The Strawberry Thread ©

[ShroomDr]

Hey all, Im going to be growing 'quinault' everbearing strawberries in containers.
Im going to be getting strawberry pots. Something like this

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on substrate or general advice for strawberry growers. We can use this thread to compile knowledge here on ICMAG.

Heres something i saw

Peter Trodd of Alabama has found a way to make sure water gets to plants at the bottom of his strawberry pots.
Before he plants, he cuts a section of 2-inch PVC pipe roughly the same length as the height of his pot. Then he drills 1/2-inch diameter holes in the pipe, staggered every 4 inches. He stands the PVC on end in the pot with 1 to 2 inches of soil beneath it, fills in around it with soil, then plants.
When he fills the pipe with water, it soaks evenly into the soil.

I was thinking of using straight coco, i could cut it with perlite, but then i would have to water more often. Ive also read that strawberries like sandy soils. I would appreciate advice on substrate.


Addendum
I found this gem, and think it covers the basics

http://www.gardening-tips-idea.com/Hydroponic-strawberry-gardening.html
Hydroponic strawberry gardening can be fun,some people quite simply swoon at the taste of a pristinely fresh strawberry, left on the vine to ripen to its very peak of absolutely blissful perfection.

Those are the people who survived the swoon caused first by the enchantingly delightful aroma of such a perfect strawberry. And doesn’t the very sight of such a beauty bring on a cheerful smile and captivate the senses?

If strawberries affect you this way, you would probably delight in the mouthwateringly succulent, superbly sweet fruit you can grow by learning a little about hydroponic strawberry gardening.

Of course, strawberries thrive in the wild but the birds and squirrels love them just as much as you do. Hydroponic strawberry gardening in a closed, controlled environment and may be with your own Homemade hydroponic fertilizer which means there’ll be more for you and less for the critters outside. Let them eat nuts.

In the wild, strawberries thrive from cool zone 3 all the way to warm zone 10 so your hydroponic strawberry gardening system should be easy to set up to mimic one of these climates. Just make sure the growing medium is moist at all times and rich in a steady supply of nutrients.

Just can’t raise them fast enough? Gobble them up as soon as they ripen? You might want to lavish your hydroponic strawberry gardening area with several varieties of strawberries. Some of them have different fruit-bearing characteristics and, once you get to know how often each plant bears fruit, you can plant a garden that provides something good to eat almost every day

There are actually only three different fruiting characteristics to hydroponic strawberry farming to worry about – June bearing, ever bearing, and day neutral. Within these categories, there are many varieties from which to choose so have some fun.

When planning your hydroponic strawberry gardening harvests, plant with this schedule in mind. June-bearing strawberries will bear fruit only once a year, in the early summer. Ever-bearing varieties will bear fruit in the early summer and again in the fall. Day-neutral varieties produce fruit on a somewhat continuous basis throughout the summer.

These harvest schedules are the ones enjoyed in a natural, soil-based, garden outdoors. You can establish your own controlled hydroponic strawberry environment so that at least some of your plants think it is growing time at almost any given time of the year.

Patience is required of raising these juicy, red, delicious fruits, whether in a strawberry gardening setting or the more traditional. Strawberries are perennials, meaning it takes a couple of years for the plant to mature to the point of bearing fruit. It also means you don’t have to replant every year since one plant will produce a crop in any number of consecutive years.

With their lifespan that lasts for years, some consideration should be made when establishing your hydroponic strawberry gardening system. You’ll want to set it up and keep it in one spot with as few mechanical changes as possible for optimum harvest over the long run.

Once your hydroponic strawberry gardening system has been established and producing succulent delights for several years, don’t be alarmed if you notice that the harvest seems to diminish a bit. This is just a signal to you that the plant has given you its very best and is retiring now. You’ll want to replace it so you’ll have a vigorous grower in its place for the next harvest.

 

[zeppelindood]

Shroom... did you copyright this thread?

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

Shroom... did you copyright this thread?

LOL, I was wondering the same

 

[Capn]

They work alright, seem they take a season to get established before you get any real berry yields.

 

[dubwise]

FWIW-we just started strawberries and from what I've read, pinch off flowers in the first year in order to have a better and more uniform crop next year. Does anyone know about taking cuttings of strawberries?

 

[Capn]

Cuttings from strawberries are easy to take as long as they throw runners.

When you see a runner just clip it off and burry the nub where the leaves are growing from, it'll grow roots. Or you can sorta air layer the nubs by just planting them in soil without clipping them off. Then after they root, clip them.

From my experience, strawberry runners root easier than cannabis cuttings.

