Aquaponics Digest - Tue 05/25/99
Message 1: Hydroponic strawberries
from Ter Spore
Message 2: strawberries economics in the Green house
from Carolyn Hoagland
Message 3: AW: strawberries economics in the Green house
from Ter Spore
Message 4: Nasturtiums, was Re: Microgreens
from S & S Aqua Farm
Message 5: Re: Hydroponic strawberries
from Adriana Gutierrez & Dennis LaGatta
Message 6: Re: strawberries or other edibles to clean water
from "Jorg D. Ostrowski"
Message 7: Re: strawberries
from S & S Aqua Farm
Message 8: report
from "Dan Brentlinger"
Message 9: Re: report
from "William Brown"
Message 10: RE: strawberries
from "Donna Fezler"
Message 11: strawberries
from "Dan Brentlinger"
Message 12: Re: strawberries
from "H. Allen Sylvester"
Message 13: Re: small daylily flowers
from "H. Allen Sylvester"
Message 14: Re: strawberries
from KLOTTTRUE
Message 15: Re: strawberries
from "Marc S. Nameth"
Message 16: Re: strawberries
from "Dan Brentlinger"
Message 17: Re: Microgreens
from dfranks@principia.edu (Doug Franks)
Message 18: Re: Microgreens
from "William Brown"
Message 19: Re: Plant spacing
from Craig & Robin Prince
Message 20: Re: strawberries
from "H. Allen Sylvester"
Message 21: Re: strawberries
from Craig & Robin Prince
Message 22: Re: strawberries
from "Dale Robinson"
Message 23: Bioengineering News
from "Marc S. Nameth"
Message 24: Re: Plant spacing
from "William Brown"
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| Message 1 |
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Subject: Hydroponic strawberries
From: Ter Spore
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 07:07:44 +0200
I am surprised seeing the reactions concerning hydroponic strawberry =
farming.
In Belgium and Holland we started growing strawberries hydroponically =
more than 15 years ago. We started on NFT but in 87-88 most growers =
changed to the productions in containers or in peat bags. More than 90 % =
is grown on peat. At present there are also experiments with rockwool, =
perlite and cocco-fiber.
Johan Aelterman
terspore@g-net.be
Belgium
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| Message 2 |
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Subject: strawberries economics in the Green house
From: Carolyn Hoagland
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 01:13:38 -0500
Here in the states, we mostly grow "junebearers". These are varieties for
the field that bloom according to the day length. In the Norhtern fields,
they are planted one spring and do not get a harvest till the next spring.
In Florida they are planted in the fall and make good growth through the
winter and
fruit in the spring. In the North, the beds are maintained for 2-4 years
before rotating to another crop. In Florida, I believe its a "one time"
shot and the plants are thrown away after one fruiting.
In a hydroponic/aquaponic system how do you deal with the long lead time?
Do you plant dormat 1 yr plants and grow them on till fruiting? How long
does this take? What time of year are they planted? Then toss them out when
the fruiting is done?
Or is there a variety of everbearing strawberry that gives enough fruit to
maintain ongoing production?
Whew, what a lot of questions. Thanks in advance.
Carolyn Hoagland
Ter Spore wrote:
> I am surprised seeing the reactions concerning hydroponic strawberry farming.
> In Belgium and Holland we started growing strawberries hydroponically more
than 15 years ago. We started on NFT but in 87-88 most growers changed to
the productions in containers or in peat bags. More than 90 % is grown on
peat. At present there are also experiments with rockwool, perlite and
cocco-fiber.
> Johan Aelterman
> terspore@g-net.be
> Belgium
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Subject: AW: strawberries economics in the Green house
From: Ter Spore
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 09:33:04 +0200
Hello Carolyn,
We use only junebearers, one variety: Elsanta.
We plant in greenhouse in july (plastic) and in august (glass) dormant =
plants. We have an autumn harvest between septmber and december. After =
we don't heat for 4 weeks. Beginning of february we start heating again =
and we use to have the springcrop end april/may. We can have a short =
summercrop in the glass greenhouseas well. Production under glass =
greenhouse is between 95 and 125 ton/ha depending the system.
