I think any fast draining mix is a good choice. You might wish to consider poking a hole in the bottom & using a wick if you think there will be saturated soil at the bottom. I helped two people over the last couple of years who wanted to grow wild strawberries in a strawberry jar. One, I sent a bag of the gritty soil mix & he really liked how it performed.

I think you should forget entirely the idea that you'll somehow be able to build 2 years of nutrition into the soil. You need to take responsibility for supplying your plant's nutritional needs in container culture.

I can't help you much with the weight, except to tell you to use light ingredients if it's a factor. The gritty mix is a little heavier than the 5:1:1 mix, but it will always drain well & it is much more durable - structurally, so there is a trade-off.

Al

I would suggest avoiding soil at all. Strawberries are finicky by nature and don't like overly wet conditions. I'd look at perlite and use a liquid fertilizer to water with. That's what I plan on doing.

Thanks Al and jleiwig. I think I'll try one of each approach.

1soh,

Use a 10 foot length of 8" PVC pipe and drill 2" holes for plants. Leave the last 2'(feet) of pipe to be buried in the ground and please use a builders leveling tool to make sure the pipe is standing straight up. Leave the bottom end open (for drainage), then pour in potting mix up to the first set of holes, insert a s/berry plant and repeate until the tree is filled. attach a drip line to the top of the pipe or water by hand.

Gardening with love, Kiee

Kiee and others,

I live in Zone 7 and wonder if you can plant the strawberries in the Fall and have them live through the summer, or would you plant new plants in the spring? Dont' the need to "over-winter" in the ground to give you the best crop? Seems like my 2nd and 3rd year plants produce the best. Any advice?

Kiee,

COOL! Wow, I was going to buy a bunch of hanging baskets for the strawberries. But, 8" PVC pipe sounds like a great idea. I am in in November.

Anyone have pictures?

Serp... - You can plant in the fall & overwinter, The over-wintering requirements are:
Do not let them be subjected to (root temperature) lows below 25*.

Do not over-water

Do not allow them to dry out completely

It's helpful if you can keep them from drying winds

Your unheated garage should serve nicely.

There is no need to replant in spring. In fact, your plants with roots already established will produce far better yields than plants planted in spring.

Al

I'm about to put together another one of these with a 6" pipe 5 ft long. I already have a 8" pipe 4ft long that's doing well, but not great. the plants are in good shape, but the berries are tasteless and watery. I did this before I had an [some] understanding of water retention. the 8 and 6 inch pipes will both be using 5:1:1 this fall. I'm also trying a new variety of strawberries just in case the ones I have now just aren't a great tasting variety.

The BEST think about these is that I can hang them in the greenhouse above another container and it take up no extra room! It just makes use of available space.

instillatwork,
I'm totally new to gardening, so please keep that in mind. I'm trying to grow strawberries in pvc towers. I have 6 30" tall tubes. 4 tubes are 8" diameters. 2 tubes are 6" diameters. The plants in the 8" tubes are large and appear healthy. The plants in the 6" tubes are obviously stunted. You may have a different result. If you try the 6" tubes, please share your results.