year old, but I have not tried to plant them.

Yeah I had been looking at some bare root plants, they were day neutral as well, but in total, for 5 of them, it would be $60+ for them to be delivered. I'm going to try and take the runners I have now, plant my hydro plant outdoors, probably in the bucket its in now, and just do it soil outside. Then, once it takes to the soil, I will transplant it into the ground for the winter. If my runners do not work, then so be it, I will try with another plant. I am just very upset that the nursery sold me a plant that wasn't going to fruit.......

OTIS

Not sure why they were so expensive. I got the Strawberry Collection from BloomingBulb (30 plants) for $12.95+ shipping, about $17 total. But they sell them in 10 packs at $0.55 a plant, that's $5.50 for the ten pack+ shipping, probably about $8-$9 total. If ordering these type of plants I would recommend calling the company you are getting them from to make sure they can, and do ship them right away. They will usually ship them at different times for different zones. But there is nothing wrong with making your own bare root plants either.

P.S. Nursery usually do sell strawberry plants that are ready to fruit, so I would be surprised that they weren't. Were you ever able to contact General Hydroponics to make sure you had the right mix of nutrients for flowering/fruiting strawberry plants?

I have been using the General Hydroponics Maxi-Series weekly mixing schedule for the soil-less system. As for right now, it is at 1 1/2 tsp/gal of the soluble. The Bloom part is 5-15-14 and the Gro is 10-5-14, but I have stopped using that. I'm changing the water tomorrow and it is going to be 2 tsp/gal of the Bloom part. The plants have again sent out about 3 runners each but still no signs of flowers. Thank you for your response again. Will update pictures tomorrow.

OTIS

Did a water change today, the mixture was 1/2 tsp/gallon of MaxiGrow and 1 1/2 tsp/gallon of MaxiBloom and its in 3.5 gallons. Forgot to take pictures, lights weren't on yet anyways. Will tkae pictures tonight if I remember.

OTIS

Any signs of flowering yet?

Still no, there are a new set of runners that I'm waiting on getting larger, but still no signs of flowers. Thanks for stayin up with it.

OTIS

When rooting the runners do you think it would help do put some rooting hormone on the bottom of the plant where the roots will come from?

OTIS

As I understand it there is a lot of debate whether rooting hormones really work or not. But as I see it, it cant hurt unless you mix it way too strong. I would use it, just mix according to the instructions, perhaps slightly weaker.

I have the powder, so I would just dampen the spot where I'm supposing the new crown begins (the bulbous area of the runner) and just dab it in the powder. I'm planning on using a rockwool cube, or should I just just Perlite? I will take pictures sometime soon, but the plant is all the way downstairs and I just got back from a 3hr studio so I'm take a break, lol. Again, thanks for all the help.

OTIS

I am not sure how well rockwool will work out, not sure why though. If you were going to put them in cold storage to make your own bare root plants, it would be easier to clean off the Perlite for storage (bare root). You wont be able to clean off the rock wool, however as long as it's only slightly moist when in cold storage, there may be no problems using it at all. When I ordered them they had no soil at all on the roots, but just packed in slightly moist sawdust with all the leaves removed, just the crown and root-ball.

Hmm, so what I do is let it root while still part of the plant, then, once it has an established root ball, cut it, trim the leaves, and then store it in the refrigerator for some time? I have read some places where it says to do it for around 3-4 weeks, but as you said earlier, I have read about the 3 months. Really just trying to get some runners going so I can stop the hydroponic "mother plant" as it would be, and transplant that into a 50/50 mix of soil and perlite. Once that has seem to get established, I will transplant to the ground. Then, hopefully can run those rooted plants in a multi-node DWC set-up. Thanks.

OTIS

Once the runners have a few roots, they don't need the mother plant anymore. Get the runners to start rooting, once they have a few roots then cut them off from the mother plant. Then let the runners grow into a small plant with a bunch of leaves, then trim the leaves off and begin the cold storage part or they likely wont fruit. Once you replant them they will grow new leaves.

This is from the article by Dr. Lynette Morgan 2009-11-01
Maximum Yield - Indoor Gardening


"Strawberries can also be propagated from runners – small daughter plants that form on the end of long stolons usually produced towards the end of the cropping season. These will root easily if pinned into a damp growing media or can be clipped from the stolon and rooted under mist like any other clone. Runners or plants purchased in a dormant state (usually available for sale in fall, winter and spring), can be held under refrigeration for as long as four to five months before planting out, allowing the season of fruit producing to be manipulated. However, the longer the plant is under refrigeration, the greater the chance of it losing viability, so only strong, well developed plants or runners should be given the extended chilling storage."

I would say for good well established plants I would chill them for 2-3 months. Sounds like you would be able to put the mother plant in cold storage also, tricking it into thinking a new season has started.

I don't know if you read this part from the same article:

" Breeders in the Netherlands have developed hybrid strawberry types which can be grown from seed and will fruit in their first season (another development as strawberry seedlings can be quite slow to grow to fruiting size). A suitable seed raised variety is ‘Sarian F1’ (Johnny Seeds), or ‘Temptation’ (TM seeds) although no doubt we will be seeing more varieties later on."

You may be able to find these hybrids, and just start from seeds.

Yeah I did read that part, I had tried starting from seeds, but they did not work. I think they were like Alpine Strawberries or something, either way, they didn't last past the cotyledons, popped and died. But anyways, I think taking all the runners and then trimming and winterizing the mother plant would work then I will probably do the same type of set-up, DWC, but use a rubbermaid tub, the medium sized, don't know the volume, but then have about 4-6 sites, the lighting seems to be doing it, the plant in there has HUGE leaves. In fact, I will go take pictures now, well, after this post. Thanks for your help.

OTIS

Well, I transplanted it outside. Put it in a 50/50 mix of Perlite and Sta-Green Fruit and Flowers. I believe it is around 5-4-3 . Either way, soaked the soil and put her in, hope she survives.

OTIS

strawberry
 

I bought four this year all different. grew them in hydro all winter and enjoyed berry's and two weeks back moved them out to the yard and there rocking along. i had huge runners in the grow room that had no dirt to root off now it looks like in a few weekends all those runners are starting to root so my four plants will 20 or 30 in a month. best part is when fall comes i will grab one of each and wash the dirt off and be back to hydro for winter berry's.

I just got this one plant, well came with 2 crowns, but got it, thought it was winterized and did hydro, now I'm left with the largest non-fruiting strawberry I have ever seen. Lol. Hopefully she takes to the transplant and makes it till next year.

OTIS