We grow the strawberries also hydroponically outside on supports 1.5 m =
above ground level. In this case we plant between half april and end =
june, always dormant plants, we start picking 8 weeks after planting.=20
In this way we are able to produce strawberries continously from end =
march/begin april till end december/begin january.
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Van: Carolyn Hoagland[SMTP:choagland@connectec.com]
Verzonden: dinsdag 25 mei 1999 8:13
Aan: aquaponics@townsqr.com
Onderwerp: strawberries economics in the Green house
Here in the states, we mostly grow "junebearers". These are varieties =
for the field that bloom according to the day length. In the Norhtern =
fields, they are planted one spring and do not get a harvest till the =
next spring. In Florida they are planted in the fall and make good =
growth through the winter and
fruit in the spring. In the North, the beds are maintained for 2-4 =
years before rotating to another crop. In Florida, I believe its a "one =
time" shot and the plants are thrown away after one fruiting.
In a hydroponic/aquaponic system how do you deal with the long lead =
time? Do you plant dormat 1 yr plants and grow them on till fruiting? =
How long does this take? What time of year are they planted? Then toss =
them out when the fruiting is done?
Or is there a variety of everbearing strawberry that gives enough fruit =
to maintain ongoing production?
Whew, what a lot of questions. Thanks in advance.
Carolyn Hoagland
Ter Spore wrote:
> I am surprised seeing the reactions concerning hydroponic strawberry =
farming.
> In Belgium and Holland we started growing strawberries hydroponically =
more than 15 years ago. We started on NFT but in 87-88 most growers =
changed to the productions in containers or in peat bags. More than 90 % =
is grown on peat. At present there are also experiments with rockwool, =
perlite and cocco-fiber.
> Johan Aelterman
> terspore@g-net.be
> Belgium
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Subject: Nasturtiums, was Re: Microgreens
From: S & S Aqua Farm
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 06:32:13 -0500
At 07:49 PM 5/21/99 -0500, Jim Sealy wrote:
>Speaking of pretty food and edible flowers... Has anyone tried growing
>nasturtiums in an aquaponic system? They'd seem well suited to small
>systems since they're not very picky about temperatures or soil
>conditions.
>Jim Sealy Jr.
>(Sometime grower of pretty vegetables and tasty flowers)
Jim, we've had nasturtiums growing from time to time. We've used our system
to root cuttings for basket sales, grown some plants for aphid traps (and
ladybug attractants), and generally enjoyed the variation they bring when
scattered throughout the greenhouse in various grow beds. The only problem
with growing nasturtiums for flower sales as edible additions to the various
lettuces and greens is that the system is generally too rich for good floral
growth. They seem to prefer less than optimum growing conditions for this.
We found that the plants grew very well (almost to the point of taking over
entire sections), but did not flower nearly enough to warrant the space.
Our solution was to grow out for healthy starts, move the plants into
hanging baskets (using overhead excess space) and using those plants for the
flower sales. We were told they flower the most when stressed, and found
that to be true.
Paula
S&S Aqua Farm, 8386 County Road 8820, West Plains, MO 65775 417-256-5124
Web page http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/
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| Message 5 |
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Subject: Re: Hydroponic strawberries
From: Adriana Gutierrez & Dennis LaGatta
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 07:58:53 -0400
Hi Johan,
Are the peat bags similar to the bags used for tomato culture in the
US? Are the laid horizontally or vertically? What is your planting
density in terms of plants per square foot or cubic foot?
Adriana Gutierrez
Ter Spore wrote:
>
> I am surprised seeing the reactions concerning hydroponic strawberry farming.
> In Belgium and Holland we started growing strawberries hydroponically more
than 15 years ago. We started on NFT but in 87-88 most growers changed to
the productions in containers or in peat bags. More than 90 % is grown on
peat. At present there are also experiments with rockwool, perlite and
cocco-fiber.
> Johan Aelterman
> terspore@g-net.be
> Belgium
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Subject: Re: strawberries or other edibles to clean water
From: "Jorg D. Ostrowski"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 07:19:57 -0600 (MDT)
You said:
"The strawberries grew successfully and were very effective at processing
the effluent. The question was whether it made sense economically to
grow the berries hydroponically."
