Water, Plants and Fish? : Healthy

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How to Build Your Own Strawberry Towers

Uploaded on Jan 2, 2011

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This is an instructional video on how to build your own growing tower for use in aquaponic or hydroponic systems.

Details about Expanded Shale growing media can be found at http://www.ExpandedShale.com . For more info, see my blog at http://web4deb.blogspot.com or http://www.BigelowBrook.com Also "like" us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook

The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry /ˈstrɔːb(ə)ri/; Fragaria × ananassa) is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria (collectively known as the strawberries).

It is cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The fruit (which is not a botanical berry, but an aggregate accessory fruit) is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness.

It is consumed in large quantities, either fresh or in such prepared foods as preserves, fruit juice, pies, ice creams, milkshakes, and chocolates. Artificial strawberry aroma is also widely used in many industrial food products.

The garden strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in the 1750s via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America and Fragaria chiloensis, which was brought from Chile by Amédée-François Frézier in 1714.^[1]

Cultivars of Fragaria × ananassa have replaced, in commercial production, the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), which was the first strawberry species cultivated in the early 17th century.^[2]

Technically, the strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries.^[3]

Each apparent "seed" (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it.^[3]

Garden strawberry Fragaria × ananassa

Garden strawberries, grown in California
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Subfamily:	Rosoideae
Genus:	Fragaria
Species:	F. × ananassa
Binomial name
**Fragaria × ananassa** Duchesne

History

The first garden strawberry was grown in France during the late 18th century.^[2]

Prior to this, wild strawberries and cultivated selections from wild strawberry species were the common source of the fruit.

The strawberry fruit was mentioned in ancient Roman literature in reference to its medicinal use.

The French began taking the strawberry from the forest to their gardens for harvest in the 1300s. Charles V, France's king from 1364 to 1380, had 1,200 strawberry plants in his royal garden.

In the early 1400s western European monks were using the wild strawberry in their illuminated manuscripts. The strawberry is found in Italian, Flemish, German art, and English miniatures.^{[citation needed]} The entire strawberry plant was used to treat depressive illnesses.

By the 1500s references of cultivation of the strawberry became more common.

People began using it for its supposed medicinal properties and botanists began naming the different species.

In England the demand for regular strawberry farming had increased by the mid-1500s.

Instructions for growing and harvesting strawberries showed up in writing in 1578.

By the end of the 1500s three European species had been cited; F. vesca, F. moschata, and F. viridis. The garden strawberry was transplanted from the forests and then the plants would be propagated asexually by cutting off the runners.

Two subspecies of F. vesca were identified; F. sylvestris alba and F. sylvestris semperflorens. The introduction of F. virginiana from Eastern North America to Europe in the 1600s is an important part of history because this species gave rise to the modern strawberry.

The new species gradually spread through the continent and did not become completely appreciated until the end of the 18th century.

Fragaria × ananassa 'Gariguette,' a cultivar grown in southern France

When a French excursion journeyed to Chile in 1712, it introduced the strawberry plant with female flowers that resulted in the common strawberry that we have today.

The Mapuche and Huilliche Indians of Chile cultivated the female strawberry species until 1551 when the Spanish came to conquer the land.

In 1765, a European explorer recorded the cultivation of F. chiloensis, the Chilean strawberry.

At first introduction to Europe, the plants grew vigorously but produced no fruit.

It was discovered in 1766 that the female plants could only be pollinated by plants that produced large fruit; F. moschata, F. virginiana, and F. ananassa.

This is when the Europeans became aware that plants had the ability to produce male-only or female-only flowers.

As more large-fruit producing plants were cultivated the Chilean strawberry slowly decreased in population in Europe, except for around Brest where the Chilean strawberry thrived.

The decline of the Chilean strawberry was caused by F. ananassa.^[4]

Strawberries on display at Chelsea Flower Show, 2009

Cultivation

Strawberry cultivars vary widely in size, color, flavor, shape, degree of fertility, season of ripening, liability to disease and constitution of plant.^[5]

Some vary in foliage, and some vary materially in the relative development of their sexual organs.

