My first strawberry!!!

I told ya’ll that I was learning how to grow hydroponically..  Two weeks ago I put a new strawberry plant in the Hydro bucket and 4 days later I had a flower, which slowly turned into a strawberry!  Today I got home from work and found this!

I’m going to dip this one in dark chocolate….mmmmm…can’t wait! 

I have been amazed at easy growing hydro is; faster than soil or outside, all organic and NO BUGS!!!    What more could you ask for?  This plant is growing under two 25 Watt CFL bulbs.  

It is growing in a Hydrofarm, which is a drip method of hydro.  I do not like the drip method, it contributes to root rot, the roots do not row as abundantly or as fast as if fed from below.  So I took and turned the Hydrofarm into a bubbler (airstones in the water with organic nutrients), then took the dripper ring, turned in upside down, used a kitty litter lid to cover it, then set a timer so it sprays the roots 15 minutes out of every hour. I set up another one just like it as a plant hospital, if my plants are not looking so good, a day or so in the Hydrofarm and they perk right up!

Here is the nasturtiums just sprouting. It is in a self-watering system.  The wick runs up into the perlite that the plant is in and stays constant moist, yet allows air to get to the roots…they love it!

The nasturtium sprout;