How to plant the plants

[Lance Rose]

I never thought about it until it was time to plant, but mechanically, how do you prepare the plants for planting in the growbed? Do I wash all the dirt off the roots? How completely should I wash them off?

The strawberries I planted are looking a little weak. The ones I planted last week are looking better now. Do they always crash after planting or do I need to do something different?

[TCLynx]

I don't have much experience with strawberries in aquaponics but most seedlings coming from dirt to aquaponics should have their roots rinsed off.  I usually do this gently by dunking and very gently swishing in a bucket of water.  I don't usually get too carried away since I have lots of media beds and am not worried about a little bit of potting mix ending up in the bed but if you don't have very much grow bed, then you may need to rinse better.  This process will be traumatic to the plants and a few weeks or transplant shock can be expected though many plants may show little or no trauma other than needing to take a few weeks to start showing new top growth.

A bit of extra shade and making sure the new plant roots actually reach the water level in the grow bed is important for the first several days after transplant if they are showing signs of stress.

[Lance Rose]

OK, I went and actually saw new blooms this morning. Thanks for the info/reassurance. In another growbed, I have just put seeds in. If I had gotten started earlier, that would have been my choice. 

Tomatoes are having a tough time getting started. I only have two of them. 1 is starting to look good, the other is still struggling. Any ideas on tomatoe cages or support? I am trying to use bird netting. 

Thanks again.

[George]

Our strawberries really took to aquaponics after 2 or 3 weeks.  They look great now after 6 weeks or so and we've picked a few berries.  I'm using both a couple of 8-foot Texas tomato cages and a stake about that same height.  I washed the roots off as completely as I could. 

[Lance Rose]

Thanks. I guess that is the way to go. I just felt like the plants took a major beating. 

George said:

Our strawberries really took to aquaponics after 2 or 3 weeks.  They look great now after 6 weeks or so and we've picked a few berries.  I'm using both a couple of 8-foot Texas tomato cages and a stake about that same height.  I washed the roots off as completely as I could. 

[TCLynx]

Transplanting is hard on plants.

[Lance Rose]

Talk about a turnaround. I got about 7 strawberries that will be ready to pick in a couple of days. My Okra is doing really well.

One thing of note. In 1/2 the barrel, I split the bunch of strawberries from each pot into 3-4 small plants and planted them about 3 inches apart. The other 1/2 barrel, I just washed them and stuck them into the media. 

The second group is doing way better. For some, that may be a "duh" but it seemed like a good idea at the time...

[TCLynx]

It just means you disturbed them more by dividing them so they are putting more energy into growing more plant instead of just producing the fruit.  It is usually best to wait till after the fruit production before you go dividing strawberries if you want to get much fruit that season.

[coty]

I am about to plant some different plants and wanted to know how deep is should plant them? Should i plant them at the water lever or 1in or 2in above the water level? Ill beplnting broccli, kale, sweet peas and strawberries.