In most cases, the flowers appear hermaphroditic in structure, but function as either male or female.^[6]

For purposes of commercial production, plants are propagated from runners and, in general, distributed as either bare root plants or plugs.

Cultivation follows one of two general models—annual plasticulture,^[7] or a perennial system of matted rows or mounds.^[8]
A small amount of strawberries are produced in greenhouses during the off season.^[9]

A large strawberry field with plastic covering the earth around the strawberry plants.

A field using the plasticulture method

The bulk of modern commercial production uses the plasticulture system.

In this method, raised beds are formed each year, fumigated, and covered with plastic to prevent weed growth and erosion.

Plants, usually obtained from northern nurseries, are planted through holes punched in this covering, and irrigation tubing is run underneath. Runners are removed from the plants as they appear, in order to encourage the plants to put most of their energy into fruit development.

At the end of the harvest season, the plastic is removed and the plants are plowed into the ground.^[7]^[10]

Because strawberry plants more than a year or two old begin to decline in productivity and fruit quality, this system of replacing the plants each year allows for improved yields and denser plantings.^[7]^[10]

However, because it requires a longer growing season to allow for establishment of the plants each year, and because of the increased costs in terms of forming and covering the mounds and purchasing plants each year, it is not always practical in all areas.^[10]

The other major method, which uses the same plants from year to year growing in rows or on mounds, is most common in colder climates.^[7]^[8]

It has lower investment costs, and lower overall maintenance requirements.^[8] Yields are typically lower than in plasticulture.^[8]

A third method uses a compost sock. Plants grown in compost socks have been shown to produce significantly higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), flavonoids, anthocyanins, fructose, glucose, sucrose, malic acid, and citric acid than fruit produced in the black plastic mulch or matted row systems.^[11]

Similar results in an earlier 2003 study conducted by the US Dept of Agriculture, at the Agricultural Research Service, in Beltsville Maryland, confirms how compost plays a role in the bioactive qualities of two strawberry cultivars.^[12]

Strawberries are often grouped according to their flowering habit.^[5]^[13]

Traditionally, this has consisted of a division between "June-bearing" strawberries, which bear their fruit in the early summer and "ever-bearing" strawberries, which often bear several crops of fruit throughout the season.^[13]

Research published in 2001 showed that strawberries actually occur in three basic flowering habits: short-day, long-day, and day-neutral. These refer to the day-length sensitivity of the plant and the type of photoperiod that induces flower formation. Day-neutral cultivars produce flowers regardless of the photoperiod.^[14]

Strawberries may also be propagated by seed, though this is primarily a hobby activity, and is not widely practiced commercially.

A few seed-propagated cultivars have been developed for home use, and research into growing from seed commercially is ongoing.^[15]

Seeds (achenes) are acquired either via commercial seed suppliers, or by collecting and saving them from the fruit.

Strawberries can also be grown indoors in strawberry pots.

Pests

Around 200 species of pests are known to attack strawberries both directly and indirectly.^[22] These pests include slugs, moths, fruit flies, chafers, strawberry root weevils, strawberry thrips, strawberry sap beetles, strawberry crown moth, mites, aphids, and others.^[22]^[23]

The caterpillars of a number of species of Lepidoptera feed on strawberry plants.

Diseases

Domestic cultivation

Garden strawberry flower

Picking home-grown garden strawberries

Moreover, protection must be provided against slugs and snails which attack the ripe fruit. The fruit matures in midsummer and should be picked when fully ripe — that is, the fruit is a uniform bright red colour. The selection of different varietes can extend the season in both directions.^[28] Numerous cultivars have been selected for consumption and for exhibition purposes. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

'Cambridge Favourite'^[29]
'Hapil'^[30]

'Honeoye'^[31]
'Pegasus'^[32]

'Rhapsody'^[33]
'Symphony'^[34]

Propagation is by runners, which can be pegged down to encourage them to take root,^[35] or cut off and placed in a new location. Established plants should be replaced every three years, or sooner if there are signs of disease.
When propagating strawberries, one should avoid using the same soil or containers that were previously used for strawberry cultivation. After cultivating strawberries, rotating to another culture is advisable, because diseases that attack one species might not attack another.^[36]

Source: Wikipedia.org

Somebody Come and Play Today! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!

