resupposing...

the decision to stop changing my nutrient solution every week has been reconsidered, despite having taken readings which indicated that nutrient levels were adequate. the plant at right is one (and the best-looking one) of three that called it quits during the past week. this particular plant, being the third to die, was showing signs of fading similar to those exhibited by its two predeceased friends. at first, i thought that elevating the crowns slightly might solve the problem - the whole "strawberries hate wet feet thing" - so as soon as i noticed a little wilt, i pulled it up a tick, which obviously didn't help. combine this with the fact that growth the past week has really slowed down; i decided the nutrient levels must be the problem. (a real "DUH" moment actually, considering that having changed the nutrients weekly in the previous season resulted in nothing but explosive growth.)

fortunately, i have a control plant to help me test my reconsidered theory - the lefthand plant pictured below is generally quite healthy but has one stem that's starting to seem like it wants to give up (the one dead center in the photo). iffresh nutrient solution is the right answer, it should still have time to perk back up and tell me i did the right thing.

another fortunately: strawberry plants come in packs of 25. since i originally planted 18 and replaced one, i still had six left, "wintering" in the fridge. i unwrapped three of them just now and replaced those ones whose struggle for life and productivity will live on only in the memories of those people who adored them, however briefly. and not to tempt disaster but i still have three left.

we'll see how the new guys like the party.

s2w2...

i’m addicted to a new activity: trying to see if i can actually watch these things growing. i think i’m almost there. last week, each plant had one healthy, opened, new leaf cluster. six days later, each plant now has at least two, and one plant has four. and all of them are showing new growth on the way. after last week’s post, i pulled the one plant that wasn’t responding and plugged in a new one from the fridge – even that one already has 1½ clusters open. it’s not exactly apples-to-apples, but these leaves are already larger than my year-old alpines’.

there are ten open flowers, which, though it pains me, i’ll snip today. i also see several – at least a dozen throughout the patch – flower buds at the bases of the plants. i hope they’re still in the mood to be this productive when they’re old enough to start having kids.

from my detail-oriented side: a few (maybe two) of the leaves seem to be turning down and browning – albeit almost imperceptibly – on the edges. any thoughts from the e-ether as to why this might happen are of course welcome. caveat: the very first strong leaf cluster to pop up seemed to be doing this, and now isn’t.

and further into the technical: last season i changed my nutrient solution entirely each week, replacing the old, as its level fell, with a new solution fully as nutrient-charged as the last. since last season, i’ve done quite a bit of research and learning, and i know now that while some nutrients will have been removed from the solution and used by the plants, other nutrients have been removed by the plants and stored in their infrastructures, where they’ll lie latent until needed by the plant. rather than besiege the root system with nutrients it may not need by simply changing the solution every time the tank is low, i’m going to monitor its mineral content and try to discover how fast the guys are actually eating. meanwhile, when the solution level is low, i’ll simply add pure water to it. as the weeks go by, i’ll monitor the mineral concentration and once it’s low enough to make me think my guys need more, i’ll replace it. it’s funny, you can’t find recommendations for actual concentrations online – i feel like anyone with anything authoritative to offer on the subject guards that information like a secret recipe (unless you buy their expensive book). so i’ll just figure it out myself, and hope for more trial and less error. as last season’s crop was almost purely vegetal, i never switched to a “blooming” nutrient, which i’ll clearly have to do here. in soil, it’s after about 6 weeks of vegetative growth that the gardener allows the plants to flower freely; in hydroponics it’ll obviously be faster; again, we’ll see.

build-wise, i’m thinking of replacing my light fixture with a DIY, high-wattage CFL system; i think i can get it running for about 30 bucks, and i think it’ll take 20 bucks off my electric bill. and with spring and summer coming (or so we’d like to believe), a CFL system will generate far less heat, which strawberries don’t particularly love. we’ll se where that goes.

in any case, other than reassuring plant growth, there’s not too much excitement. as berries go.

Season Two!

and we start with a bang. here we are at the beginning of season two, and that’s an exciting number in gardening, because the second season is always the best… just ask some hollyhocks. i’ve decided, empirical evidence in hand, that an “all-one-crop” concept will serve me best. so i picked my number one: strawberries.