 

[cannaboy]

Well DocLeaf gave me some (Cambridge Delights) a brittish variety in feb... I potted them into 1LTR pots 50/50 mix of canna coco and biobizz allmix they are doing great and I have some fruits coming there real cool in the growroom or outside but remember there called strawberries and need to be sat on straw when ripning to stop slugs and other pest attacks. I have just been feeding water and sensizym..

If you pinch out all the flowers they will veg for a season and you will gain more growth for a bigger harvest next year,, but after 3 years try to workout all the oldest plants as they will decline in productability..

There are some raspberries AKA Rubic Idera. and some redcurrents,, I have some cool stuff like Kiwi

 

[DoobieDuck]

I have a huge patch of strawberries, I'm sorry I can't tell you which strains, but many. We did up the entire patch every other year, re-plant, and the following spring they will throw fruit by the buckets. Hope you don't mind this image, just have to post it in the strawberry thread. Rez Strawberry Cough Kush cross of mine..DD

 

[orf]

pine mulch

pine mulch

just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I put down a mulch of pine needles, keeps the weeds out and the berries like the acid. As far as propagation, just cut off runners(daughters) and replant.

 

[cannabowl]

I have a few beds of strawberries, Fort Larimies. Water daily, Don't expect much of a crop the first year. Cover with much before winter. They grow themselves.


Peace,
Canna

 

[ShroomDr]

Thanks to all,
I figured copyrighting the title might bring us 'berry heads' together. The garbage supermarkets claim are strawberries have no flavor. Im fed UP!


So.. any ideas on IDEAL substrate?

Right now im leaning towards 100% bio bizz coco coir. (because ive got it sitting around. I'll probably add worm castings too.)

Ive got 3 strawberry pots already, they are all small 16" tall, each with 4 'ports' on the sides. I really wont need the pvc pipe, but ive got scraps, and end caps, so i'll probably do it anyway. (I'll also got a hanging green plastic 'pouch' that has 'ports' for strawberries.)

So... sandy soil, or coco? amend with perlite?
Do you use plain water (flush) when the fruits are almost ripe?

 

[dargo]

Last years runners planted in half a plastic barrell, also a few in pots along with a blueberry bush.

and the 2 mothers of the runners in the greenhouse for extra early fruit

 

[Woody]

Hey cool thread.

I threw in a couple of strawberries into my veggie patch a few months ago. Had a good couple of punnets from the little buggers and mannaged to split the one pot I bought into 3 plants. As well as that I have two little plants because one threw out some runners.

Their a breed called "sweet heart" and their a smaller berry but packed full of sweetness as their name suggests. I find they dont even have to be 100% ripe and they still taste fantastic because their that sweet. I think this is how strawberrys should be. Not those over sizes gigantic flavourless berrys the shop sells.

I am planning on growing some strawberrys in my room at work under a small fluro or something. Has anyone had any experiance with this? I was hoping a couple of 2ft fluro tubes would be enough light for a couple of producers. Just going to grow them in coco/soil.

 

[ColoradoOG]

With colorado passing their new bill i have no new plans for expanding my medi so i have quite a bit of room in my veg and flower room.I have been adding veggies fruits and herbs lately and i am getting close to buying some mara des bois and running them in hydro for the first time.


Seeing all your strawberries im jealous and cannot wait to get mine started!

 

[ShroomDr]

BUMP

Well my strawberries are doing great, they have the biggest leaves ive ever seen, they are throwing a million runners, but no flowers at all.

From what ive read, they actually flower better with lower fertilization, and under 85F. Ive got huge solar panels for now, i figure ill do well in the fall.


I also found a bunch of wild strawberries growing around my yard, they were all real small, but i dug them up, and put them in containers. They have small flowers on them. They were up against the house, and by the railing near the driveway, I only assume they were planted years ago, and have reverted to wild, idk.

 

[ShroomDr]

I fried the outdoor strawberries. Got a little too busy with the indoor garden to tend to the outdoor garden. It did not rain a lot here this summer, you do the math.


I did leave one indoors, in the corner of my flowering tent, it eventually split into three plants, and here are some pics!

EC 1.2-1.4; pH 5.5

 

[ShroomDr]

very small update (fucking flash made them look weird).

 

[Conky_Badylarz]

Very nice setup ShroomDr, I grow strawberries in big barrel with holes driled in it around.
Try senga sengana variety next time, You'll be happy of it
Reg. C_b

 

[ShroomDr]

I'll try to get an updated pic here soon.

I have yet to get an actual berry off them yet. Most of the flowers end up withering away. I dont know if i need to hand pollinate them or what (Im pretty sure i read this is not necessary). The plants themselves have never looked better.

 

[gdawg]

Hey great thread Shroomdr I love strawberries now I'm gonna start some.