- Pick the container by buffering and the cultivar type by when it flowers.
- Run the root zone at the published low EC with small events and drainage checks.
- Pollinate, prune runners and let night temperature end the crop.
01 / Buckets buffer, channels do not
Oregon State EM 9456 credits buckets with a larger rooting volume than NFT and so more buffering: porous media such as perlite under a drip line keep roots oxygenated without aeration gear, the outlet can be raised to hold a minimum reservoir, and every outlet needs a screen. EM 9457 gives NFT limited rooting space suited to short-lived crops and immediate wilting when the pump fails; strawberries appear only as certain varieties that can be perennial fruiting crops.
Ohio State’s Kubota Lab berry resource says substrate systems are the most widely used commercially, that productivity seems limited in water culture such as NFT, and that NFT never became a reliable standard, which it tentatively links to strawberry’s long production cycle and NFT’s little buffering on failure; NFT built for strawberry uses a wide channel for the large root mass. Read this as a bucket and trough guide, with NFT as the version that forgives least.
Reading: Hydro hints: Buckets ↗ · Hydro hints: Nutrient film technique ↗ · Production systems: Structures (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
02 / Day-neutral or June-bearing, and the crown
Kubota Lab’s flowering page classes day-neutral and other ever-bearing cultivars as facultative long-day plants, and short-day (June-bearing) types as needing day length below a cultivar-specific critical photoperiod, 13–14 hours for the four cultivars it measured. Its production-cycle page draws the line: in its autumn-start off-season cycle, June-bearing plants give no harvestable fruit until late December unless conditioned to carry flower initials at transplanting; day-neutral types start without it. Flower initials take about 8–10 weeks to become fruit; bare-roots or rooted runner tips need at least 4–5 more weeks to reach five leaves and a 1 cm crown before fruit may set.
Depth is about the crown. Purdue’s Vegetable Crops Hotline (Issue 778), written for plasticulture field planting, explains that the growing point sits at the crown: a plug set too deep buries it and stops new leaves, and a crown left above the surface cannot grow new roots and may wilt. The anatomy is the same in coir or perlite: roots covered, crown at the surface, re-checked once irrigation settles the fill.
Reading: Flowering basics (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number, updated November 2025) ↗ · Production cycle (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Planting Strawberries at the Right Depth (Vegetable Crops Hotline, Issue 778, 3 September 2026) ↗
03 / Root volume, EC and pH as published
Kubota Lab’s substrate page asks for at least 2 liters of high-porosity substrate per plant, taller containers for drainage, substrate pH 5.5–6.0 so the root zone sits near 6.0–6.5 after fertigation, substrate EC of 0.4 dS/m or less with coir washed first, and root-zone EC never above 1.2 dS/m, very low for a hydroponic crop. The fertigation page puts the solution at pH 5.5–6.0 and about 1.0 dS/m at full strength, against roughly 2.4 for tomato, and says growers flush with water when root-zone EC passes 1.2, which the lab reads from the drain.
Delivery is small and frequent: 33 mL per plant per event, 6–12 events a day in that lab’s winter–spring crops, 20–30 percent drainage and none at the first cycles of the day. The pollination page cites 8–10 plants per m² as a typical greenhouse density. The table holds each source’s own figure, not a target.
| Item | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate per plant | ≥2 L; taller container drains better | Kubota Lab substrates page. |
| Solution | ~1.0 dS/m full strength; pH 5.5–6.0 | Kubota Lab fertigation page. |
| Root-zone EC | Not above 1.2 dS/m; flush past it | Kubota Lab substrates and fertigation pages. |
| Irrigation | 33 mL/event, 6–12 events/day, 20–30% drain | Kubota Lab fertigation page, winter–spring. |
| Density | 8–10 plants/m²; gutters 0.8–1.0 m apart | Kubota Lab pollination and structures pages. |
Reading: Production systems: Substrate systems (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Fertigation (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Production systems: Structures (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Crop management: Pollination (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
04 / Pollination, runners and where the fruit hangs
Kubota Lab’s pollination page states that uneven pollination usually results in misshaped fruit. Honeybees are most effective; bumblebees over-visit when numerous relative to flowers and damage the receptacle, giving abnormally shaped fruit. For a small system it describes a vibrating pollinator held to each truss for a few seconds, or a small leaf blower, with anthers dry, every day or every other day.
