Growing Strawberries in a Tower Garden: A Complete Guide
Can you grow strawberries in a Tower Garden? Absolutely. Strawberries are a great fit for vertical hydroponic and aeroponic growing because the plants stay relatively compact and the berries can hang outside the tower instead of resting on the ground.
They're a little more demanding than lettuce or basil, though. If you want plenty of well-shaped berries, you'll need to pay attention to variety, temperature, light, nutrients and pollination. Get those pieces right, and strawberries can be an incredibly rewarding crop to grow.
🍓 The realistic answer: Strawberries grow very well in a Tower Garden, but growing a healthy strawberry plant and getting that plant to produce lots of berries aren't quite the same thing. Good light, suitable temperatures and thorough pollination become especially important once the plants begin flowering.
Best Strawberry Varieties for a Tower Garden
Strawberries aren't all the same. Different varieties respond differently to day length and temperature, which affects when they flower and produce fruit.
June-bearing or short-day strawberries tend to produce a more concentrated crop when the right environmental conditions trigger flowering. Day-neutral strawberries are less dependent on day length and can flower and fruit repeatedly while temperatures and other growing conditions remain suitable.
There are also everbearing strawberries, which typically produce more than one crop during their growing season.
At Living Towers, the two strawberry varieties we offer seasonally are Fronteras and Albion.
🍓 Fronteras Strawberries
Fronteras is a vigorous short-day strawberry that produces large fruit and can develop substantial foliage.
Because it is a short-day variety, its flowering pattern is influenced by environmental conditions including day length and temperature.
🍓 Albion Strawberries
Albion is a day-neutral strawberry. Its flowering is less dependent on changing day length, allowing it to flower and fruit repeatedly when growing conditions are favorable.
Albion also tends to have a more compact growth habit than Fronteras.
We have a separate guide if you want to look more closely at the differences between the two: Fronteras vs. Albion Strawberries.
How to Plant Strawberries in a Tower Garden
Most Tower Garden growers will have a much easier time starting with established strawberry plants rather than growing strawberries from seed. Strawberries grown from seed take considerably longer to reach productive size.
If your strawberry seedling is already established in a rockwool cube, place the cube into a regular Tower Garden growing port just as you would other seedlings.
Don't bury the crown. The strawberry crown is the point where the leaves emerge from the roots. Keep the crown above the rockwool rather than burying it deeply. Planting the crown too deeply can cause problems as the plant grows.
Make sure the rockwool is positioned so it receives water from the Tower Garden and the plant sits securely in the growing port.
Starting with seedlings? Our Seeds & Seedlings Guide covers transplanting and getting young plants established in your system.
Where to Plant Strawberries in a Tower Garden
Strawberries don't need the kind of support required by tomatoes or cucumbers, but they do appreciate good light and airflow.
Avoid placing them where vigorous neighboring plants will eventually shade them. Remember that the little seedlings you plant today may be surrounded by much larger plants a few weeks from now.
The berries will naturally hang outside the Tower Garden as they develop, keeping them off the ground and making them easy to see and harvest.
Fronteras can produce substantial foliage, so give vigorous strawberry plants enough room for air and light to move through the leaves.
How Much Light Do Strawberries Need?
Strawberries need plenty of light if you want them to produce fruit rather than simply maintain healthy leaves.
Outdoors, place the Tower Garden where the plants can receive around 8 hours of direct sunlight per day.
Indoors, run Tower Garden grow lights for approximately 14–16 hours per day, followed by complete darkness overnight.
Keep the grow lights approximately 6–8 inches from the tops of the plants, adjusting their position as the plants grow.
Lots of leaves but few flowers or berries? Light is one of the first things to look at. Fruiting plants generally need stronger light than leafy greens and herbs.
For more help, see our Tower Garden Light Guide.
Best Temperature for Growing Strawberries
Strawberries generally prefer cooler conditions than warm-season fruiting crops such as tomatoes and peppers.
Temperature affects more than how quickly the plant grows. It can also influence flowering, fruit set and fruit quality, and the response varies somewhat by strawberry variety.
When temperatures become too warm, strawberry plants may continue producing plenty of foliage while flowering and fruit production decline.
This matters particularly in warm climates. Here in South Florida, strawberries are much better suited to the cooler part of the year than the middle of summer.
🍓 Variety matters. Fronteras is a short-day strawberry while Albion is day-neutral. Day length, temperature and your local climate can therefore affect the two varieties differently. Our Fronteras vs. Albion guide explains the difference in more detail.
Water & Nutrients for Hydroponic Strawberries
Strawberries don't require a separate Tower Garden nutrient formula. They can grow alongside other crops using Tower Garden Mineral Blend.
For established plants, the standard concentration is 20 mL of Mineral Blend A and 20 mL of Mineral Blend B per gallon of water.
For young seedlings, use approximately 10 mL of A and 10 mL of B per gallon.
During very hot weather, reducing nutrient strength can help plants cope with heat stress. Depending on conditions, we may use half-strength or even quarter-strength nutrients.
Maintain the reservoir at approximately pH 5.5–6.5 and check the water level regularly. Fruiting plants can use a surprising amount of water as they mature.
More nutrients don't automatically mean more berries. If your strawberries aren't producing the way you expected, check light, temperature, pollination, pH, water quality and root health before simply adding more nutrients.
For more detail, see our Tower Garden Nutrients Guide and Tower Garden Water Guide.
Do Strawberries Need Pollination?
