I grow them because they are sweet, and my partner and I love them. Honestly who doesn’t enjoy freshly grown red strawberries! A chance for us, aquaponics strawberries produce very well.
Strawberries in aquaponics
In Aquaponics they generally grow very well. Some people are specialized in their growth. If you remember last year, I released a video with Clive’s multi systems aquaponics. Clive grows up to 200kg of strawberries per year in his impressive aquaponics system.
Today I would like to talk about a problem that we sometimes face when trying to grow strawberries in aquaponics. In my system I have several strawberries plants. They surprisingly continue producing flowers and fruits in winter. However, the fruits produced are not consumable. They don’t turn red. Strawberries don’t even maturate. They remain in a mini-stage. This is probably due to the temperature difference between the water and the air.
Winter can be tricky for strawberries…
See in winter I slightly heat my water in order to keep it above 15C so the silverperch I am stocking are going better through cold months. My tanks are well insulated thanks to the specific design and woody materials. However, the air temperature in winter can drop close to 0C. The strawberries plant has the roots at 15C and the leaves close to 0C. It creates strange conditions for the plant, and I expect this is what is affecting the fruit production. Indeed, the plant roots are ready to produce and generate a nice flower. The fruit in maturity is then exposed to cold temperature and doesn’t develop properly. It seems that little leaves are growing from the young fruit. This phenomenon is well known from producers and is called Phyllody.
This is at least what I believe is happening. It is only my own interpretation, but I can’t think of any other explanation. As soon as the temperatures increase again, the fruits mature and I harvest very nice red strawberries.
Let me know what you think and what is your interpretation.
You will probably be interested to discover Jonathan’s six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free! Thanks and good reading 🙂
