komet

Thanks for your help dontask.

Is that you Pharm.

I have seen a few people use straw and coconut fibre. I will be using something similar.

Yeah you can but they will take a few years to bear fruit. I just brought the plants (runners) from nursery.

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ItalRas

Okay, kinda like my orange plant from seed .

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Finished White Dwarf (LRxWW)
Finished White Rhino and Jock Horror
Finished Rhino's Milk(ItalRas Breed project)
What to do with male plants
A guide to EC readings and Nutrient Mixing

komet

I completely empathize.

Just a year ago I was germing strawberry seeds in rockwool, dead of winter and without a clue.

I'll kill anything once!

A quick update:

Strawberries have all been planted out in a staggered row (I know-I already said staggered row before but I just like the word staggered).....

So I went for something else besides the straw and coconut fibre. White shade cloth! Basically because it was what I had lying around-but I think I will be a good choice...You see I live on the peak of a hill-just on the foot of one big arse mountain. Spring gusts here can easily reach 120kmh...Two years ago it topped at 153kmh....Straw and coconut fibre would become alot of maintenance just like anything else thats not nailed down.

I cut up around 10 coat hangers and poked those into the corners of 40cm squares of shade cloth-about 30cm into the ground. Just cut two large slits, poked the runners through and tucked under the corners of the slits...hope it works.

Sorry...I'm staggered and it's too chilly for pics!...

Looking good though...Plenty of new growth coming through the centre of the runners.

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komet

Been a while since I updated but I have finally been able to put a bit more time into this.



You can now see the shade cloth covers and I have added various herbs to encourage beneficial insects (corriander, thyme and anice for now). Have not added anything to the borders yet but most likely it will be garden chives which will also encourage good insects for a harmonious organic garden.

Steady as she goes.

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FewBricksShort

Hey komet,

Great looking patch! I do love strawberries... strawberries with melted chocolate on them... strawberries with whip cream on them... strawberries while you're picking them from the vine...

I see you know some things about compost! I kind of made some without even realizing it. Seems all those years of raking the leaves and trimming the grass made for some sort of black soil. I told the guy at the local nursery that I had compost that had been "brewing" for about three years... to which he said "Use It!". The flowers seem to like it!

The funny thing was... I had kind of forgot why I was in that part of the nursery... I had gone there to get some microbial stuff. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I knew what I wanted! Ended up with some sort of microbes or bacteria or something, I ended up with 'compost maker'.

I haven't done a whole lot of research on it... I thought I read something to the effect of, your supposed to have two parts brown to one part green or something like that, I didn't pay real close attention to that mix?. No meat, unless it's a "hot" bin... which I don't know what that means... I think it refers to the actual temperature of the bin, but I didn't put any meat in there anyway. Best things were egg shells, rinds and peels from vegetables and fruit....

Needless to say, I'm not sure what I've got there, but it sounds okay to me. Now if only I could use the cat's fecal matter, I would be in business!

Later,

FewBS

dontask

Two parts carbon-heavy to one part nitrogen heavy! Green:brown ratio!

Cat feces and well, all feces , should not be placed in a compost that does not sustain 140+degrees for over a week. In other words, unless you have a savage windrow compost with active thermophllic microbes your poop will stay poopie for a long time = bummer compost for edible veggies.

I keep two composts. A "hot" compost that I regularly pasturize and try to eliminate ( from my dogs RIP ) and a "toasty" compost that has an EC of over 30 from such heavy doses of "meals" as well as bean-pea-soy-nitrogen-fixation-nodule-plowing-dealies to round out the spectra of ferts.

Now to leach the sodium-next to reap the humus.

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FewBricksShort

Seems I remember dumping all this stuff on the 'pile' about two years ago...

* Espoma - Plant~tone (5-3-3)
* Espoma - Rock Phosphate (0-3-0)
* Espoma - Dried Blood (12-0-0)
* Espoma - Kelp Meal (1-0-2)

... I had some humus and manure that was just laying around the garage, I threw that in there as well. Let's see, what else... tomato plants, I heard that's not an "ideal" ingredient in compost... ???, but I threw them in too. Old potting soil... just dirt in general from the yard, some mulch.

I should have it tested hun?

TheGrower420

Check out this guys Hydro Strawberry farm.

It would be pretty easy to duplicate it with buckets....

Strawberry Hydro Farm Link

Later
TheGrower420

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komet

Thanks for stopping in dontask

I have a love hate relationship with cats...notice the two barriers of netting around the patch! I just hope no birds get caught in there. I would hate to wake up one morning and have to go on a rescue mission or worse.

I'll send you over some of the Japanese Ichigo when they fruit.

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komet

Hi. Been a while since I updated this so here we go.

They are really looking great!!! The Red Gauntlet seem to be putting all their energy into runner production since I got back from two week holiday. So today I attacked them with the scissors and got rid of all the runners, so now they will hopefully move into more flower production. Also had to do some serious weeding.

Japanese Ichigo
My favourite so far. It has not produced any runners at all...just fruit so far. The same with the Tioga. Anyway, here is a close up of the Ichigo.


I hope everyone is doing well.

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