I've seen the Vertigro system being used in the Dixon Springs agricultural center. They are much smaller than what is shown and white styrofoam square containers. I'm going to try the same idea with regular square pots.

What dixon springs does is to cut a hole in the bottom of each pot. they put a bigger pot on the bottom, with a emt pipe inserted in the middle, it also has a pvc pipe just bigger than the emt around the emt. the pvc is the height between the bottom of one pot to the bottom of the next higher pot. On top of the pvc, they have a giant washer (not exactly, but it's the best description that I can come up with). Then the next higher pot, pvc, washer. Then next higher pot, pvc, washer. then next higher pot for the top pot.

Or put up fence posts and attach roofing gutters to the fence. Or have seen this and also in a stair like fashion or think bleachers at the stadium

Vertigro has a special right now where you can get an 80 plant site system for 140. With the extras I'll need for staking I figured it a $2 a plant. I've been pricing some of these other systems/option and haven't come up with anything that wasn't at least a dollar a plant. My concern with the gutters, dirt, is it is only a 5x5 trough. I'm not sure of the space for roots is adequate. Also, why I was leaning toward the vertigro is because of the insulative quality as opposed to just pvc. It gets so hot in late summer here, I thought the foam might provide some barrier to the roots cooking out in the sun. I also wondered about the feasibility and whether it would be beneficial, if you could transport these portable systems and move your strawberries into a shaded area during the peak of summer. I don't know if that would adversely affect the growth that they're putting on for the next year.

In their experiments, they put 4 plants per pot. pots about 12x12". they also tried painting the pots with aluminum paint to lower the temps for roots. In their research, there was no difference in the amount of fruit or health of plant.

there plantings were inside of a hoop house (no supplemental heat) with no shade cloth. This was in southern IL.

Gutters could work for some plants.

We have been useing vertirgro pots for over 8 years. We currently have 500 pots in our system. The bottom of the stack is12 inches from the ground. Our stacks are 6 pots high. My wife is only 5 foot tall so 6 pots high is perfect for her and our u-pick customers. We plant 4 plants per pot so we have about 2000 plants growing all the time. We use the stawberry (tri star) in our planting only. We are hydroponic so plants are fed a strawberry formula throuh a drip system. When picking. if you follow the design you can turn the stack and pick the entire stack without moving. Also, off the ground, we have'nt any problem with slugs or other critters. The strawberries are grown in a high tunnel. We love our vertigro system. Our growing medium is coir and we add 1/3 perlite so the water can drip down to the next pot . With our set up, we have 2 spaghetti hozes watering a stack of 6 pots. Good luck

What dixon springs did was put a large square pot at the bottom and planted lettuces. Other than that, you explain how they work.