Flowering times and some growth indicators of strawberry were affected by physical properties of the growing media

The evaluation of the physical properties of growing media seems essential in crops such as strawberry, which their flowering depends on environmental parameters. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate Fragaria x ananassa development in growing media with different physical properties. For this purpose, it was focused on the correlation of growing media properties with the flowering time and some growth indices in different strawberry cultivars (i.e., 'Camarosa', 'Mrak', and 'Selva'). The physical properties of growing media determined included pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), porosity, bulk density, particle density, organic and inorganic materials, water-holding capacity, and air-filled porosity. The flowering and growth responses of studied cultivars to growing media were different. Such that the rice hull growing medium accelerated the flowering time in 'Camarosa' and 'Mrak'. 'Camarosa' and 'Selva' showed slow growth in rice hull, and 'Mrak' grew slowly in media of rice hull and sycamore pruning waste. An increase in the porosity or decrease in the bulk density accelerated the floral emergence and blooming in 'Camarosa'. An increase in the air-filled porosity accelerated the floral emergence and blooming, and the beginning time of the fruit set in 'Mrak'. It was also observed a reduction of the leaf number with increasing the porosity in 'Mrak'. Decreasing each of the EC and bulk density also increasing the porosity reduced leaves number to the flowering step for 'Camarosa'. Based on these observations, it was considered that the effect of growing media on flowering time and growth indices was genotype-dependent in strawberry such that flowering and growth responses of 'Selva' showed less correlation with the physical properties of media.