Effect of Growing Media on Vegetative Growth and Runner Production of Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) Cultivars (Ofra and Camarasa) Arun, Goyal R. K., Rajput Vinita Department of Horticulture, COA, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana Online published on 9 October, 2012. Abstract The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) is one of the important soft fruits in the world. Its fruits have good economic value in the national and international markets. Strawberry plants are highly susceptible to soil contamination, fungal and bacterial infections and insects attack (especially termites). Most of the area under cultivation lacks proper quality soil for good production. And, of course, in future the cultivable land is going to degrade or decrease only. Therefore, there is strong need of identifying alternative of soil as a growing media. The paper has reported the initial results of an experiment conducted under green house conditions for growing of strawberry plants in pots having different media composition (media in different ratios, e.g. cocopeat, vermiculite, perlite, vermicompost, sand). After planting, the plants were observed for their vegetative growth, survival percentage, runner production, establishment time and development at 15 days interval. The performance of media mixture having cocopeat (in combination and alone) has been found best for root proliferation and plant growth. Top Keywords Strawberry, growing media, soil alternative, Haryana. Top |