So I bought 20 strawberry plants a few months ago from someone in town and decided to do some experiments. I planted some in soil, some I put in my outdoor hydroponic NFT system, and these four I plopped into two of my indoor tabletop hydroponic DWT systems.

I decided to just let the mfs grow to see what happened and look at all those fucking runners strangelove-wow they won’t stop growing, I can’t keep up it’s never ending. These have been by far the most successful (although still no flowers/fruit yet lol).

So I’ve been planting some of them in soil to produce new independent plants:

Others I might transfer to my NFT system (I still have a few open slots there). Still not sure how I’m going to manage overwintering the hydro ones I have outside but I’ll figure something out.

If you’re curious this is the system in the picture, they’re awesome I have three of them in total, but you could easily make your own much cheaper with a plastic insert, some spray paint, an aquarium air stone, timer and light.

I am going to be the undisputed king of Strawberryland greensicko-laser

  • carpoftruth [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    I planted about 30 plugs of strawberries that I got from a friend who was renovating their strawberry patch about 5 years ago and now there are literally thousands of plants in the yard. They are a great plant, really vigorous groundcover, they spread and propagate easily, and obviously the berries are great. They are really good for low quality beds like woodchips/hugelkultur because the moms can feed the daughters while they get established. Last year we picked something like 50-75 kg of fruit and the only upkeep I’ve done aside from picking has been pulling out plants to give away to others.

    Braiding sweetgrass has a great section on the generosity of strawberries, 100% true. I also like how their habit encourages you to witness the garden. The flowers and green berries pop out above the leaves to show you where they are, but as they ripen and get heavy they sink down and hide. You won’t find the best berries unless you get down low and turn over the plants, then who knows what you’ll find.

  • regul [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    11 days ago

    I got wild strawberries in my backyard and those mfs spread like a motherfucker. Definitely the best native groundcover in the PNW. They’re the wild kind, though, so the fruits are useless. The critters love em, though.

  • CarbonScored [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    11 days ago

    Strawberries can be wildly successful if you just let 'em. The runners are great and completely bypass the wishy-washy seed-n-grow stage.

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    11 days ago

    Nice. Curious as to your nft setup. I am having to overwinter as well, my strawberry beds have been overrun by goutweed and yields are looking poor this season.

    I was thinking about cutting them back as usual then digging up the roots and putting them in a big plastic bag with wet shredded newspaper over the winter. Hydroponics I think would be more sustainable in the long term. Also the hydros at the store are amazingly delicious

    • sexywheat [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      3·
      11 days ago

      Curious as to your nft setup.

      Once I get some more growth and all my empty slots filled I think I’ll post some pics here.

      As for over-wintering, initially I was going to keep them in a water bath in my fridge but I think that might create the perfect conditions for root rot. So yeah, moist newspaper or paper towel seems like probably the best bet. Never done this before though I’m just making everything up as I go along.