The pruning page treats runners as a symptom: under good conditions runnering during fruiting should be minimal or none; more means the solution, lighting or temperature needs correcting. Remove them, remove flowers until the crown reaches 10 mm with five leaves, and strip dead leaves, which block airflow and host disease. Hanging each berry in air over the gutter edge rather than on wet media or a lid is our guidance; a rot you cannot name goes to local extension.
Reading: Crop management: Pollination (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Crop management: Pruning basics (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
05 / Temperature, light and the night that ends the crop
Kubota Lab’s environment page recommends days of 20–24°C (68–75°F), a 24-hour mean near 18°C (64°F) and nights of 10–12°C (50–54°F); cool nights give larger, sweeter fruit, and nights above 16–18°C raise acidity. Its production-cycle page ended crops once nights passed 16°C (60°F). DLI: 12 mol/m²/day minimum, 20–25 optimum, over 30 stressful.
Yield only as stated, and from a different system: Illinois Extension recorded 0.48–0.76 lb of marketable fruit per plant across three day-neutral cultivars grown in perlite-filled vertical stacks in an unheated, unlit high tunnel in 2023, on a fertigation line shared with other crops, and calls the data observational and below the cultivars’ potential.
Reading: Environment (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Production cycle (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Hydroponic day-neutral strawberry production observations (Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Growers blog, 27 October 2023) ↗
06 / Plant one row and measure it
Run a short row before a room; every step is checkable with a measuring cup, an EC meter and a thermometer.
- Choose a day-neutral cultivar; grow plugs or bare-roots to five leaves and a 1 cm crown before letting fruit set (Kubota Lab).
- Give each plant at least 2 L of washed medium at 0.4 dS/m or less; set the crown at the surface and re-check after the first irrigations.
- Fit one emitter per plant and a screened, raised outlet per bucket (EM 9456), draining to a shared gutter (CCD-SP-20).
- Mix to about 1.0 dS/m and pH 5.5–6.0; run small, frequent events at 20–30 percent drainage and flush when root-zone (drain) EC passes 1.2.
- Pollinate every day or every other day with dry anthers, remove runners and dead leaves, and end the crop when nights stay above 16°C.
FIELD QUESTIONEight Dutch buckets hold two plants each, fed 33 mL per plant per event (the Kubota Lab pattern), eight events a day. How much leaves the reservoir daily, and what should the return show at 20–30 percent drainage?
16 × 33 mL × 8 = 4,224 mL, about 4.2 L a day. At 20–30 percent the return should collect 0.84–1.27 L, so buckets and plants retain about 3.0–3.4 L, the daily top-up. Less back means the medium dries between events; drainage at the first morning event means it never dried overnight.
Reading: Fertigation (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Production systems: Substrate systems (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗ · Hydro hints: Buckets ↗ · Irrigation in Hydroponic Systems: An Illustrated Overview (CCD-SP-20) ↗
Parts & buying criteria
Build your own parts & cost worksheet →
Showing drip / dutch buckets. Quantities describe the teaching model. Specify real working volume, support, fittings and instruments for your installation.
01Nutrient reservoir1 · illustrated quantity+
Stores the measured nutrient solution beneath or beside the growing area.
Inspect: Compare the surface with the pump intake or lower roots; freeboard is deliberate.
Maintain: Record level before refilling, keep light out and verify temperature, EC and pH.
Opaque, cleanable, intended-use container with volume marks and service access.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.02Pump & supply1 · illustrated quantity+
Moves nutrient solution from the reservoir to the growing area.
Inspect: Trace installed lift and branching; the pump label does not prove delivered flow.
Maintain: Measure output after service and inspect intake, filter and minimum water level.
Pump curve matched to installed head, required pressure and service needs.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.03Dutch buckets3 illustrated · illustrated quantity+
Contain a large root-zone medium with a defined drainage outlet.
Inspect: Inspect the outlet height, any internal water reserve and the drain screen on each bucket.
Maintain: Verify each bucket drains freely after an event and inspect moisture at several depths in representative buckets.
