Cover story: ‘U-pick’ hydroponic strawberries a hit

By Starrla Cray
The Land Correspondent

April 25, 2008 01:20 pm

— Young or old, strawberry lovers are sure to get a kick out of Minnesota’s only hydroponic strawberry patch, located at Emma Krumbees Orchard and Farm in Belle Plaine.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Instead, they are given mineral nutrients to help them grow. The strawberries at Emma Krumbees are stacked vertically in pots, so there is no bending, kneeling or weeding involved. The whole stack turns so that customers don’t have to walk around the pots.
“This summer, we are going to go to nursing homes and handicapped places and let them know that the patch is completely wheelchair accessible,” said Crystal Janzen, outside orchard manager. “There are so many shut-ins who probably used to spend hours gardening. This would be a way for them to get out.”
Adults aren’t the only ones who enjoy the ease of hydroponic strawberries.
“The kids just love it,” Janzen said. “It’s right at eye level.”
Emma Krumbees’ owners Phil and Mary Jo Morris discovered the idea for hydroponic strawberries while at a convention in Florida. This will be the fourth summer they’ve had the patch of more than 100,000 plants, and Janzen said it’s been a great success.
“We have tour groups that specifically say they want to see the strawberries,” she said. “It’s really rewarding.”
The biggest problem the orchard has had is people liking the berries a little too much.
“People start sampling and they don’t quit,” Janzen said. “We have had people that get carried away. We monitor the strawberry patch a little closer now.”
Emma Krumbees’ customers can pick strawberries starting in mid-June up until the first killing frost, Janzen said.
When people come to pick the strawberries, they have to sanitize their hands, and then they are given scissors to cut the berries from the plant.
“The strawberries are in such a shallow base, if they pull it might uproot the whole plant,” Janzen said.
In addition to being sold by the pound, the strawberries are also used at Emma Krumbees’ restaurant for making strawberry malts, shortcakes and other bakery items. In the future, the orchard is planning to have 200 hydroponic blueberry plants as well, Janzen said.
Because the hydroponic berries aren’t in the ground, they don’t have to deal with diseases that could affect the roots. This helps the plants grow somewhat bigger and better, Janzen said.
“They’re so juicy and good,” she said.
The only thing they have to worry about is airborne fungi such as gray mold. The first year, gray mold slowed down the production somewhat; now, however, a solution to shield the berries from gray mold is sent through the misters. “It doesn’t go into the berries or anything,” she said.
Overall, the strawberries at Emma Krumbees are “very spoiled,” Janzen said.
“The watering and feeding are all controlled on a timer,” she said. Three times a day, they are fed through a drip system and misted with water.
“The compost that holds up the plant is perilite and vermiculite,” she said. “That’s what keeps the roots moist.”
People who would like their own hydroponic patch can purchase individual stacks of 12 plants from the orchard. If they buy 10 kits, the automated feeding system comes free.
“It’s a very unique system,” Janzen said. “I wish I’d have invented it.”

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