PIKETON, Ohio – One of these days, strawberries in the United States could be grown commercially without soil. It’s already happening in parts of Europe and Japan.

Researchers at The Ohio State University are encouraged by the early results of growing strawberries without dirt in high tunnels.

“We’re still gaining a lot of experience but we think it has some potential here,” said Brad Bergefurd, a horticulture specialist for OSU Extension.

He said the first soilless strawberries planted in September at the OSU Extension research site in Piketon were harvested before Christmas. The same plants, after they were placed into a semi-dormant state to survive the winter, are now budding and should have strawberries ripe for picking in six to eight weeks, he said.

Bergefurd said he didn’t notice any difference in taste between strawberries grown in dirt and without soil.

The purpose of the research is determining if soilless strawberries can be successfully grown commercially and, if so, teach producers how to do it on their farms. “We’ll get another year or two under our belt and we should have some good data for the farmers,” Bergefurd said.

Ultimately, he said the goal is somebody growing commercial strawberries without dirt out in the open and then, after harvest, moving the plants into high tunnels as the weather begins turning cold for picking when the extended season crop matures.

Bergefurd said the crop starts from the tips of plants set in trays filled with peat and other forms of organic material. A month later, the tips are large enough with a developed root system to be transplanted.

They’re placed into the openings of four-inch-wide plastic covered slabs of compressed organic material like rice hulls. The porous slabs are placed into gutters and irrigation tubes inserted. Excess water drains through holes in the plastic wrapped around the slabs and is taken away by the gutters to a holding tank.

The prefabricated slabs watered down before transplanting to avoid stressing the roots rest on tables which can be easily moved by two people. He said the slabs at OSU Extension are about 10 feet in length but their size can vary depending on the size needed to fit each individual system.

“Really, you could grow strawberries anywhere with this. You can take any parking lot and start growing strawberries on them within an hour. It’s a very cool set up,” Bergefurd said.

Bergefurd said the motivation for a commercial grower to raise soilless strawberries would be higher profits from having more than just one growing season. Other reasons include not having to bend over to the ground.

“You can stand up and plant. You can stand up and pick. It reduces all of that stoop labor that we have with field ground strawberries,” he said.

Leading the research is Chieri Kubota, a professor in OSU’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. She has successfully raised strawberries without soil in a greenhouse for the past couple of years.

Bergefurd said the positive greenhouse results helped secure a special crop block grant from USDA to advance the research into the high tunnels, which is the next step before the experiment is tried out in the open. “So far, so good.  It looks really promising,” he said.

The OSU Horticulture will take part in a virtual Soilless Strawberry School from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 26. The program will include live online lectures and discussion with the focus on greenhouse production of soilless strawberries.

A presentation about growing soilless strawberries in high tunnels will occur at a later date. For more information, email Kubota at kubota.10@osu.edu.