The Man Inside the Man

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Sinbad the Sailor Man

JMK's Production

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CYA Later Taters!
Thanks for stopping by.

Donnie/Sinbad the Sailor Man

P.S. Have you been looking for a guide to strawberries? Well Here it is. To check it out. Click Here!*

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Meet Up Group For the Aquaponics Build at Sowles Well Services

Hey all! How have you been? Me I am still Busy, busy, busy. Going a hundred miles an hour and only getting ten feet up the road on a full tank.

I have started a Meet Up Group to try and get others interested in Our Aquaponics Garden build. Here in Indiana. The Site is Located in Hebron and is a private Home owners Lot. Which I am currently building our first Test run of the Aquponics System.

We both have had gardens in the past and a Traditional Garden is so much more work and the pay off is a hit or miss for most of us backyard Gardeners. The Weather, the Time, The effort, and the Labor is some times to demanding for us. With the Weeds, the Birds, the Rodents, and the Bugs not to mention the possibility of disease.

I have set two Meet Ups already in the first month of starting the Group and so far Only I and my Sponsor have showed up. I know it will take some Time it always does. To build a following let alone a tight knit Group dedicated to seeing this Venture through.

I know many don't want to do the dirty work that I am currently doing by myself. And getting things ordered up and running is always a drag. But this is where I am at today. Out of Money and lacking time to get everything done. The Season is changing and I am running out of good working weather.

So I am looking for others in the Greater Chicago Land area or even the Tri-State area to Share Ideas with, to teach, and learn from others with. I am sure there are many backyard Gardeners that could teach me many tricks and tips. As I can show them some as well. But I am looking for the new and Organic way of producing Healthy and Nutritional Foods Organically. And on a smaller piece of land or even in Ones own Basements, Back porch, or in their Garages.

I have some pictures up here at Our Meet Up Page on what I am doing and the conditions of where I am at with the Aquaponics Build. Here is the Link to the Meet Up Home Page: http://www.meetup.com/Living-Growing-for-Our-Tomorrows-Sustainable-Healthly-Foods/

Here are some recycled Pressure tanks from the Well Service Company. I help out from time to time to pay for the use of the land I am using to Build this Aquaponics Garden on. I have turned these seven tanks into my Filtration system. I have access to these use tanks from time to to time. I will get a video up as soon as I can. Most likely after I get them installed and working. We are Saving money and being as Green as possible as often as possible.

I have several Blog posts here at this Blog on the Aquaponics Garden Build check them out. I also have a couple of Hubs at Hubpages.com. In the side bar here is a link to my Hubpages Profile. You can scroll through my Hubs there.

Here is a Rocket Heater I am trying to build for the first Time for our Garden's Green house. These are some of the metal tanks we come across and haul away for our customers. We usually just scrap them out but if we can build something worth building we might do it if we can find the time. And it is worth our wild to do.

I have a Youtube Video here in one of my older posts that shows where I got the Ideal for our Green house. We built at the Aquaponics build site at Sowles Well Services. It cost Us under three hundred dollars. It is a thirty foot by twelve foot Green house. Here is that post:
http://waterplantsandfishgrowyourown.blogspot.com/2013/04/greenhouse-homade-with-cattle-pannels.html

Well I got tons of other stuff to do so I got to run .

TTFN
CYA Later Taters
Thanks for stopping by.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Come One, Come All, I am Calling Out to You!

Hey All, I have created a Meet Up Page or Account in hopes of starting up a group interested in Learning and sharing their Aquaponics secretes with each other. It would be for those of us in the greater Chicago land area mostly but everyone is welcome to join to share and learn of what we have to offer.

