Thinking about the strawberry tower

I say "strawberry tower" although what I have in mind is actually a hanging garden, a column of plant pots suspended one above another.

Several years ago, Geoff & I grew strawberries hydroponically in hanging tubes filled with perlite medium. No electricity was available on site so I watered them manually. They cropped satisfactorily, but only if they were watered with nutrient solution at least twice a day, and three or four waterings per day was better.

Growing strawberries in hanging containers is great - you don't have to bend down to pick them and they are out of reach of snails and other ground-based pests. The need to water them so frequently was a big minus, though. I don't want to set up an elaborate automatic watering system and I don't intend to hand-water 3 or 4 times a day, so I want to see whether putting a water reservoir in each individual hanging pot will solve the watering problem.

Simply hanging PET bottle planters in a vertical chain would meet the minimum requirements of what I have in mind, although if each planter had to be individually watered it would be very tedious. Ideally, I want to be able to water all the planter units in a column at once. Plastic tubing is going to be involved.

In spite of having to use a bit of plastic tube, the aim is to build planter units that re-use materials that would otherwise become landfill or go to be recycled. Construction must be simple, without the need to use special tools. If possible, I would like to find a planter unit that can be used for conventional growing using potting mix as well as for hydroculture. (Increased weight of potting mix will put greater demands on the suspension system. Potting soil could have possible drainage problems, as well.)

I have three different types of planter unit on the drawing board, and will try to have prototypes ready for planting by Monday so growing trials can get underway. More anon.