Coco coir substrate opens new possibilities for professional strawberry production
Source: VFD.com
"It retains water without losing air porosity, works within a pH range suited to the crop, typically between 5.5 and 6.8, and starts from a clean medium with no pathogens and no prior agronomic history, which reduces the uncertainty associated with soils that have accumulated several growing cycles. Chips, with coarse particles between 4 and 16 millimeters, increase air porosity and promote rapid drainage, though they retain less water, while pith, made up of fine particles smaller than 4 millimeters, offers greater water retention but slower drainage.
"In practice, the bag becomes a design tool: it can be white or black depending on whether you want to reflect or absorb heat, it can work at heights of 10 to 16 centimeters, and it can handle volumes of 14 to 26 liters per linear meter, typically with 11 to 13 plants, which allows you to modulate tolerance to irrigation failures or the speed of response to adjustments." As Javier explains, a white bag provides more margin for error in warm conditions because it reflects heat, while a black bag can be useful in winter or in cooler areas by promoting thermal absorption. Similarly, a larger substrate volume provides more inertia and tolerance in the event of a temporary irrigation failure, valuable when the system is still being fine-tuned, while a smaller volume allows faster responses but demands greater precision in water and nutrition management.
"The key is not to choose a fixed recipe, but to define a methodology where height, particle size, color, volume, and irrigation program are designed together." From medium control to higher yields and better returns: the 5 advantages of hydroponic strawberry growing "Hydroponic cultivation on coco coir allows you to decide precisely what the root receives in terms of electrical conductivity, pH, nutrients, and water volume, while at the same time reducing dependence on the soil and its accumulated disease burden." "Irrigation can be adjusted on demand, drainage can be analyzed, and where the design allows, it is even possible to move toward closed-loop systems or strategies that deliver greater water and nutritional efficiency." "From a production standpoint, this model enables a higher seasonal yield potential, more vigorous early root development, and more regular, uniform production. In terms of labor, working on elevated structures at 70–100 centimeters introduces a significant ergonomic improvement in a crop where harvesting and manual tasks carry considerable weight in both costs and workforce availability." © Pelemix Fertigation: nutrition driven by real data Fertigation is probably the point where the difference between soil and hydroponic growing becomes most apparent, because leachate transforms nutrition into continuous, measurable information.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
