Strawberry is one of the most delicious and beloved berries of all. In order for the harvest to be good and not have problems, experts recommend growing it in PVC pipes or PVC. This method is modern and designed for landing, both in horizontal and vertical position.
There are many techniques and algorithms to grow a large and healthy crop of excellent delicacies called strawberries. We will talk about how this is best done using horizontal PVC pipes.
We will also answer the most common questions regarding the topic of growing strawberries: from beginning to end.
Table of contents
Is it possible to equip a bed of PVC pipe and how it is profitable
The answer to this question is affirmative: “Yes, it is possible. And it's more convenient. ” If earlier strawberries were grown only by means of the garden, which required a lot of energy and a decent ground area, now, using the new method, plant and grow with the help of a plastic pipe with your own hands.
As a result, the process of growing tasty and healthy berries has become more accessible and convenient. Beds are settling vertically or horizontally.
This is a communications system that is connected to a container filled with liquid and equipped with a pump. Equipped with a vertical way beds nourishes substrate, and inside PVC pipes laid in a horizontal way there is a hygroscopic material. Suitable: expanded clay, gravel or coconut fiber.
The roots of the plant feed on nutrients due to the supplied fluid, which enriched with fertilizers. Plants should be planted in cups, having drilled holes in the pipes for this purpose. The excess liquid that the plant does not take is not lost, but goes back to the tank.
Due to the hydroponic feeding of the plant, they are provided with a large number of portions of moisture obtained from the communicative accumulator.
How to prepare materials for growing strawberries
The most convenient way to grow strawberries horizontally in PVC pipes is to use sewer diameter from 100 to 150 millimeters. They have plugs with full tightness and it is very cool.
To adapt such a tube for growing strawberries, it is necessary to have: a drill, a grinding machine, pieces of a diameter of 20-25 mm. corners from plastic, a container in which discharge and the pumping of water will be carried out.
Step by step instructions for creating a construction of plastic pipe
First thing you need to decide in which place the pipes will lie and how much it will be in size. Based on such information, select the appropriate pump and an additional amount of water-conducting fittings.
After that you need to put on the surface a flat line and along it drill holes for pots with strawberries. The diameter of the pots should be slightly larger than the diameter of the holes so that they do not fall through. Usually the distance between the pots is 15 centimeters.
In the third turn it is required to get the stubs having branches on end faces. It will be very difficult to do it yourself, without having the appropriate practical skills. Removal of the nozzle for filling and draining water is attached to the plugs with glue.
Cut points to avoid problems need to clean up well. Then the pipe is heated with an industrial hairdryer or with boiling water until its end is elastic. Next, insert into the groove and wait until it hardens.The dock must be well filled with hot melt to achieve sealing.
Fourth step there will be a blank cap: two for one pipe. The pipes are hung in the form of a ladder and fastened on a special frame. Connect using segments with a diameter of 20-25 mm. and corners. Pipes fasten one to another and output to one container with liquid through a connected pump.
Fifth final step Preparation will be checking the tightness and functionality of the structure. Water is poured in and the pump is turned on. A possible leak is eliminated.
Water in the system should not drive constantly. It is enough to turn on the pump a couple of times a day and let it work for about 30 minutes.
When and how to plant strawberries in this way
It is necessary to begin arrangement of a bed in the spring or autumn period. First of all, decide how you want to grow strawberries in tubes? Having chosen your preferred option, proceed to its implementation.
The second method involves planting seedlings before the beginning of the winter season.Growing strawberries in PVC pipes horizontally carried out by various methods: using seeds, whiskers, using the separation of the bush.
Before planting, seedlings should be distributed in pots of soil and stand for six days, somewhere in a cool place, such as a cellar.
Which varieties are best grown
Given the characteristics of the process of growing plants using hydroponics, suitable only remontant strawberry varieties.
These can bear fruit many times, and winters survive without the death of the root system. Also, their undoubted advantage is resistance to diseases.
To possess the listed abilities include these varieties of strawberries:
- "Yellow Miracle";
- "Mount Everest";
- «Queen Elizabeth»;
- «Gigantella Maxima».
Advantages and disadvantages of the hydroponic based planting method
pros
Thanks to hydroponic plants receive an additional portion of moisturewhich gives filler communications.
This method of growing strawberries has several advantages:
- The free area for growing plants is used sparingly.
- The design itself is not static - at will it easy to transfer to another convenient place. It can even be located in an apartment, for example, on a balcony.
- Due to the fact that strawberries are grown not on the field, but in artificial conditions, on it pests and weeds are not harmfulwhich are abundant in the fields.
- Crop does not pollute the soil.
Minuses
Despite the great advantages over the traditional method of growing strawberries, the method based on hydroponics has several disadvantages.
We list them:
- the need for additional spending on the purchase of pipes and other components of the structure;
- the presence of chemical compounds in the filler - calcium carbamide salts. This feature leads to a change in pH - an alkaline environment is created. In order to avoid such a problem, it is recommended to wash the tank with acid.
If you count all the advantages and methods of growing strawberries using PVC pipes, it becomes clear that the benefits are much greater. What to choose: to grow on the field in beds, spending a lot of time and effort, or to use modern practices - everyone decides for himself.