Our first foray into outdoor aeroponics didn't end very well, and most of the blame resides squarely with me.  I'll admit that I put the young strawberries out into the cold world a few weeks too early.  We lost most of those first-round plants.  However, we did learn a few things from the experiment.

We have a few more strawberry plants now, and I thought it was time for a new experiment.  I've taken a single healthy strawberry plant, and placed it back outside in the tubular aeroponic unit.  Here's a photo of the little guy in his new home:

In the past, I've always heard that root-zone temperature is critical for strawberries to survive.  This experiment will serve as a test.  For reference, we've had a real streak of hot weather lately.  Our daily high temperatures are between 95 - 100F each day.  The water temperature is about 85F, as the reservoir is buried about 18 inches into the ground.  I'd like to see how strawberries survive with such a warm root-zone.  We'll find out shortly.  Admittedly, if they survive at all, they will likely require frequent hydrogen peroxide cycles to keep down the extra bacteria growth.

On to other issues...

Our "food" eggplant continues to thrive.  Here's a photo of one of the upcoming fruit.  None are ready for harvest yet, but about five are in the works.

The "food" eggplant has been great.  No complaints at all.  It's doing very well, living in the original DIY aeroponic unit.

Also, the CO2Boost Experiment is still underway.  At this point, both plants are roughly equal size (but different shapes).  It looks like the control plant will be the first to deliver fruit, but the supplemented plant isn't far behind.  Be sure to take a look for the latest updates.

Lastly, a brief discussion of our strawberries and their runners.  Here's a quick photo for reference:

That confusing jumble of strawberries actually serves a very valuable purpose.  Our Fort Laramie strawberries produce runners (much like any strawberry that I've ever met).  These runners typically don't find many places to root in a hydroponic system, so we give them a little assistance.  When we see a runner begin to produce roots, we place the little fellow into a rockwool cube.  We leave the runner connected to the parent plant until roots have fully formed (and begin to escape through the edges of the cube).  Once the runner plant has roots, it's strong enough to be cut free from it's parent plant.  The process is much easier than cloning, due to the naturally convenient habits of strawberries.

We've got a list of people waiting for the little fellows, and I expect that we should begin deliveries sometime in July.  The runners reproduce fairly quickly, and all seems to be going very well.