Summary:

In many strawberry production areas, traditional bare-root transplants are being replaced by plug plants produced from runners. Tips (unrooted runners) are rooted into trays filled with various substrates. The success of rooting depends on various factors such as cultivar, growing medium, air humidity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of soilless nursery to produce strawberry potted planting material. ‘Elsanta', 'Grandarosa' and ‘Pink Rosa' mother plants were planted in containers and set on a special rack in the greenhouse. Emerging plantlets were clipped with metal clips in micro-pots filled with peat or coconut substrate and detached from the mother plants after 14 days. Efficiency of the nursery and quality of obtained plantlets were evaluated. Efficiency of the nursery depended on the number of runners emerging from the mother plants and the number of plantlets on the runners. The highest number of plantlets was obtained from ‘Grandarosa' (29.3), followed by ‘Pink Rosa' (23.1), and ‘Elsanta' (19.5). Rooting of plantlets before detaching them from the mother plants caused all plantlets were properly rooted. Growing media used in the experiment did not have significant influence on the plantlet rooting. The greenhouse soilless system for production of strawberry potted plantlets offers an important alternative to the conventional field grown plantlets.