new strawberry growth curling and burning

[Aqua Dan]

hey everyone, I am brand new to this forum and look forward to both learning and, perhaps, teaching. right now, I have a problem at hand that maybe someone could help with.

I recently did a system clean out removing approx. 65 gal. of grow stones from my growbed, rinsing and replacing. I also replanted about 10 strawberry plants that had produced very well last year. although the plants survived they are not looking 'prime'. all new growth is showing up curled, burnt or both. help!!!..please

I have 16 tilapia 6oz. to 1# in size, 110 gal. stock tank, 12 gal. swirl filter, 25 gal. sump tank with pumps and filtration, I know my 65 gal. growbed is probably to small but added verts recently for more bio filter. check pics

ph is 6.5   ppms are 1650 and ec/cm? is 2.22   (using digital meter-henna)  

system is 22 months running    fish are very happy!  any help is appreciated,dan

[Pieter Swanevelder]

Hi Aqua Dan

Here is a link on nutrient deficiencies

http://www.mybsl.co.nz/Strawberry%20nutrients%20deficiency%20sympto...

[Aqua Dan]

Thanks Pieter, I have been adding potassium bicarbonate every few days trying to stabilize my ph and bring my kh up . with that being said, I have been adding potassium and still have the same bad issues with Most of the new growth. The chart you sent implies that I have a magnesium and calcium deficiency as well...maybe boron too? do you have any aquaponic safe recommendations for this? Last year we grew some beautiful berries but I recently did a system clean out. thanks

[Pieter Swanevelder]

Not sure Dan

As I remember Calsium mask Magnesium deficiency.  I ussually add egg shells to increase calsium slowly and add epsom salt for magnesium. struvite is also a good addition - but don't tell my wife....

Just mulched over the below? Maybe you can get an extra Strawbery plant and check if its not age related?

http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/9884/what-should-i-do-...

[Aqua Dan]

Age? actually the 6 plants in my verticals are new and even a couple of those are showing the same signs. thanks

[Pieter Swanevelder]

Ok - how long since you 'cleaned out the system' - is your system again fully cycled? 

Maybe post your amonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, KH, GH levels?

[Aqua Dan]

Pieter, I removed all growstones out of the bed, rinsed and replaced about 3 weeks ago. I had lots of root mass at the time but only replaced the strawberry plants.  as of 5 minutes ago my readings are as follows:

ammonia-.25ppm  nitrate-approx. 150ppm  nitrite-0  ph-6.4  kh-3  gh-stopped adding drops at 25,never turned green.(very hard water in florida).

fish are very healthy and happy, plants are not looking so good..again new growth looks horrible.

[Pieter Swanevelder]

Hi Dan

Figures seems OK - the pH could be a tad lower though? - and the ammonia seems to be border line. strawberries prefer pH 5.5-6.5 according to literature. If possible - do a few pH readings during the 24h day (including sunset/sunrise in your data set) as it's diurnal - it could be that your mean pH is too high (alkali).

check out http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=21986

Regards,

[Aqua Dan]

Thanks Pieter, I removed all but one 'old' strawberry plant and planted 20 new ones. The other 6 'new' ones in the verts said it all, with new growth including many buds told me, as you said, plant new ones! At 80 cents each it's a no brainer. I even planted a few in my nft hydrosys. Also, my ph has stabilized at about 6.4...I see the range for strawberries is 5.5-6.5, so...gotta keep my fish and bacteria happy too, right? thanks again
 
Pieter Swanevelder said:

Not sure Dan

As I remember Calsium mask Magnesium deficiency.  I ussually add egg shells to increase calsium slowly and add epsom salt for magnesium. struvite is also a good addition - but don't tell my wife....

Just mulched over the below? Maybe you can get an extra Strawbery plant and check if its not age related?

http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/9884/what-should-i-do-...

[Pieter Swanevelder]

Ok - glad you could pin the problem. Hope you've got a bumper crop.