Broccoli and Strawberries

I plan to start some broccoli and alpine strawberries in a diy bubbleponic system to get the hang of the system and to see if i can succcesfuly grow without any imperial entanglements. My question is, do these types of plants need the same amount of light as mj? my setup is 6-8 26watt cfls and i need to know if this is too much or not enough? I am using a dual spectrum. also what light schedual will i need to keep them fruiting all year round?

with strawberries make sure you get everblooming varieties, they flower whenever the plant can support fruit growth. i think broccoli will bloom when its big enough to as well. temps will be your issue - strawberries tend to like warmer temps while broccolli likes it cooler. may be able to do both at the same time if you keep it around 65-70 with a nighttime drop. i would try 12/12 for the lights and you should have enough wattage if you keep em close, but pay attention to the plants and adjust as needed.

but i think you should just jump on in and plant some weed. you can grow berries and veggies in your garden or on your porch and neighbors/landlords dont usally mind.

I did the research and got the everbearing type so they would produce all year round. Its remarkable how little information is out there on veggies

theres info out there, you just have to wade through the weed growing in your hydro searches. no wonder, as brocolli = $0.79/lb and herb = $4000/lb. ive seen cauliflower in DWC under 400w lights. it was very healthy, but bolted right after flowering - temps too high, and that was only about 70. brocolli prob the same. should have few probs with the strawberries, and they will taste delicious with some good organic nutes. cant beat homegrown tomatoes in the middle of winter either, go with an 'indeterminate' variety(like everblooming). they like the higher temps and should fruit under 12/12 also. i think.

I wish broccoli was only $0.79 a pound! here its closer to $3 per pound and its the crap they pick half a contintent away let it ripen on the truck. The strawberries that i ordered are the everbearing type known as ALEXANDRIA ALPINE STRAWBERRY.The seed site didnt say much on how they grow except that they like well watered partial shade. Im not sure what partial shade means in a bubbleponic system under cfls.

sounds yummy send me some lol

ouch on fresh produce prices. i live in central ca, so im pretty spoiled on farmers market produce. i forget that the rest of the world has to ship, largely from us, i guess...not familiar with that variety, but they should do well under the cfls. they grow a lot of berries here in full sun in the 100+ degree summers...i think theyll kick ass in dwc. post pics if/when you do it.

I will post pics when i do it. ya the produce prices are unrealistic. Its close to $5 for a pound of strawberries, so it would only take about 10 weeks of producing to pay for its self

ouch. whereabouts do you live? during summer here you can buy huge delicious strawberries from stands at the fields for about $10/flat (gotta be close to 10 lbs...). i'll never take another fruit salad for granted...

CAashtree said:

ouch. whereabouts do you live? during summer here you can buy huge delicious strawberries from stands at the fields for about $10/flat (gotta be close to 10 lbs...). i'll never take another fruit salad for granted...

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I live in northern wisconsin so we have a realy short outdoor growing season. We dont dare plant outside till almost mid june for fear of frost. Last season I planted on june 5th and lost a whole crop of tomatoes. I plan on starting my crops now and put them in the ground around june 15th so they are well started and no worries of frost. My everbearings like strawberry and broccoli I might just keep indoors for fresh produce year round but the bigger plants ill do outside and dehydrate or can them for eating year round. much cheaper than the outragous produce price in the winter. As far as mj, i compared seemorebudz set up compared to roseman's. They both had about the same investment in money at least for a diy guy like me and roughly the same seed to bud time except rosemans diy bubbleponic dwc yielded between 2-3x more bud. to me that settled it. as the short growing season dictates growing indoors is a given.

scribed...post sum pics..i got alpines and sum walkers that ima put in the dirt soon...

pics commin as soon as the seeds get here

i have family in grantsburg and euclair. beautiful there. in the summer at least. youre gonna hate me but i have berry patch thats been in the garden since july. theyre not fuiting now, cuz temps are around 40, but should get some blooms in a month or so.

over at my grandmas place theres a huge black berry patch and we always harvest at least ten gallons from every summer. I looked into growing bramble fruits like rasberries and black berries and their ilk but the problem is the first year the stalk and thorns grow and its on the second year that the actual fruit is grown so that makes difficult for an indoor grow but at my grandmas the birds and other critters do a good enough job sustaining it. its been there for as long as i can remember. you are right its a paradise durring the summer time, i have a nice little cabin in the woods on a serene little river in which my wife and i reside. the winters tho are another story all together. Its regularly -30 degrees here for weeks on end even tho we have had a bit of a warm spell now as in above 20 degrees. Its allright tho we like to take a few weeks off in febuary when its the coldest and camp out in the everglades. The last couple of years have been pretty hard on us and forced us to adopt a more agrarian back to nature approach but i really like it and i dont think i will go back. plants and their cultivation i think does something to nurture the soul, not really something tangable but i just feel better. even living in extreame poverty as i am i am still happy. sorry for the rambling

hey billy. is this thing still going? sorry for dropping out on you. screw cold winters. i tried alaska for a year, but moved back to cali as soon as i could afford to. definitely miss the closeness to nature, but needing heating blankets for your engine block? no thanks...here i can drive to the snow in an hour or two and be back home (safely below the snow) in time for a late dinner.
made a little something you might be interested in. wall-mounted vertical strawberry pot, filled with coco. i pulled some berry pups up out of the garden and planted them in it. still rooting now, but i think itll do the trick. ill get a picture up here pretty soon. thanks for the inspiration.

ya its still going ill have some pics up soon, right now im waiting on my seeds to come in. hopefully they will be here in a day or two so i can finaly get started. wall mounted berry pot, hmm that sounds like a really cool idea. I might do something like that too maybe my little 1 gallon bubble system mounted on a wall with one of those little one bulb reflectors above it. it would make an interesting and practical piece of decor. ya i dont think i could do alaska, thats a bit much for me as far as living rucstic. 40 below zero is about as cold as i care to handle. and thank u for the inspiration, pics comming soon

How big do the roots on a strawberry plant get?

Im not sure how big the roots get on any of these plants so it will be something of a grand trial of discovery for me. As they progress i will post some pics. here are the pics from before. good news my seeds should be here today. exactly a months worth of waiting but everything should be here today. the pics show my basic setup, i know the plastic fork look a bit "ghetto" but i had them on hand and they seem to work