This is the second hydroponic system I’m setting up for growing Strawberries this year, The tank I’m using was originally an Aeroponic propagator which I purchased from Nutriculture. It was originally made for propagating 205 seeds or plants.
I used it for the first year in this way, But never really used it to it’s full capacity. So decided to try it a little differently this year. The tank itself has a pump in the middle of the tank which is connected by a series of plastic pipes to little spray nozzles.
So when the pump is running a continuous spray of nutrient solution is sent to the roots of any plants which are dangling into the tank from the top plate above.As well as using it like this I’ve also put in a large floating fogger inside it, This is normally used to produce a fog or mist on the top of ponds for decorative purposes but I’m using it to add a little bit of extra nutrients to all of the places on the plants roots which may or may not be hit by the spray from the pump alone. As the fog or mist solution finds it’s way out of the sides of the top plate when it’s active I’m only doing this several times a day with a timer for a few minutes. I’m not really sure if it will help the plants but it can only help. It looks cool anyway when it’s active and the mist is rising from the plants.
The same as on my ebb and flood strawberry tank I’m using shower panel plastic sheets which I’ve cut up for the top plate and I’ve drilled lot’s of holes in one of the sheets which you can see on the end so I can use it for propagating some of the small seedlings I’m still using. For this the seedlings are placed in the middle of a little piece of foam which is then placed into a tiny pot in the little hole.
The strawberry plants I’m growing have been put into slightly smaller pots of clay pebbles than in the ebb and flood tank as the roots will soon be growing out of the bottom of the pots into the spray of nutrients. The roots are actually already growing into the nutrient solution after a week of growing.
I will keep you informed how the progress of this strawberry hydroponic method goes but as you can see from the two photo’s below which I’ve taken after the system has been active for two weeks they are all doing well.