So far as of today Oct. 06 2013 we have five members. We have had one Meet up so far and two of us showed and so Its begun. We have a Meetup scheduled for tomorrow Oct 7th at 6:30pm at the Aquaponics Garden build site in Hebron IN. This is short notice I know and I am sorry I will work on getting better. You can go to Meetup.com and search for our group Its called "Living & Growing for Our Tomorrows" Sustainable Healthy Foods. There you will find all of our pictures and past Meetups But we are New less than a month old so far and we are just figuring things out both with Meetup and the Garden too.

I am the organizer so I will be posting here and there as I do with everything I am doing so come and check us out. We are hoping to button up the Green house this month and I have started messing around with a rocket heater just this past Friday I have it roughly figured out and will get pictures and maybe a video soon of It. It is made from two recycled metal pressure tanks and some square tube stock that we had lying around in the scrap pile. I will also start selling some recycled Fiberglass tanks to be used in your own Aquaponics filtering systems or your Pond filtering systems. I'll be placing video here soon of these tanks and how we are using them in our system.

Our system build has fallen way off of schedule as we have been plagued with mechanical breakdowns and many repairs to our vehicles at the Well Service these last few months. Right now our 1,000 gallon holding tank is being used to drill Wells with as our water truck is going under a major brake overhaul. Here is the link to our photo albums at Meetup.com http://www.meetup.com/Living-Growing-for-Our-Tomorrows-Sustainable-Healthly-Foods/photos/

Well I will be getting back here soon with more pictures and hopefully some videos of the rocket heater and the Aquaponics Garden Build @ Sowles Well Service.

I've got to run now because I am under the gun and Time is slipping away.
TTFN
CYA Later Taters
Thanks for stopping by.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Update of Our Aquaponics Build at Sowles Well Service June 4th 2013

Donald Beres Jr

Published on Jun 4, 2013

Recorded on June 4, 2013 using a Flip Video camera. Hello All I lost about four minutes of this clip because I trimmed the wrong way. Sorry about that. Yeah I am still learning to use the FlipCam and It's Simple software.

Hey I told if I can do It you can too. I am No rocket Scientist thats for sure. But I never claimed to be. I will need to do some more work on the sump pit box and I still want to get the other two tanks cut and their bladders removed and cleaned up and ready.

I will be looking at some Bulk head fittings that we have here at the house. We got a couple lots at an Auction a while back and I'll have to see what I can dig out out the creates that I can make do the job. There is not a lot of pressure in these systems. Everything can be unglued and hand tight; well mostly everything.

I got the longer cut offs up to the Green house and I still need to fit them together as the other cut offs were just to much to piece together. I was losing my mind trying to figure it out. So now it is easy three ten foot pieces for each thirty foot run and two couplings for each pipe. They'll sit nicely on the cement blocks and it will make it easier to clean out when the time comes.

As I said this is being done on the fly nightly after work and I work on It when I can to the beat of a different drummer sort of speak. As I don't drive I have to work around the boss's schedule.

But It will get done eventually. The box is just some thing to keep the dirt out of It. The ground is mostly clay kind of like modeling clay soft and mold able when wet or moist. Hard as brick when dry. So I will line the bottom of the pit with patio blocks and cover it with a lid. This will help keep It cool in summer. Warm in winter and keep debris from entering the tanks as well.

As I was saying I laid out the piping for the feed troughs that will be outside this year. If I get them in time. I don't have a whole of time left to get this part up and running for this years growing cycle. But if I do run with it. I can always throw a quick Hoop house up with this cattle panel stuff. Its fast and easy and very reasonable. But I think I'll use six by six's instead of the Telephone poles if it come to rushing this Green house build. They are much lighter and easier to set. But I am cheap so I'll have to see how fast it needs to be slapped up.

I should just cut four more telephone poles up shouldn't I, Hum. I might do that and have them ready or even set them. First I want to see if I can grow anything. Speaking of I need to start my seeds this week.

