Strawberries - A Trial with Hydroponics

Strawberries - A Trial with Hydroponics - Suspended

So last week I have got some seeds started to try growing some Hydroponics based veggies. It will take some time for the seedlings to come out and for me to try stuff with them.

Today morning when gardening on my rooftop garden, I found lots and lots of strawberry runners that I had missed replanting. So I thought why not start a hydroponics version along with the regular one. Beats having to wait for the other guys to come up anyways! This blog will be a diary of how things turn out with this experiment.

27th September 2020, Sunday

I set up 3 planters using some Beer mugs from a Joomla conference of all things. I don't drink beer so I have had these lying around for a long time. I thought this would be a nice way to put this souvenir to good use!

Planter
I've taken the beer mugs and covered them with a double layer of Newspaper with a small gap to check the nutrient levels.

Medium
I've used net cups and 'Agrilabh' brand clay balls as the medium.

Nutrient
2 gm 19-19-19+ 1.25 gm Agrilabh Grade 2 powder + 1 Litre water

Here's how the setup looks as of now. I'll keep them indoors for a day or 2 and then move them to my brand new 'Growhouse' on the roof :). Hoping for the best!

6th October 2020, Tuesday

Fail :( Unfortunately this experiment failed. Not because there was an issue with the hydroponic setup but i tool too long to plant the runners after extracting them. I had kept them in water (which had soil too) for 3-4 days and the roots got spoilt.

Learning for Next time

Plant as soon as you extract or find a better way to store. Discipline in such small things is definitely something that i need to take care of !

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Spinach (Palak), Coriander (Kothimbir) & Methi (Fenugreek) , Radish (Mula) & Cucumber (Kakdi)

8th October 2020 To start using our brand new PVC poly house I started out by setting up 3 pots with Spinach (Palak), Coriander (Kothimbir) & Methi (Fenugreek). All these seeds I soaked overnight and planted these densely in the plot. The soaking got me fantastic results. The Methi sprouted almost in a day or 2. The Spinach & coriander started soon after. I setup another couple of pots. One with Radish(10) & another with cucumber seeds(4-5). These were not soaked overnight but both sprouted quickly enough. 14th October 2020 Pest Attack The poly house is open on one side and either a rat/squirrel or some bid managed to get in and wreck havoc with my seedings. So not all will survive. The pots with Radish & Cucumber are doing well. Will keep posting updates till I harvest (if i do manage to get to that !) . This has only affected the pots with the leafy vegetables.

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My Shot at Hydroponics - Basil Tomato Capsicum Palak (Spinach) Methi (Fenugreek)

In spite of gardening for years, I've never really done it properly, scientifically understanding the process. Its been more of an arbitrary & inconsistent process where the results are just by chance. I've been reading up on hydroponics for a while & thought that I should document my trials with it & try to do it more scientifically. The plan is to use the Kratky method. 20th September 2020 - Starting the Seedlings for a Hydroponics Experiment So today is Day 1. I am just starting my seedlings in discarded mushroom trays. Normally when gardening I just arbitrarily plant seeds and hope for the best. This time I've decided to be very efficient. I 've taken 10 seeds each of all the plants I plan to grow in this edition. I've treated them with 'Agrilabh Seed Guard' & will let them sit overnight & plant them tomorrow morning. This is what we are working with, in this experiment Basil Tomato Capsicum Palak (Spinach) Methi (Fenugreek) I'l...

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