Hydroponic Strawberries: A Grower's Guide

By Charlie Pearson

An Easy Step-by-Step Guide on How to Grow Hydroponic Strawberries

One of the easiest and most rewarding hydroponic plants to grow are strawberries! They grow fast and sweet and look like red jewels in a sea of green leaves. Here's my step-by-step guide on how to grow hydroponic strawberries.

1. Strawberries are usually started by buying bare root plants. Choose the variety that sounds best to you. You can buy seeds but it is easier to grow strawberries by starting with plants.
2. Carefully rinse off the roots of each plant. Don't scrub. Roots are very fragile and have tiny hairs that you can't see. Try not to damage the roots. A little dirt left on is better than over scrubbing.
3. Remove any dead or dying leaves. If you are left with just a root with no leaves, that's okay. The leaves will grow quickly.
4. If you are planting the strawberries in an NFT system with no net pots, I like to break a rockwool or Oasis hydrocube in half and encase the plant. Then you can stick it in the plant site.
5. If you are planting in an ebb and flow, Dutch bucket or hybrid NFT, you can wrap the root in rockwool, put it in the net pot and fill it with hydroton or other expanded clay balls. Fill it up with hydroton, don't be stingy.
6. Start your nutrient solution at a low EC, between 0.5-1.0. Use grow nutrient at first, not bloom. The plants are struggling to figure out what happened to them. Don't overload them with food.
7. If you are using lights, I'd say give 14-24 hours of light. Personally I like to let them sleep, so I'd give under 18, but I know a lot of people grow 24-hour cycles.
8. You may not see much happen for a while. The plants have to work on getting new roots before they can work on leaves.
9. Don't overwater. If the crowns are looking mushy or the roots are rotting, you are overwatering. Hopefully you will catch that early and reduce the watering before that happens.
10. After about a week or so, you will notice some leaf growth. As the plants grow, up the nutrient slowly until you hit an EC of around 1.5.
11. In about a month, you will notice the leaves are big and healthy. Hopefully you will also be seeing a few flowers starting. Now is the time to switch to bloom nutrients. I don't do any nutrient flushing or anything. Just dump out the grow nutrient solution on your houseplants or outdoor garden and mix up a weak batch of bloom. Run it for a day or two and then slowly up the EC to around 2.0. I wouldn't think strawberries would ever need to be above 2.0, but if you feel like you are getting slow growth or small berries, or the flavour is weak, you can up the nutrient.
12. Control for mould or mildew by having lots of air flow around your plants. Use a humidifier or a dehumidifier if necessary.

Strawberries are pretty easy to grow hydroponically and really rewarding. They are one of the easiest hydroponic plants to grow and delicious to eat. Enjoy!