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Adriana: Thank you for forwarding the above information or
contacts whenever convenient. In our case, the economics are
not important, but if strawberries can both help to clean greywater and
produce food, together with other fruits and vegetables, our in-house
greywater treatment systems will make further progress. Jorg ostrowski
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: S & S Aqua Farm
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 09:13:09 -0500
At 04:43 PM 5/24/99 -1000, you wrote:
>I'd like a copy too. Can the list support a bulletin board or web-page were
>this stuff can be made available?
>William Brown mahiwai@cmpmail.com
>(aka lettuce@hilo.net)
>> Ted & Adriana,
>>
>> There was an article published on the results of the research done growing
>> strawberries in NFT and towers. I know I've got a copy of it in my files
>> and
>> will locate it if anyone is interested.
>>
>> Dan
>> brent@cropking.com
William - not as yet, but perhaps Dan could arrange for it to be published
on the CropKing site.
Paula
S&S Aqua Farm, 8386 County Road 8820, West Plains, MO 65775 417-256-5124
Web page http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/
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Subject: report
From: "Dan Brentlinger"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 11:17:25 -0400
Hello All !
I have had several requests for the report from
USDA, Agricultural Research Service,
Kearneysville, West Virginia, regarding raising
strawberries in conjunction with aquaculture.
They trialed two hydroponic systems, NFT and the
vertical tower system, feeding them with effluent
from their aquaculture facility, a recirculating
rainbow trout system.
I found the article, or report, and as several of
you have requested, we put it on our web site for
those intereseted... Hope it's useful!
http://www.cropking.com/BerryFram.htm
--
Dan Brentlinger
brent@cropking.com
http://www.cropking.com
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| Message 9 |
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Subject: Re: report
From: "William Brown"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 06:32:02 -1000
Thanks for the report. Fresh local strawberries are enough to incite a riot
here. Have always wanted to grow them. Other crops that are good sellers
are corn and romaine lettuce for the restaurants.
William Brown mahiwai@cmpmail.com
(aka lettuce@hilo.net)
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Subject: RE: strawberries
From: "Donna Fezler"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 11:34:11 -0500
I can publish it on my site but don't we need permission from the authors?
I am putting in an integrated biosystems section.
Donna Fezler
http://www.rhealiving.com
William - not as yet, but perhaps Dan could arrange for it to be published
on the CropKing site.
Paula
S&S Aqua Farm, 8386 County Road 8820, West Plains, MO 65775 417-256-5124
Web page http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/
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Subject: strawberries
From: "Dan Brentlinger"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 14:02:44 -0400
William,
I certainly agree! I've always said that if we
could ever come up with a hydroponic production
system to grow strawberries, PROFITABLY, we'd have
trucks lined up on the road waiting to load up
greenhouse systems!
Unfortunately, we've been unable thus far to prove
the economics of growing strawberries in
greenhouses profitably. If anyone out there has
information to suggest otherwise I'd sure like to
hear about it. In the meantime, we'll keep
trying!
--
Dan Brentlinger
brent@cropking.com
http://www.cropking.com
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: "H. Allen Sylvester"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:59:41 -0500
Dan,
Please forgive my ignorance, but have the limiting steps to growing
strawberries profitably in greenhouses been identified?
When I was in Japan in 1996, they were growing them profitably, but of
course they sell them for a MUCH higher price. My reason for being
there was to look at the honey bees that were being used for
pollination.
Which brings up the next question. How have US greenhouse growers
pollinated their strawberries? Poor pollination would definitely affect
profits.
Allen
Baton Rouge, LA
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Subject: Re: small daylily flowers
From: "H. Allen Sylvester"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 14:07:41 -0500
William,
I talked to my mother, who used to breed and sell daylilies, and she
said that Stella d' Oro is the best variety. It produces many flowers,
reblooms and is readily available. If it is not available on the Big
Island, let me know and I will look in some of my catalogs. I believe
it is in most seed/plant catalogs. However, I do not know how many of
them send plants to Hawaii because of quarantine paperwork.
