🍓 Growing Hydroponic Strawberries: Choosing the Right Variety 🍓
- Sophie
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
Strawberries are the most popularly grown “fruit” in the hydroponics community. Many of us grow them to have something sweet in our gardens. Although tomatoes and peppers are technically fruit, hydroponic strawberries bring a different type of joy.
So, let’s talk about growing these plants in our hydroponic systems. First, I will describe the types of strawberries you can grow, and then I will cover the different ways to start your strawberry garden.
Table of Contents
🍓 Types of Strawberries
🍓 Starting Your Strawberry Garden
🍓 Final Thoughts
Types of Strawberries
1. Commercial Varieties
The images that come to mind when most of us hear the word “strawberry” are those of the large, plump berries we buy at the market. The good news is that you can grow these commercial strawberries relatively easily in hydroponics.
When choosing a variety, you want one that is either everbearing or day-neutral.
Everbearing strawberries produce berries early and later in the summer, with a break in between.
Day-neutral strawberries produce berries continuously throughout the seasons, making them ideal for hydroponics. Their fruit production isn’t dependent on the time of year.
June-bearing strawberries produce a single large crop from late June to early fall. They often don’t bear fruit in the first year, making them less ideal for hydroponic growing.
If commercial strawberries are your choice, here are my top two day-neutral recommendations:
Albion
Albion is considered the gold standard. It bears large, conical fruit, and the plants grow 8–12 inches tall. This variety is resistant to root rot and most plant diseases, making it an excellent choice.
Seascape
Seascape is known for its very large berries and compact size (4–8 inches tall). It spreads out more than Albion while growing. Seascape strawberries are also highly disease-resistant, but they can develop leaf spot.
Another key difference is runners—the young plants that grow from strawberries:
Albion produces a lot of runners, so you can start new plants easily.
Seascape produces fewer runners, making it tidier to grow.
Either way, you can’t go wrong with either variety!
2. Wild Strawberries (Alpine) 🍓
If you’re looking for flavor rather than berry size, wild strawberries might be what you need.
Alpine strawberries, closely related to wild strawberries, are much smaller than commercial varieties but extremely flavorful—perfect for salads and snacking. Personally, I think they make a great addition to a flower garden.
3. Ornamental Strawberries 🌸
If you love flowers, an ornamental strawberry variety might be the best choice.
These varieties produce beautiful flowers in shades of white, pink, and red, along with medium-sized berries (larger than Alpine strawberries but smaller than commercial ones).
Two great options:
Rainbow Treasure – White, pink, and red blooms.
Buried Treasure – Deep pink blooms.
These strawberries bloom in their first year and will keep producing fruit as long as growing conditions remain suitable. They are also highly fragrant, and their berries are very sweet.
Starting Your Strawberry Garden
Now that you’ve chosen your strawberry type, the next step is to start your garden! For hydroponics, you have three options: bareroot plants, seedlings, and seeds.
1. Bareroot Plants 🍓
Commercial strawberries (like Albion and Seascape) can be grown from bareroot plants. Essentially, you purchase the roots—dirt attached and all 😂—clean them, trim them, and place them in your hydroponic system.
Why use bareroot plants?
Faster fruit production (since they come from mature plants).
Ideal for commercial strawberry varieties.
2. Seedlings 🌱
The second option is seedlings, which are young plants ready for transplanting. Some hydroponics companies offer ornamental and wild (Alpine) strawberries this way.
Why use seedlings?
A great head start—berries in as little as 8 weeks!
Easy to transplant into hydroponic systems.
3. Seeds
Finally, you can grow strawberries from seeds.
Some companies, like Gardyn and Click & Grow, sell Alpine strawberries in pre-seeded pods.
You can also purchase Alpine and ornamental strawberry seeds from various vendors.
Why grow from seeds?
A fun and rewarding process.
Your first berries will appear 12 weeks from planting.
Final Thoughts 💭
Whatever type you choose, strawberries thrive in hydroponics. Personally, I like to grow a mix:
Ornamentals add beauty with their vibrant flowers.
Alpines are perfect for desserts like ice cream.
Commercial varieties are versatile for snacking, baking, and more!
Strawberries can grow in any hydroponic system, but some systems work better than others—more on that soon!
As always,
Happy Growing! 🌱💚🌿💚🍓
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