Earn billions from hanging strawberry gardens

Not planted on the ground or on trellises, New Zealand strawberries are grown by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc (42 years old), residing in Trai Mat, Ward 11, Da Lat City (Lam Dong) in rows more than 1 meter above the ground.

This new planting technique helps him earn billions.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc next to his hanging strawberry garden. Photo: Internet

Entering the garden of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc's family, surely even the most fastidious person in agricultural production would be amazed and surprised. Rows of strawberries hang straight, suspended in the air, more than 1 meter above the ground, bearing heavy fruit.

Over the past several months, the strawberry crop planted on an area of ​​9,000 square meters has been regularly harvested every day from 40 to 150 kg depending on the season. It sells for an average price of 150,000 to 200,000 VND/kg in the garden. If calculated for the whole year, his family earns billions of VND in profit.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc learned this technique of growing hanging strawberries from countries with developed agriculture. According to him, this method of growing strawberries is quite effective: First, it saves land, increasing the number of plants on the same area. Second, it helps to isolate pathogens from the soil. Third, it reduces investment costs such as fertilizer because nutrients do not seep into the ground, and pesticides do not have to be sprayed because the plants are almost free of pests. Fourth, it helps produce clean, high-quality fruit. Fifth, harvesting is convenient and easy!...”.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc harvests strawberries. Photo: Internet

Since 2013, Mr. Truc has boldly converted 500m2 of chrysanthemum growing area to test growing strawberries using the hanging technique. According to this farmer, to be able to hang rows of strawberries, the greenhouse must be solidly built with a sturdy iron frame, over 5m high, well-ventilated, and the investment cost is over 200 million VND/1,000m2. The strawberry rows are fixed with a plastic-covered iron frame.

The material used for planting is not soil but shredded coconut fiber, composted with organic fertilizer. Fertilizer and nutrients are mixed with water, leading to each strawberry root through an automatic irrigation system. Every day, this system operates 8-10 times, pushing water and nutrients to the plants. Irrigation water, fertilizers, and other nutrients that the plants do not use up will be led back to the tank for reuse, so there is no waste, significantly reducing production costs.

Initially, Mr. Truc's family's strawberry plants grew unevenly despite strictly following the production technical process. Later, Mr. Truc suspected that the well watering might be the reason why the strawberry plants did not grow as expected, so he took water samples to the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute for analysis.

The results showed that some active ingredients in well water taken too deep underground were harmful to plants, causing uneven growth in strawberry gardens.

To eliminate the above cause, Mr. Truc's family has switched to watering with tap water. Although watering with tap water is not costly because the amount of water used for hanging strawberry planting does not seep into the ground. Unused water will be collected through the system and reused.

Mr. Truc shared that the most difficult thing in growing hanging strawberries is "calculating" the nutritional regime for the plants. Each time and season, the strawberry plants require more or less different sources of nutrition. Determining the correct nutritional needs to provide for the plants requires the grower to be sensitive, delicate and have a lot of experience. The nutritional regime will determine healthy growth.

Thanks to "catching" diseases through nutrition and isolating pathogens through vacuum, over the years, Mr. Truc's hanging strawberry garden has rarely been infected with harmful diseases while this type of crop is quite sensitive to the weather.

Since 2013, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truc's family has continuously expanded the strawberry growing area. All are planted in a suspended form, about 1.3m above the ground. The planting density is about 1,200 plants/1,000m2 in the greenhouse. In addition to the drip irrigation system to the strawberry roots, there are also fans and misting irrigation to cool the plants. The ideal temperature for strawberry plants to grow and develop is below 16oC.

According to Mr. Truc, for this type of crop, the colder it is, the more fruit it produces and the higher the quality. Strawberry plants start to produce regular fruit after about 45 days of planting. Each batch of fruit lasts about 12 months before having to replace the seedlings. Mr. Truc's family's fresh strawberry products are imported by a number of partners to supply to supermarkets, restaurants...

According to Agriculture