Allen
Allen Sylvester
Baton Rouge, LA
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| Message 14 |
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: KLOTTTRUE
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 17:55:14 EDT
In a message dated 5/25/99 2:57:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
asylvest@eatel.net writes:
<< Dan,
Please forgive my ignorance, but have the limiting steps to growing
strawberries profitably in greenhouses been identified?
When I was in Japan in 1996, they were growing them profitably, but of
course they sell them for a MUCH higher price. My reason for being
there was to look at the honey bees that were being used for
pollination.
Which brings up the next question. How have US greenhouse growers
pollinated their strawberries? Poor pollination would definitely affect
profits.
Allen >>
How much could we get per pound for aquaponic strawberries here in the
states? Ken
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: "Marc S. Nameth"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 17:31:05 -0700
I am condensing all my Aquaponics messages into browsable
files for my own use. Can anyone offer conventions to
publish it on my web site for other's convenience. It is a
volunteer-non-profit thing. Is it one of those situations
where "no good deed goes unpunished"?
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| Message 16 |
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: "Dan Brentlinger"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 21:15:45 -0400
Allen,
It basically boils down to not enough production per plant from a given
amount of
greenhouse space, considering the time the plants are in the greenhouse. We got
some very good quality strawberries, and we got $ 2.50 a pint wholesale for
them.
But when all things are considered, cost of system, operating costs, etc., there
is no profit left, unfortunately. We grew Chandler, Sweet Charlie, and
Camerosa.
We put 5,000 plants into the system last October and early November, began
harvesting in January. Couldn't tell you for sure the yield without going back
and checking records, but it wasn't much, considering 5,000 plants.
We used bumblebees to pollinate, but had too many bees in the beginning. They
stripped the blossoms until we cut back on the number of bees and began feeding
them. (We did have some spidermite problems too.)
We've used the vertical tower system, (years ago), and the horizontal pvc pipe
system, both with perlite and with peatlite mix.
Any thoughts?
Dan
brent@cropking.com
http://www.cropking.com
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Subject: Re: Microgreens
From: dfranks@principia.edu (Doug Franks)
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:39:59 -0400 (EDT)
TO: William Brown
Where is "here"? Mahiwai is that Hawaii?
Douglas Franks
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Subject: Re: Microgreens
From: "William Brown"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 17:06:39 -1000
Yes here is the Big Island of Hawaii also know as the island of Hawaii. I
live on the side of a very tame volcano.
Mahiwai as best we haoles (foreigners) can figure means Water Farm in
Hawaiian. As close as we could get to Hydrofarm which someone else is now
using nationally.
William Brown mahiwai@cmpmail.com
(aka lettuce@hilo.net)
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| Message 19 |
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Subject: Re: Plant spacing
From: Craig & Robin Prince
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 20:43:35 -0700
Hello everyone
Has anyone tried 4" or 5" spacing with lettuce varieties.
It has been suggested that some leaf types would allow crowding.
How about romaine, buttercrunch.
Craig
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| Message 20 |
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: "H. Allen Sylvester"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:47:24 -0500
Dan,
LSU's Agricultural Center at the Hammond Research Station is doing
research on greenhouse strawberry growing to help local growers get the
early market. They had a spread in the March 11 Advocate newspaper
showing the vertical towers made of stacked pots with a galvanized pipe
down the center for stability and so the column could be rotated. They
put aluminum-foil backed insulation board on the ground to reflect light
back up onto the lower plants. They put 9 styrofoam boxes with 4 plants
each per column. The mix was pine bark and sand fed through injectors
from a bulk fertilizer system. It looks like single use with no return
of the solution.
Flowers were pollinated with a leaf blower - what a pain to a bee
researcher! (Based on what they were paying in Japan for bumblebees for
tomato pollination, that must have been expensive for you.)
This was their first crop and they said some pots were looking good and
some not. One tower is equivalent to 36 feet of field row with
comparable yields expected - about 3/4 to 1 pound per plant or 27 to 36
pounds per tower.
