EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES ON ROOTING AND FLOWER DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY AND TERTIARY RUNNERS OF STRAWBERRY TRAY PLANTS CULTOVAR ‘ELSANTA’

An experiment was set up to investigate the effects of different substrates on the growth and yield of plants derived from primary and tertiary runners. ‘Super elite’ strawberry mother plants cultivar ‘Elsanta’ were planted in February 2010 into peat modules.
Primary and tertiary runners from the mother plants were harvested after five months.
They were subsequently planted into strawberry propagation trays with five different substrates blends.
These consisted of two peat types (clonbrin & Bord na Móna), coir, composted green waste (CGW) and a peat and CGW mix.
There was a highly significant difference in dry root biomass and number of flowers per plant between treatments.
The highest dry root biomass was obtained from primary runners rooted in clonbrin peat (3.41 g) and the coir-clonbrin peat mix (3.31 g). The lowest were obtained from tertiary runners rooted in CGW-clonbrin peat mix (1.83 g) and the CGW (1.91 g). The highest numbers of flowers per plant were from primary runners grown in the Bord na Móna peat (54.1), CGW-clonbrin peat mix (50.2) and the coir-clonbrin peat mix (50). The lowest flower counts were obtained from tertiary runners grown in the coir-clonbrin peat mix (34.6) and primary runners grown in the CGW (34.7).

VII International Strawberry Symposium

G.T. Beyene, E. Kehoe, M. Mac Síurtáin, A. Hunter

mother plant, primary runner (pr), tertiary runner (tr), substrates

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1049.90