Strawberry Towers

Heres a couple of pictures of phase 2 of my greenhouse aquaponics system. Ill give credit to Synaptoman for his strawberry tower design....and Ive made a few tweaks to the design.

Heres the entire system. I dont have a open pit for the drain, so there are caps on the bottom of each tower with a 3/4" tapped fitting thats drain to the discharge pipe. I was afraid to have each tower hang since this greenhouse isnt really designed to hang that much weight in it. So I took a piece of 3" PVC pipe and made little stands to carry the weight, then strapped each tower to the cross brace to keep them balanced. Each tower has its own ball valve to regulate the supply water flow.



Last week I chiseled out a few strawberry plants out of the frozen ground and planted them. Theyre already sending out new growth...early berries this year!!! This setup will hold a total of 48 plants which takes up about 5 square feet.



I had some problems with the water escaping at some of the pockets. The surface tension was just enough where the water would flip off the curve. I took some scrap pipe and cemented a lip to each opening. If this drained into an open pit, it wouldnt have mattered, but I wanted to keep my floor somewhat dry.



This is how the drain from each tower is connected to the discharge pipe. I just cut a bunch of holes in each stand and ran a 1" pipe through it. Also, you can see part of an oval piece on the floor. This goes into the bottom pocket to help prevent the stone from getting stuck in the drain fitting.



After a few weeks, there are now new leaves and they are starting to blossom!



Im really hoping this setup will work. Strawberries are a lot of work in a regular garden. Plus, just when the berries are ripe, the chipmunks steal them. Ill keep you posted on the progress....

Strawberry Towers update

Its been slightly over a year since I installed the strawberry towers in the greenhouse. The plants have been producing like crazy. Each time I walk into the GH, I am greeted by the wonderful aroma of fresh fruit.

There isnt a huge amount to pick since there are only about 50 plants, but we are picking berries long before any of the local farms are producing. However, there is a cost to being the early bird. Because the plants are kept in a greenhouse there is a constant battle with aphids, white flies, and powdery mildew. Plus the added cost of keeping the GH slightly heated during the winter so the plants and fish can overwinter properly.

Im loosing about 25% of my berries to the mildew. Its heartbreaking to see a perfectly good berry one day, and the next its covered in mildew. The high humidity caused by the aquaponics setup is a factor, along with trying to push the growing season by keeping the vents closed to conserve heat.

Im carefully logging thy quantity, weight, and volume! After coring, and discarding the bad ones, I was left with about 50 berries (2 cups & 8.55oz). Im picking roughly every 3 days and am at around the peak right now and expect it to taper off soon.

Is it a viable solution for a commercial grower inside a greenhouse?....probably not. There is a tremendous amount of labor dealing with the insect and disease control. Every day, I go out and examine all the plants for diseased leaves and berries. Plus since it is so early in the season, there are no bees to pollinate the flowers - I go out each morning and "buzz" the flowers with an electric toothbrush. Works great!


NOTE: You can click on the images for a larger view!