Yes. Strawberry flowers are self-fertile, meaning a flower contains the parts needed for pollination, but pollen still needs to be distributed thoroughly around the flower.
Outdoors, bees, other insects and air movement often do much of this work for you.
Indoors, there are no visiting bees, so you'll usually need to help.
A small, soft paintbrush works well. Gently brush around the inside of each open flower to move pollen across the flower. Repeat as additional flowers open.
Odd-shaped strawberries? Poor or incomplete pollination is one possible reason. A strawberry needs good pollination across the flower for the berry to develop evenly.
For more detail, see our hand-pollination guide.
What Should You Do With Strawberry Runners?
Once your strawberry plants become established, you may notice long stems growing away from the main plant. These are runners.
A runner can eventually develop a new plant. That's useful if you want to propagate more strawberries, but producing runners also requires energy from the parent plant.
If your priority is fruit production, we generally recommend removing excess runners so the plant can put more of its energy into the crown, flowers and fruit.
If you'd like more strawberry plants, you can allow a healthy runner to develop and root the new plant before separating it from the parent.
Fruit or more plants? There's no rule that says every runner has to go. Decide what you want from the plant. Remove runners when fruit production is the priority, or use selected runners when you want to propagate additional strawberry plants.
Can You Grow Strawberries Indoors?
Yes. Strawberries can grow and produce fruit indoors in a Tower Garden, but they're more demanding indoors than crops such as lettuce or basil.
The two biggest things to pay attention to are light and pollination.
Provide approximately 14–16 hours of good grow light each day, followed by complete darkness overnight. Keep the lights close enough to the plants to provide adequate intensity without allowing the foliage to grow into them.
You'll also need to take over the job normally performed by outdoor pollinators. Use a small soft paintbrush on open flowers to distribute pollen.
Good airflow is helpful indoors too. Avoid crowding plants so tightly that moisture remains trapped around the foliage.
Common Problems When Growing Strawberries Hydroponically
Lots of Leaves but No Strawberries
A healthy-looking plant doesn't necessarily mean conditions are right for fruit production. Check light, temperature, variety and whether the plant is actually flowering. Once flowers appear, make sure they're being pollinated thoroughly.
Flowers but No Fruit
If flowers appear but berries don't develop, pollination is one of the first things to investigate. Temperature stress can also interfere with successful fruit production.
Small or Misshapen Strawberries
Incomplete pollination can cause berries to develop unevenly. Check that flowers are being thoroughly pollinated rather than assuming a nutrient deficiency is responsible.
Yellow Strawberry Leaves
Yellowing can have several causes, so look at the whole plant and growing environment. Check pH, nutrient strength, water quality, roots, temperature and whether older leaves or the entire plant are affected.
Brown or Crispy Leaf Edges
Look for environmental stress, water or nutrient issues, heat, root problems and pest damage. One symptom alone usually isn't enough to diagnose the cause.
Plant Producing Lots of Runners
Runner production is normal strawberry behavior. If you're growing primarily for fruit, remove excess runners rather than allowing the plant to put all of its energy into producing new plants.
Common Strawberry Pests & Diseases
Growing strawberries above the ground removes some of the challenges associated with soil-grown berries, but it doesn't make them immune to pests or disease.
Keep an eye out for:
- Aphids – Small sap-feeding insects that often gather around tender new growth and the undersides of leaves.
- Spider mites – Tiny pests that can cause stippling, discoloration and declining foliage. Fine webbing may appear as populations increase.
- Japanese beetles – Outdoor pests that may feed on strawberry leaves and flowers.
- Powdery mildew – A fungal disease that can produce a white or gray powdery appearance on affected foliage.
Good airflow and regular inspection go a long way. Look underneath leaves as well as across the top of the plant—many pests are much easier to spot before populations become large.
For help identifying problems and choosing treatment options, visit our Tower Garden Pests & Diseases Guide.
When & How to Harvest Strawberries
One of the advantages of growing strawberries vertically is that the berries are easy to see, so you can watch them ripen instead of discovering them underneath a mass of foliage.
Allow berries to develop their mature color before harvesting. Strawberries don't continue ripening in the same way some fruits do after they're picked, so harvesting too early can mean sacrificing flavor.
Rather than pulling hard on a ripe berry, pinch or snip the stem just above the fruit. This reduces the chance of damaging the berry or the plant.
Check productive plants regularly. Once berries begin ripening, you may find new ones ready to pick every few days.
Are Strawberries a Good Crop for a Tower Garden?
Yes—especially if you're willing to give them a little more attention than your leafy greens.
Strawberries stay relatively compact, don't require trellising, and their fruit naturally hangs outside the tower where it's easy to see and harvest. They can also be grown indoors when you provide sufficient light and take care of pollination yourself.
The key is remembering that strawberries are a fruiting crop. Growing leaves is the easy part. Producing flowers and turning those flowers into good berries requires the right combination of variety, light, temperature, nutrition and pollination.
Once you understand those pieces, there's something pretty satisfying about walking up to your Tower Garden and picking a strawberry straight from the plant.
Ready to Grow Strawberries?
Starting with healthy strawberry plants gives you a head start. We offer strawberry plants seasonally when they're available and ready for Tower Gardens, hydroponic systems, containers and traditional gardens.
Shop Fronteras Strawberries →
Shop Albion Strawberries →
Not sure which one to choose? Read our Fronteras vs. Albion Strawberry comparison.