i love strawberries. which is why i never eat any. they’re never good. sure, there are those few weeks in early summer where, if you get them at a farmer’s market or stand, they’re spectacular; i eat them then. lots. my goal here is to feel like a kid again when i bite into one of them. nyc is lucky enough to have a farmer at the market who has a variety called tristar, which is “day-neutral” (which is to say that its fruiting process isn’t dependent upon length of day, like june strawberries are), and bears fruit from june all the way to first frost. these berries are emphatically flavorful. eating them is one of those all-too-rare food experiences where it’s just so darn good that i can honestly say it tastes as good as it did when i was a kid, and wallow in my own euphoria for a while. like my mom’s tomatoes. or my friend lorraine’s apricots. so if these taste so good, and produce so long, why doesn’t everyone grow them? well… the berries aren’t huge and perfect looking, which means people won’t buy them. really, they’ve done studies about this kind of thing. taste is secondary to appearance when it comes to consumer perception. it used to frustrate me, but since i’m not a farmer (at present), i let it go. now i just think of it as more good strawberries for me.

this is my first time planting ananassa strawberries (i.e. “regular” ones), but last season’s alpine strawberries (which, by the way, are still quite well, in dirt on my bedroom windowsill) will give me the experience i need not to kill them. but what will be different is the size of the plants and the fruit yield. even though my alpines are healthy as can be, you’d need something like 240 plants to make 6 jars of jam. i’m looking forward to harvesting a usable quantity of fruit. the plants will be much bigger, with leaves probably 4-5 times the size of the alpines’, and the overall plants larger as well. but i’m not worried about space. in truth, the garden i built was destined for strawberries. here’s why.

one system of planting strawberries is called the “hill system” (confusingly, since it does not involve hills, or elevation of any kind). in this configuration, plants are situated in clusters of 2 or 3 plants along rows. the rows are kept quite tidy by the gardener, with runners being clipped off as they develop so the whole thing doesn’t turn into a tangled mess. the plant clusters are spaced about 12” or so apart. given that my system’s sites are about 9” apart and that you can grow more densely in hydroponics, that’s certainly fine. vertically speaking, i won’t have to worry about plant leaves getting burned onto the surface of the bulb, like i did with tomatoes and peppers in season one. so, reason one, space. perfect.

the medium i’m using, expanded clay pebbles, is also ideal for strawberries. strawberries don’t like “wet feet,” as everyone says. in this medium, i can nest the crowns into the medium deeply enough so that the plants will be stable, but far enough above the high-tide line that when the system fills, they stay dry. ebb-and-flow, the hydroponic concept i employed in designing this system, seems like an excellent match for strawberries as well, because it allows thorough nutrition for the root zone and a medium supportive enough for the plant.

so i’ve rationalized why it’s perfect for strawberries. usually that’s enough for me; i’m a good rationalizer. but if i were undergoing a period of self doubt (which i’ve experienced maybe twice in my life, for about 5 minutes each time), all i’d have to do is look at the strawberries. they’re happy. really happy.

i ordered a packet of 25 bareroot runners from an online nursery. when i planted them, this past tuesday, they all looked just like you’d expect: a few dead leaves, crispy clipped runners and old stems, and a general dry, brownish condition, like the one pictured here. wednesday night, as soon as i got home from work, i took a peek. imagine my surprise when many of the leaves i had supposed were dead were standing up, and, furthermore, new green was already in evidence on the plants!

now, early on the fifth day, i’ve got completely new leaf clusters, that aren’t just budding out but are open and growing and have clearly-defined edges. and on every plant but one there are even newer leaves that are shooting straight up, saluting me and telling me they’re ready for duty. the one plant that’s “not like the others” is the dead-looking plant pictured above (i didn’t have adequate lighting to snap a shot when i first planted, but that’s what they all looked like, plus some with “dead” leaves). it’s the only one that hasn’t done anything. fortunately, i only planted 18 plants, and have 7 more, wrapped up and in the crisper drawer. i will probably replace this guy today.

as if that all this weren’t convincing or exciting enough, there is a fully opened flower on one plant, with an identifiable berry at the center. it may seem callous, but i’m going to have to snip that little guy off today. i’m going to snip off all the flowers (and runners, if any develop) until the plants are quite large, trusting in the botanical concept that larger leaf area = better photosynthesis = more sugar production = better-tasting fruit. honestly at this rate it shouldn’t take too long anyway. there's another flower about to open on a neighboring plant, which i'll snip when it has a stem.

i can’t wait to see what happens in another week! happy planting season everybody!

Intermission...

Well… as you can see, the garden grew… and grew… and… got too big. Hey, it was an experiment, and I make no apologies, because I learned a lot. I’d say the foremost lesson was about plant type: Lettuce and Alpine Strawberries aren’t great neighbors – strawberries need more potassium when fruiting time comes around, lettuce needs that nitrogen high for producing lush leaves. And you don’t want the tops of your Scotch Bonnets brushing a 430W bulb. Anyway, lesson learned.

I emptied the system, unplugged everything, and waited for inspiration. It was a long winter. Meanwhile, I came up with some new ideas; one could say they’re slightly larger in scope.