Grow strawberries hydroponically or Harvest all year round
Featured on video way of growing strawberries found its application in Russia. This is called hydroponics - when the plants are grown using a special substrate that the soil does not contain. Most often, hydroponics is used in greenhouses, while planting not only strawberries, but also other types of plants. This technology allows you to get a high-quality harvest regardless of climatic conditions.
Benefits of using hydroponics
The hydroponics method is often used to harvest at an unusual time, that is, almost all year round. This is especially important in regions where the temperature conditions are not very suitable for this thermophilic berry. In addition, the main benefits of hydroponics are:
- more plentiful and better harvest;
- the ability to grow crops in areas where the soil is infertile (since it is not used for planting);
- ease of maintenance and harvesting, as the racks with plants are located above ground level.
The nutrient substrate for strawberries should be porous and allow air and moisture to pass through.
Hydroponics can be used not only in the mass cultivation of strawberries. Quite often, amateur gardeners also use it, adjusting the technology to their home conditions, for example, growing berries on a balcony or loggia (insulated).
How to grow strawberries hydroponically?
There are several methods of hydroponics, but the most commonly used drip irrigation system, as in the video (you can see how pipes go along the gutter).
The cultivation principle is as follows:
- The pallet is covered with a film that does not transmit light. Holes are made in it through which excess water will drain into the pan. Moisture is removed from the pallet itself through separate pipes.
- The substrate is placed on the film. The most commonly used mineral wool, coconut fiber or peat mixture.
- Dropper tubes are run along the pallet, through which the nutrient solution will flow to moisten the substrate.
- Strawberry bushes are planted in the substrate, keeping a distance of about 25 cm between them. The roots of the seedlings are pre-washed.
Strawberries can also be planted in separate pots. They are suspended at the same height or installed in a pallet, and are combined by pipes into a common system.
In hydroponics, both horizontal and vertical growing methods (for example, in bags) work equally well. But for growing it is better to use only remontant strawberry varieties.
A special nutrient solution is supplied to each seedling through a single drip system. Every 2 weeks, a fresh composition is poured into the system, which depends on the growing season and the stage of development of the strawberries.
Hydroponic technology for growing plants in a greenhouse also provides for additional lighting and heating so that the seedlings do not freeze out in winter.