Thanks for sharing your experience

Just getting into hydroponics, good to see someone else from Essex! 😁

Nice job Mike! Thanks for the info!

So glad I've found you lol, I'm you 3yrs ago and just started in hydraponics and my obsession with strawberries, I started with a couple of hydraponic pods to start seeds off for my allotment, seeing how fast seedlings took off compared to soil growth made me want more, similar to you I like cheap, but I do struggle with understanding EC, currently waiting on another allotment to house a new 6x3 tunnel and of course no electricity so everything is run via solar panels, growing from seed they look great but have had them dwindle so lots more learning to do

Really helpful with lots of good ideas. Just the thing that fellow KZfaqrs need. Greatly Appreciated!

I am a horticulturalist by trade. I am now looking after my wife’s hydroponics setup of which given my trade I no little of. I rinsed some strawberries from my yard and put them in to the system. Your vid (especially the first q0 mins was of great information to me. Thankyou.

Just found your channel - what a nice bloke, easy to watch and nice to learn from.

Richard - Suffolk. Very helpful. Excellent advice- will have a go !

Hi there a good interesting session, I too have grown in the 4" pipe system for 7 years now. I am surprised how much electrical equipment that you have running to aid your straws, mine were outdoor, with just a pond pump, 70 pots in 4 runs but they had to be covered with a poly-carbonate shelter to keep the birds and rain off. My first year bought problems as my nutrient was too rich and I wasn't changing the water often enough, even though in the heat of summer the plants could drink 15 litre a day, hence the tank nutrient was concentrated. Plants needed more water than food in the heat. I only ever used one nutrient, Formulex, I never found the need to change. My plant roots away's just about fill the pipes by the end of summer this keeps the water level very high as the pump runs a trickle 24 - 7. Because I grew outdoor keeping plants over winter was a major problem as the pipes froze in bad weather, so I always stated new bare root plants each spring, 5 years ago I went for ever bearers and haven't looked back since, taking off the first flush of flowers and letting them go from mid June. I have tried all varieties of ever bearers and for the last 3 years have grown Albion, a great berry and fair cropper that does well in the hydro. Today I have broken down the system as 3 of the 5 posts have rotted away and I am going to have a go with straws in containers, so maybe I can overwinter them, I will be using a perlite and vermiculite mix but still using nutrient and growing them on aluminium staging to keep them above ground. I will of course go back to pipes if the crop is not as good, we averaged about 1.5 to 2 lb per plant in pipes. Best wishes and thanks for the video Carl.

Good video sir, thank you for taking the time to make it. I wish I had seen it before I started on this last year it would have saved me some trouble! I currently have a similar system with 3" pipe, it is working and I'm working out the issues but it takes a while. I'm at about 310 plants right now. Thanks again!

Lovely

Thanks alot

Hi Mike, really informative video ... I had my first year last summer, got some strawbs but the plants kept dying on me! One area you didn't cover is what to do in the winter ... do you do nothing and just carry on as usual? I've been thinking of using an aquarium heater to warm the nutrient liquid in the tank ... thinking that may bring on an early start to the season, any thoughts?

Those must be very expensive strawberries 🍓 😊

Good vid buddy, yeah my understanding with water is the warmer it is the less oxygen it holds. Didn't see where the sump is..? I think I'll sink mine in the ground after your advise,, ta