I pressure washed the holding tank and the large fish tank as well I got the top cut out of the fish tank. I did that with a grinder and a cutting wheel. It was very easy; messy but easy. I used the dirt from the sump pit to refill the dirt box and placed the rest in front of the dirt box so I could climb straight onto It with out a ladder. I'll Land scape that up some and then I'll get some more dirt from the dirt hills from the pond. And then I'll do the same with the sump pit on two sides, the front and the right side or the west side. On the east side is where the well is and the south side faces the Green house so I'll keep them level, but I will use only wood chips on the Green house side as this is where the plumbing will be.

Getting closer YouTube I have tons to do still, but most of this stuff will go rather quickly once I get the tanks plumbed. I found my fish for this year. I am not sure if there Channel cats or Bull heads. But there are three balls in my uncles pond right now as of today. But if I wait to long the bass will devourer them before I get them into a tank. And the water is way to cold for me to brave It. I'll need a John boat or canoe and a net.

There is usually about hundred Frys in a ball like the ones in the pond, but as I said you don't have much time to catch them before the bass or some other fish or bird eat them up.

The pond is all open water no trees and not many places to hide in for these little guys that's why they ball up the way they do. Protection!

I have a large fifty gallon metal trough I could drag it over there and try to snag about fifty or sixty or even more. And keep them covered at the waters edge. I'll see. I don't have too much Time on my hands, but we'll see what we can do.

If their Channels I grow them Out for eating. If their Bullheads I'll cut them lose in the river or give them to the neighbor for his pond.

Well I got to run. I need to get showered and go to bed. Busy day tomorrow if I want to catch some of those Frys I'll need to be rested.

Somebody Come and Play Today! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!

The Man Inside the Man

from

Sinbad the Sailor Man

JMK's Production

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Update of Our Aquaponics Build at Sowles Well Service May 28th 2013

Donald Beres Jr

Published on May 28, 2013

Recorded on May 28, 2013 using a Flip Video camera. This one is another short one. My batteries were about drained. I just wanted to show you all I got the major part of the sump pit dug today. And that I straitened up some.

Well I got to run because I am under the Gun.

P.S. Sorry the Video stopped suddenly because the Battery died. I was saying I'll have to take the one thousand gallon tank down and add some more dirt and then water it down and pack it down into the dirt box. I should of known better, but I am doing this all on the fly after work And I am tried after the day is done. Again I'll do better as I get some extra time. CYA !

Well I finally got it over here for ya's guys. I am stuck for cash right now so I'll need to find some more. I need to order some stuff from off the Web. Mostly uni seals. I'll need to get some treated plywood three 1/2 inch x 8 ft x 4 ft about three sheets; to line the sump pit.

I still need more cement blocks about 12, and some 2x2 patio blocks about 8 to put a floor into the sump pit for the tanks to sit level upon. But I did get most of the grass cut today May30th 2013. And then the mower started to act up. I think we'll need to flush the fuel lines or clean the tanks out even. It's a Big mower a Dixie Chopper a good mower to have for large lawns.

I truly need to get my seeds going too. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. Sunday maybe. Well I have the advantage of the Ponds water to jump start our system here. But for one guy it is a lot of work to do. Especially when you are disabled somewhat. But I am lucky to have the tools and equipment at my disposal as some of you may not. Hopefully you have a couple of strong backs and a weak mind or two you can tap into. LOL

It shouldn't be long now. I'll get something done here soon, but I am worn out already and I haven't even begun yet. But this I hope is the hardest part of this Aquaponics stuff; the build. I hope anyways. Well I talk at ya's soon.

P.S. I posted these videos first at youtube and leave them there a day or two. So I can search them out and then place them here. Plus it takes these older computers of mine so long to upload videos. I am ready for bed by the time there done. And I have a bad memory as well.

Somebody Come and Play Today! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!

The Man Inside the Man

from

Sinbad the Sailor Man

JMK's Production