Rigid, opaque, food-safe buckets with screened outlets on a supported gravity return.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.04Root-zone mediumFor illustrated containers · illustrated quantity+
Stores moisture and air around the roots in the illustrated containers.
Inspect: Compare the medium surface with irrigation and drainage.
Maintain: Inspect wetting at several depths; prevent fines from reaching drains and emitters.
Prepared, stable grade matched to the irrigation method and crop.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.05Drip emitters3 illustrated · illustrated quantity+
Distribute solution separately to each container.
Inspect: Trace the manifold and the small outlet above each plant position.
Maintain: Collect equal-time samples and compare output; flush the main line before installing emitters.
Emitter pressure requirements matched to pump and filter; flushable connections.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.06Gravity return1 · illustrated quantity+
Collects each bucket outlet into a supported return line to the reservoir.
Inspect: Follow each bucket outlet into the shared return and check the continuous fall to the reservoir.
Maintain: Test pump-off drain-back and keep roots and medium out of the outlet.
Accessible fittings and verified capacity under normal and fault conditions.
Check size, materials and operating conditions with your chosen supplier before ordering.Evidence beside the lesson.
Source checks: September 2026. The geometry, inspection exercises and worksheets are original teaching material. The named organizations have not endorsed or reviewed this site.
Published recipe rates and planning ranges retain their source context. Calculator equations are accounting tools; they do not predict uptake, yield, toxicity or safe stocking. Model dimensions, water speeds, roots and fish counts are illustrative. Verify species, crop, source water and product labels for a real system.
- Oregon State University ExtensionHydro hints: Buckets ↗
Bucket crop support, delivery, media and drainage.
- Oregon State University ExtensionHydro hints: Nutrient film technique ↗
Channel slope, root space and flow continuity.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceProduction systems: Structures (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Soilless substrate systems as the most widely used commercially; productivity seeming limited in water-culture systems such as NFT and deep water culture; NFT tested commercially but never a reliable standard, linked to the long production cycle and little buffering capacity on system failure; NFT for strawberry using a wide channel for the large root mass; hanging gutters at 0.8–1.0 m center to center; raised troughs 20–30 cm wide and about 15 cm deep; uneven light in stacked bucket or tower systems.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceFlowering basics (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number, updated November 2025) ↗
Ever-bearing and day-neutral cultivars as facultative long-day plants developing more flowers under longer days; short-day (June-bearing) cultivars requiring day length shorter than a cultivar-specific critical photoperiod, measured at 13–14 hours for ‘Chandler’, ‘F-127’, ‘Radiance’ and ‘Shuksan’; visible flower initials after 4–5 weeks of inductive short days, anthesis 3–4 weeks later and harvest another 4–5 weeks after that.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceProduction cycle (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Ending production when night temperature exceeds 16°C (60°F) because fruit becomes smaller and more acidic; June-bearing (short-day) cultivars having no harvestable fruit until late December unless conditioned to carry flower initials at transplanting, while ever-bearing and day-neutral types start without conditioning; about 8–10 weeks from flower initials under 1 mm to harvestable fruit; bare-rooted plants or rooted runner tips needing at least 4–5 more weeks to reach five or more fully developed new leaves and a 1 cm crown before flowers are allowed to set fruit.
