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Does pot shape affect strawberry daughter plant numbers?
Quick find: this post is based on the published summary (abstract) of the study, not the full paper.
In the second of two greenhouse experiments, the best pot and mix pairings for 'Albion' strawberry mother plants gave 33 or 34 daughter plants, against 25 in the poorest. In the first, pot shape alone made no difference to daughter plant numbers.
Container shape changes how air and water are spread through a soilless root zone, but its part in propagating 'Albion' strawberry mother plants has had little study. A Virginia Tech and North Carolina State University team tested four pot shapes and two growing mixes on 'Albion' mother plants, counting the daughter plants they produced (Shur et al., 2026).
What this means for your grow
If you propagate strawberries from runners in pots, this study suggests the pot and the mix should be considered together: daughter plant numbers differed across the eight pot and mix pairings, and no single factor (pot height, pot volume or how airy the mix was) explained the results on its own. The authors' advice is to choose pot shape and mix as one root-zone system. The published summary does not give enough detail to say which setup to copy at home.
What did they test, and what did they find?
- Four pots: made from PVC, differing in diameter, height and volume: 15S2 (15.24 cm across by 11.0 cm tall, 2.0 L), 15S3 (15.24 cm by 16.5 cm, 3.0 L), 10T2 (10.16 cm by 24.7 cm, 2.0 L) and 10T3 (10.16 cm by 37.0 cm, 3.0 L).
- Two mixes: P50, with 50% coarse perlite, 25% sphagnum peat and 25% coconut coir, and P20, with 20% coarse perlite and 80% coconut coir. Standardised physical-property tests showed P50 had 22.8% air space and 52.3% container capacity, while P20 had 10.4% air space and 78.9% container capacity.
- First experiment: all four pots filled with P50. Daughter plant numbers did not differ between pots, at eight or nine per mother plant, although total plant dry mass did differ.
- Second experiment: every pot was tried with both mixes. Crown diameter, total plant dry mass, the dry mass of the runner network and daughter plant numbers all differed between the eight combinations.
- Most daughter plants: 15S3 with P20 (34) and 10T2 with P50 (33), both more than 15S2 with P20 (25). The other combinations fell in between.
- Other results: 15S2 with P20 gave the greatest average crown diameter, while 10T3 with P20 produced more total and runner-network dry mass than 15S2 with P20.
The authors conclude that the responses could not be put down to pot height, volume or the air space in the mix alone, and that pot shape and the mix's air and water properties should be managed together when designing greenhouse systems for strawberry mother plants.
Trial details
- Where: two greenhouse experiments.
- Who: School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, and the Department of Horticultural Sciences, North Carolina State University.
- Crop: 'Albion' strawberry, mother plants grown for daughter plant production.
- System and substrate: soilless; four PVC containers (15S2, 15.24 × 11.0 cm, 2.0 L; 15S3, 15.24 × 16.5 cm, 3.0 L; 10T2, 10.16 × 24.7 cm, 2.0 L; 10T3, 10.16 × 37.0 cm, 3.0 L); P50 (50% coarse perlite, 25% sphagnum peat, 25% coconut coir; 22.8% air space, 52.3% container capacity) and P20 (20% coarse perlite, 80% coconut coir; 10.4% air space, 78.9% container capacity).
- Design: Experiment 1, four containers with P50; Experiment 2, the four containers with each of the two mixes (eight combinations); 10 single-plant replicates per treatment.
- Results: Experiment 1, eight or nine daughter plants per mother plant with no difference between containers. Experiment 2, most daughter plants in 15S3-P20 (34) and 10T2-P50 (33), both more than 15S2-P20 (25).
- Publication: HortScience 61(12), 2700-2708, December 2026, https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI19815-26. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0.
- Not reported in the published abstract: where the greenhouses were, dates and how long the experiments ran, the growth stage of the mother plants at the start, lighting, temperature and humidity, nutrition (fertiliser, EC and pH), irrigation, statistical methods, funding and conflicts of interest.
Links
- The study: Container Geometry and Substrate Hydrophysical Properties Influence 'Albion' Strawberry Mother Plant Growth and Daughter Plant Production
- The institution: Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University
References
- Shur, B. A., Rideout, S. L., Hernandez, R., Chen, H., Fonteno, W. C., & Jackson, B. E. (2026). Container geometry and substrate hydrophysical properties influence 'Albion' strawberry mother plant growth and daughter plant production. HortScience, 61(12), 2700-2708. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI19815-26