S06 - Session P8 - Soilless growing of strawberry as influenced by two fertilizer recipes

Authors: Marco A. Bustamante *, MICHIKO TAKAGAKI, LU NA, Alejandro Jose Dávila

Among the berries, the strawberry is the most popular in many countries around the world, where it is grown in soil beds covered with plastic mulching and drip irrigation; however more recently, it has been grown in different types of elevated containers and substrates, where yield and quality of the fruits is much higher. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two fertilizer recipes on the growth and fruit production of strawberry, growing in plastic containers and peat-coir-perlite substrate. Strawberry cv. Albion plantlets were transplanted to rectangular 10 liter plastic containers (3 plants/container) filled with soilless media, consisting of peat moss + coir + perlite (1:1:1,v/v). The plants were watered three times a week with two different nutrient solutions, one recommended for hydroponic growing of leafy vegetables and one we have been using for soilless growing of blueberries . We had 6 containers per treatment, in a completely random design. 40 days later we recorded the number of trifoliate leaves per plant, trifoliate leaf area, number of fruits per plant and the SPAD units of leaves. We found not significant difference in the number of trifoliate leave per plant; however, the plants watered with the recipe for leafy vegetables showed significant difference in the trifoliate leaf area (68 cm 2 ), number of fruits per plant (3), and SPAD units (51.3); as compared to the data recorded in the plants watered with the nutrient solution for blueberries (30.5 cm 2 , 1, and 46.8; respectively). We will continue this work to further investigate the best conditions for growing strawberry both outdoors and indoors using different hydroponic systems and different LED lamps.