- Purdue University Extension (Wenjing Guan)Planting Strawberries at the Right Depth (Vegetable Crops Hotline, Issue 778, 3 September 2026) ↗
Written for plasticulture field planting of plugs and bare-root plants: the strawberry growing point sits at the crown near the base of the plant; planting too deep can bury the crown and growing point, prevent new leaves from emerging and lead to establishment failure; a main or branch crown positioned above the surface can limit new root growth from the crown and contribute to wilting and decline; re-checking crowns after heavy rain moves soil.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceProduction systems: Substrate systems (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
High-porosity substrate; the lab’s example mix of 50% perlite, 25–30% coconut coir and 20–25% peat giving about 15% air porosity and 60% water holding at a 10 cm column; substrate pH 5.5–6.0 to hold root-zone pH near 6.0–6.5 after fertigation, iron-deficiency symptoms above pH 7.0; substrate EC 0.4 dS/m or less; root-zone EC not to exceed 1.2 dS/m; washing coconut coir before planting; a minimum of 2 liters of substrate per plant with taller containers draining better; irrigation under 500 mL per plant per day; 10% of total N as ammonium in the lab’s solution.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceFertigation (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Nutrient solution pH 5.5–6.0 and EC of about 1.0 dS/m at full strength against about 2.4 dS/m for tomato solutions; strawberries sensitive to salts accumulated in the root zone and growers flushing with water when root-zone EC exceeds 1.2 dS/m; small frequent irrigation of 33 mL per plant per event, 6–12 events per day (about 200–400 mL per plant per day) in the lab’s winter and spring crops; a 20–30% drainage fraction; avoiding drainage at the first irrigations of the day; daily measurement of drip and drain EC and pH. The page states the figures may not apply directly to other conditions.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceCrop management: Pollination (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Uneven pollination usually resulting in misshaped fruit; honeybees as the most effective pollinator with a typical greenhouse planting density of 8–10 plants per m² quoted in the hive-size guidance; bumblebees as the more common US greenhouse choice, with over-visitation damaging flowers and receptacles and producing abnormally shaped fruit; electric vibrating pollinators applied to each truss for a few seconds or a small leaf blower, with dry anthers, done every day or every other day.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceCrop management: Pruning basics (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Removal of leaves, runners and flowers to balance vegetative and reproductive growth; runner production during fruiting expected to be minimal or none under optimum conditions, more runners indicating buds turning to runners and that nutrient solution, lighting and temperature need correcting; removing flower clusters until transplants have a crown of at least 10 mm and five or more leaves; dead leaves left on the plant preventing air circulation and hosting disease.
- The Ohio State University, Kubota Lab, Department of Horticulture and Crop ScienceEnvironment (Controlled Environment Berry Production Information; web page, no publication number) ↗
Recommended daytime temperature 20–24°C (68–75°F), 24-hour average around 18°C (64°F) and night 10–12°C (50–54°F); larger fruit and sweeter flavor at lower temperature and rising acidity when nights exceed 16–18°C; DLI minimum of 12 mol/m²/day for good productivity, optimum 20–25 and stress above 30; a minimum of 3 hours at 95% relative humidity for 2–3 consecutive nights per week for tipburn-sensitive cultivars and 40–60% daytime humidity; presented by the page as general understanding to be checked against specific cultivars.
- University of Illinois Extension (Bronwyn Aly)Hydroponic day-neutral strawberry production observations (Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Growers blog, 27 October 2023) ↗
A demonstration high tunnel at Dixon Springs Agricultural Center without external heat or lights, in production mid-March to October; dormant bare-root plants grown out 2–3 weeks then transplanted into perlite-filled polystyrene cubes of a vertical stack system; a shared fertigation line at about EC 1.8 mS/cm and pH 6.6 on which most crops were not at ideal parameters; observational 2023 marketable yields of 0.76, 0.54 and 0.48 lb per plant for ‘Monterey’, ‘San Andreas’ and ‘Albion’ over 100 harvests from 5 May to 18 October, stated to be below the cultivars’ potential.
- University of Kentucky Center for Crop DiversificationIrrigation in Hydroponic Systems: An Illustrated Overview (CCD-SP-20) ↗
Illustrated overview of DWC, NFT and flood-and-drain, including drip-fed individual containers (bags or buckets) draining to a shared gutter; cycle frequency and soak time adjusted with crop size and conditions.
The next useful connections.
From reservoir to roots.
Follow a nutrient film system from its first inlet to its last root. Learn what each part does, what to inspect, and how the pieces work together.
12 min + model exploration →Growing methodsDrip and Dutch buckets: deliver to every plant
Design a serviceable bucket system for larger crops, then measure irrigation uniformity and drainage.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Media & propagationChoose media by water, air and service
Compare coir, mineral wool, expanded clay, perlite and propagation plugs in the system that will irrigate them.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentFruiting crops: support and stage-specific nutrition
Use a documented tomato ppm table to understand growth-stage changes, with irrigation, support and pollination in the plan.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentHydroponic tomatoes by growth stage: seed to crop termination
A whole-crop timeline for indeterminate tomatoes in Dutch buckets: transplant size, training, pollination, cluster pruning, irrigation and topping.
6 min + guided practice →