r/strawberryhydroponic

So i had a marathon planting operation last night. I order 100 plants a week ago or so and they arrived while i was out of town. So i rushed last night to process, sort, sterilize and install in my nft’s. Out of 100 or so bare roots, i was able to salvage and install 88 plants. I doubt all will flourish so i will likely need to order a second batch in a week or two to fill out the remaining spots and replace dead plants.

I have one rail set up with hydroton to test and see if an nft filled with hydroton will do better than an empty pipe. With the slope and flow rate, there is about an inch of water in the bottom of the gutter. Im using an empty net cup as a veiw port to monitor the water level/flow in the channel.

My starting ec is 1.25 and ph is about 5.5 so hopefully its good enough to get them started. My garage is in a heat wave with temps in the 80’s and humidity up in the 80’s as well, so i turned on my dehumidifier during the day to drop my daytime humidity down to 55-60. My poor dehumidifier works overtime to dry out my huge garage space, and it also adds a bit of heat to the space. Hopefullly in the next couple of days we will get back to our normal 50F days soon.

Hopefully i can stay on top of my calcium issues on this trial.

Hello strawbheads!

I have been having meh results with indoor berries for years now. I get a good wave, they die back or salt damage, root die, or pests invade. I feel like I wanted to blame heat, oxygen, nutrients, everything.

I grew these seascape berries in 80/20 coco and perlite. Theyve only ever recieved unmeasured amounts of masterblend solutions. No special care, a week vacation with nothing but some rain showers, 90+ degree days, etc.

I am coming to a very firm belief that the failures ive been experiencing from indoors are stemming from TWO issues.

1. light - direct sun all day has produced insane berries. The heat makes them spoil too quick to enjoy but with cooler nights ahead they should get fantastic again soon.

2. overwatering - anyone running pure medialess hydroponics outside of commercial grows seems to have issues in the medium/long term. One small event can ruin months of progress. The level of micromanagement it requires to keep it properly watered isnt worth the slight yield increase for me.

So with all this success outdoors using the exact methods that are failing me inside I have decided on a whole new approach. I tossed all my summer plants(cuke, watermelon, peppers, tomatoes) before vacation. Im back and taking all my grow lights to strawberries to see if I can do better with a higher quality light, deeper root zones and much better access to monitor my cococoir.

My grow room is a sad state of affairs right now. If it wasnt for the few plants I had going outside I think I'd be depressed hah.