Small Hydro Garden

I have received about 20 dormant Chandler Strawberry  roots from Isons Nursery & Vineyard.  I'm a huge fan on strawberries and I would love to see them succeed in my hydroponic garden.  I've done little to no research around growing strawberries hydroponically, so I'm learning and researching on the fly.  (or fry?)

I've never seen dormant strawberries so I wasn't sure what to expect.  They're basically as advertised, roots with a crown.  There is quite a bit of dirt residue on the roots which will have to be cleaned as best as possible so I don't create a huge mess inside the reservoir.

Roots from packaging:

Close ups of roots:

Single plant:

In preparation for germination the Ariane Hybrid Pepper seeds, I have started to soak Rockwool cubes in Thrive Alive B-1 Red.  In accordance with Technaflora's Recipe for Success, I performed the following steps:

1. 4 liters of purified drinking water in a bucket
2. 12.5 ml of Thrive Alive B-1
3. Adjusted pH in solution from 7.1 to 5.7
4. Placed 20 new Rockwool cubes
5. Rockwool cubes will soak for 24 hours before receiving seeds

Rockwool cubes soaking in bucket 

B-1 Red Analysis (Image Source) 

Purchase Thrive Alive B-1 Red

I have decided to turn a room in my house into an indoor garden.  Even though I'm not an expert gardener, hydroponic systems have always peeked my interests.  With so many recent technological advancements and a multitude of configurations, any engineer could find interest with this hobby.

I have created this blog out of necessity to track information and progress with the garden and various plants contained within.  Understanding and tracking measurable parameters will help advance my knowledge and technique with gardening.  I thought about creating a log book, using excel, or even writing a simple app to contain the data.  Setting up the blog engine was really easy and, who knows, maybe I can help someone else or receive quality feedback on the direction I'm going. 

The entries will be fairly ad-hoc in the beginning as I'm not too sure exactly what I should track or how to log the information.  Once a formal process is in place, I hope to write a piece of software to facilitate my garden to provide a uniform view into progress and technique.

Thanks for visiting, please provide feedback/comments where you see fit.