How to Grow Hydroponic Strawberries Hanging in Troughs

Check your troughs to ensure that they are water-tight. Seal any leaks you find or line the troughs with plastic. For this system to work the liquid must travel the length of the trough so that the roots of all the strawberry plants receive adequate nutrients.

Drill a 1/4-inch hole at one end of the trough, in the bottom. This will be the drain and will allow the hydroponic solution to exit the trough to be recycled.

Fill the troughs with a growth medium such as perlite or hydroponic clay pellets. Be sure that whatever you use is either new or is sterilized so that no diseases will be transmitted to the strawberries.

Plant the strawberry plants in a row in the trough, spacing them about 6 inches apart. If the trough is wide you can stagger them in a zig-zag fashion, placing them about 4 inches apart but on opposite sides of the trough.

Hang the trough in a sunny location. Adjust the rope so that the trough is lower at the end with the drain hole. This will make the nutrient solution flow to that end.

Attach the tubing to the outlet of the submersible pump and set the pump in the bucket you are using as a reservoir. Place the bucket under the drain in the trough, so that any liquid that flows out of the drain will end up in the bucket.

Clip the open end of the tubing to the highest end of the trough. You will need to run the tubing from the bucket at the low end up to the far end of the trough, so be sure it is long enough. Make sure the tubing stays open so that liquid can easily flow through it.

Put several gallons of nutrient solution in the bucket. Set the timer to operate the pump for about 10 minutes three to four times per day. Plug the pump into the timer and the timer into the outlet. Turn it on to complete your setup.

Monitor your strawberry plants and the hydroponic solution on a regular basis. Change the nutrient solution completely every two weeks to make sure that the nutrients stay balanced. Harvest the strawberries as they ripen.