I enjoy strawberries and have grown them in the usual manner in the past. (I still have evidence from that growing as weeds in the yard.) I was always dismayed at the amount of space they took up and sought another way. I had heard of strawberry jars and thought about that and then I saw hydroponically grown strawberries and thought that if it they'll grow in a jar with soil and a pipe with liquid, maybe they grow in a pipe with soil. This is my third year experimenting with this method and it seems to be working much better now.I use about a four foot section of 6" PVC pipe, capped both ends and drilled ten 1 1/2" holes along one side. There is also a small 1/4" hole drilled into one of the caps for drainage. The pipes are filled vertically. The growing medium is sifted compost and peat moss. I used bare root strawberry plants. I filled the tube up to the first hole, added a plant, then more soil to the next hole add a plant until all holes were filled. Then the pipe is topped off and capped. The caps are snug, not permanently glued.
I used concrete blocks to provide a stable support for them when laying horizonally, but plan to use another structure to create a larger wall of strawberries. I water when the soil is dry to the touch and let nature take its course. The plants have set out runners that I may try to root and use them to fill next years tubes.
The best thing is there have been zero slugs and no dirty berries!
4 comments:
What sort of structure will you be using for your larger wall of strawberries?
Do they need to be replanted every year or do they keep on?
What about fertiliser?
thaks for the idea it was alot help
How did they do? Did it hold up well? Produce a good harvest? Did most come back or did you have to replant a lot?
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