The production of early strawberries in new and re-used growing media in sacks under a walk-in tunnel

In this study three strawberry cultivars (Dorit, Douglas and Cruz:, were tested on different growing media in walk-in tunnel sack culture during 1994-95 growing season at the Alata Horticultural Research Institute. The main purpose of the experiment was to compare one year used and fresh growing media of "peat + sand" and "sand + FYM". However to the "sand + FYM" used media, some FYM was added before its second year usage. All the media were solarized. Two types of planting system, summer planting (SP) and fresh runners rooted in pots (FRRP) in early summer months, were used and all the plants were planted at the beginning of August 1994. In the experiments the effects of growing media and planting system on precocity, yield and quality were investigated. According to the experimental results, the highest yields were obtained with 'Douglas' (753.92 g/plant) and 'Dorit' (684.40 g/plant). The yield of solarized newly prepared "peat + sand" media was 838.44 g/plant. It is followed by solarized newly prepared and reused "sand + FYM" media (701.28-710.32 g/plant, respectively). Both SP (721.80 g/plant) and FRRP (676.88 g/plant) were found to be high yielding systems. The first fruits were harvested on 3 November 1994 from 'Dorit'. The earliest fruits were produced by the FRRP planting system. The mean fruit size of 'Dorit' and 'Douglas' were superior to 'Cruz'. The fruits were larger in all growing media and with the summer plantings. The highest soluble solid content and sweetest fruit was produced by 'Dorit'.