The towers look to be 2 to 3 feet apart and maybe 4 feet between rows
of towers.
Much more briefly they mention trying growing strawberries in bags of
pine bark on benches. They cut 6 slits in each bag amd fed them the
same way as the vertical towers.
Allen
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| Message 21 |
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: Craig & Robin Prince
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 20:53:07 -0700
Hello Dan,
(Crop King)
Would you be so kind to let us know what the two or three most profitable
greenhouse vegetables might be. Don't have much experience in greenhouse
growing. If strawberries won't work what will?
Enjoyed your testimony
God Bless
Craig
P.S. (Thanks for the info on your greenhouses)
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| Message 22 |
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Subject: Re: strawberries
From: "Dale Robinson"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:53:09 -0500
Hi All,
I just put some everbearing strawberries in my hydroponics beds. I planted
them 10 days ago and some are blossoming. I know a farmer in my area that
grew them in towers without the use of a greenhouse. He lost about a third
of the crop to the weather and another third to allowing people to pick
their own. The towers have edges that will damage the plants if they are
picked improperly. He also had a building on the windward side of the hydro
area. He thought that it would serve as a wind break but it only diverted
the wind so that it dropped into the middle of the hydro area. This caused
the nutrient to get sprayed onto the berries and left brown spots on the
berries. The brown spots did not alter the taste but they made the fruits
unattractive.
My beds are made of sheets of plywood with 6 inch sides and lined with
plastic sheet.
The beds are filled with perlite. I'm getting a lot of algae on top of the
perlite. That don't bother me too much since I bought the perlite used and
the N is really too high anyway. It's burning some of my plants. I let the
rain run through it for a couple of weeks but it is still pretty high. I
just started putting the nutrients that are lacking into it. I'm avoiding
putting any more N into it.
The June berries are better tasting but when you compare quantity with
quality, well I guess sometimes you just have to make some sacrifices(they
still taste like strawberries). I plan on selling off any plants that
result from the runners as well as the selling of the berries. I'm only
starting off with 100 plants so I don't expect to get rich off of it or
anything like that. :) From what I saw of the tower plants, the strawberry
plants put out lots of runners so it's not hard to expand once you get
going. Wintering over the plants may become an issue but I'm not going to
lay awake nights worrying about it. Anybody have any suggestions on that
issue, I would like to here from you. Perhaps I just need to bury them in
perlite in the garage till spring.
I'll try to keep my web site updated as to how things are going once I get
set up to put pictures in it(no scanner yet).
I'm not using aquaculture in my system yet. Maybe next year. One thing at
a time.
Just my $.02 worth.
Best regards
Dale Robinson
mwhydrroponics@worldnet.att.net
http://home.att.net/~mwhydroponics
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| Message 23 |
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Subject: Bioengineering News
From: "Marc S. Nameth"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 21:59:44 -0700
Bioengineering Article:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,25411,00.html
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| Message 24 |
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Subject: Re: Plant spacing
From: "William Brown"
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 18:25:20 -1000
Lolla Rossa type lettuce that are small will accomodate close (4-5") spacing
when grown to maturity. Regular size Romaine need 12" (14 to 16" is best)
minimum to avoid fungal/mold problems. In the summer 12" is usually too
close for regular size leaf lettuce. Butterhead lettuce are generally grown
at 6" spacing and probably wouldn't mind 4-5". Your best bet is to grow
upright lettuce types versus the open types for close spacing. I'm speaking
of lettuce grown to full size. The biggest problem with close spacing is
the obstruction of air flow leading to a variety of fungal/mold problems.
The second most common problem is stretching of the lettuce to get more
light creating a tall spindly open lettuce that is not very easy to handle
or good to look at. A good size leaf lettuce is usually 12", a big one can
be 14 to 16" and weight from .6 to 1.2 lbs. Of course if you harvest young
then you can use any spacing you like based on the plants expected size at
harvest.
William Brown mahiwai@cmpmail.com
(aka lettuce@hilo.net)
S&S Aqua Farm, 8386 County Road 8820, West Plains, MO 65775 417-256-5124
Web page http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/
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