Should you flush strawberries?

[endgegner]

I am growing strawberries in coco and I feed them with my drain (thinned with water). It works quite well but end of next month I can already harvest the first ones.

Now I am asking myself, should I flush the plant and not give them my drain before I harvest to not eat fertilizer?

 

[Kimes]

What is your idea behind "flushing"?... to mimic a rain pour on strawberry fields or what? Just curious.

 

[Ca++]

I wouldn't risk it. If they look good, don't rock the boat. Plant health at the time of picking, is a big issue for how long they will stay in good shape.

 

[endgegner]

What is your idea behind "flushing"?... to mimic a rain pour on strawberry fields or what? Just curious.

Now I am asking myself, should I flush the plant and not give them my drain before I harvest to not eat fertilizer?

 

[endgegner]

I wouldn't risk it. If they look good, don't rock the boat. Plant health at the time of picking, is a big issue for how long they will stay in good shape.

Then I will give them plain water the last two times before I harvest and when harvesting I avoid watering them for one or two days.
On the internet people I have read that the have a watery taste if you water the coco right before harvesting.

But regarding fertilizer leftovers and flushing in coco I did not find anything helpful at all.

 

[Kimes]

I'm not a scientist but always thought that plants turn fertilizers into sugars,fats etc...? Pesticide residue I understand... Thanks for clearing that out, I apparently have some issues relating to understandind what I read..

 

[endgegner]

I'm not a scientist but always thought that plants turn fertilizers into sugars,fats etc...? Pesticide residue I understand... Thanks for clearing that out, I apparently have some issues relating to understandind what I read..

If your asssumption is right and the fertilizer turns into sugar, sugar should not be smoked, hence we flush weed.
Since I don't plan on smoking my strawberries, this might not be an issue if it is true.

Hopefully some smart ass comes here and has a clear answer. I really don't know where to look it up.

 

[Ca++]

Sugars are carbohydrates. Photosynthesis creates them, from carbon dioxide. Along with hydrogen and oxygen from the water/h2o iirc. Though that is basic, and food is surely needed to support these mechanisms, even if not the product.

Dropping the feed will lower the brix. A measure of sugars and salts. Primarily thought of as just a sugar measurement. You want this high. It will drop after harvest, over days, until the fruit is ruined.
Pumping them with just water, is lowering the brix. As it's a measure of sugar(and salt)percentage. This suggests that not watering before cropping, is a good way of getting a firmer fruit of higher brix.


TBH I'm way out of my ballpark here. I have a brix meter I intend to take out it's box one day.

 

[endgegner]

Sugars are carbohydrates. Photosynthesis creates them, from carbon dioxide. Along with hydrogen and oxygen from the water/h2o iirc. Though that is basic, and food is surely needed to support these mechanisms, even if not the product.

Dropping the feed will lower the brix. A measure of sugars and salts. Primarily thought of as just a sugar measurement. You want this high. It will drop after harvest, over days, until the fruit is ruined.
Pumping them with just water, is lowering the brix. As it's a measure of sugar(and salt)percentage. This suggests that not watering before cropping, is a good way of getting a firmer fruit of higher brix.


TBH I'm way out of my ballpark here. I have a brix meter I intend to take out it's box one day.

Thank you, this helps me a lot.

 

[exploziv]

Also strawberries are a heavy feeder, taking EC 2.5-3 or more. Your runoff might be a light feeding, anyway. I wouldn't lower it either.

 

[endgegner]

Also strawberries are a heavy feeder, taking EC 2.5-3 or more. Your runoff might be a light feeding, anyway. I wouldn't lower it either.

Where do you have this info from?
I have found this, when looking for the EC of coco:

Hydroponic Strawberry Substrates

"When the root-zone EC exceeds 1.2 dS/m, the growers often flush the root-zone with water to wash off the excessively accumulated salts in the root zone. However, this practice is suggested by Japanese hydroponics consultant and is something about which we have not yet reached a conclusion out of the study at the University of Arizona as higher EC levels may be acceptable (depending on cultivars)."

 

[exploziv]

I got the info from local growers and recomandations online. But you might be right, the optimum seems to be lower. Found research saying optimum is 1.5 to 1.8. Only one source says 1, the one you are using. So 1 might be still low. Found some saying up to 2.5-3 depinding on variety, so it might vary a lot with variety and fruitload.

 

[endgegner]

I got the info from local growers and recomandations online. But you might be right, the optimum seems to be lower. Found research saying optimum is 1.5 to 1.8. Only one source says 1, the one you are using. So 1 might be still low. Found some saying up to 2.5-3 depinding on variety, so it might vary a lot with variety and fruitload.

Somewhere I found another one saying during producing leaves they should have 0.8-1.2 (if I remember correctly) and later on something about 1.4-1.6, but I can't find the source again.

While digging a bit deeper I found this one:

Home International - BVB Substrates

www.bvb-substrates.com

"The required EC level of the irrigation water used for strawberry plants varies between 1.2 and 2.0mS/cm, measured from the drip, depending on factors like temperature and growing phase."

I guess, I will just give them the regular drain from now on. A few new leaves look slightly to light green, like when cannabis when it could have some extra N.

I consider using PK13/14 when the fruits are getting bigger this month, because I barely use it at all. I have used it for 3 grows and almost the whole bottle is still full.

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

Flushing is just bro science, there are sugars in the plant whether you flush or not, it's what they are made of.

 

[xtsho]

No