Finally! A well documented hydroponics experiment contributed by member Cher Keng Heng and posted in our “berries crazy” group, SG Farming in Apartments!!!
Gardener Cher Keng Heng grew his strawberries in his office, where the environment is cool at 22C all day long (24hours) and I am assuming 7 days a week. Ideal strawberries environment indeed! He did not freeze or chilled his medium in this environment and they still grew well!
These were the steps to his germination method:
- Seeds in sponge :
Step 1 – Place 4 seeds in sponge like this 
Can use long pointed net cup and sponge for seeds placement 
The long pointed cup fit a PET bottle opening exactly 
Secure seeds position 
Germination took place in 10 days, same as my soil based method. 
LED lights of white, red and blue was used. 12 hours per day 
Cher Keng Heng’s one month old strawberry seedling! - Important Tip! Cover seeds environment to create a mini greenhouse and ensure humidity –
This is his simpler fuss free way to germinate seeds! Gardener Cher Keng Heng also shared his observations on soil based and hydroponics strawberries for a comparative study with us. These were his observations –
Soil based seedlings are smaller than hydroponics strawberry seedlings.
Soil based (left) vs. hydroponics seedlings Hydroponics seedling had massive roots mass like this –
Hydroponics strawberry seedlings 
Soil based roots were lesser 
Hydroponics strawberry plants flowered in 60 days compared to 150 days for my soil based plants. For the best results of hydroponics strawberry plants, Cher Keng Heng felt that aeration is key. That means,we need to keep water moving and the liquid need to be clean for best roots development. Stagnant water that is not clean will caused algae/moss in the water resulting in red leaves on strawberry plants.
Suspected Fungi problem caused by algae growth in stagnant water Ideally an automated system of aeration in the nutrients solution, cool environment and ideal light will allow strawberries plants to thrive in Singapore’s tropical climate.
So, its back to mostly soil based experiments for me, but knowledge is invaluable, and I am thankful to Cher Keng Heng for sharing his wisdom! With this new information, I have also upgraded my white strawberry pot, to half hydroponics and soil with aeration, hoping for better flowers in the white strawberry plants!
Aeration from air pump to the nutrients solution in reservoir! PS. This experiment failed.
Flowering White Strawberries plant too risky to transplant, testing out half hydro with aeration method On another note, for gardeners wanting to try hydroponics method but do not wish to spend so much money, please check out Lim San‘s no frills DIY method from mostly recycled material. He is an extremely creative gardener who has built awesome gardens with less, and a successful strawberry pioneer as well ! 🙂
Update on hydroponic exploration without using electricity, we finally succeeded in 2017 (red alpine varieties) and the white varieties in 2018.
Amazing, can the fruit still grow without 24/7 aircon?
We don’t grow in aircon and trained all our cool seasoned plants at home to acclimatise to SG climate. There can be some shortcoming of yield & growth compared to its natural preferences but bearing fruits is not a problem.