Maybe I am in the wrong forum. Please forgive me if I am.

My question is this: Is the spacing of one strawberry per square recommended because the plant needs that much soil for nutrients and root development or is it because of the plant spread? It seems to me that hydroponic (sp) farms pack them in tighter but they also feed them highly fertilized water. The reason for my question is that I am planning a strawberry tower. Not one of those commercially built ones, and not one built at home from 8" sewer pipe or downspout. I'm just going to take some containers I already have that decrease in size and stack one on top of the other. Then I'm going to plant the berries around the edges where the soil is exposed and let the plant trail down the side of the planter. In my mind it will look like a strawberry water fountain. (But a lot of things work in my mind that don't work in practice. lol)

The pots are full of good compost (not quite Mel's mix but I've never been much of a conformist), good drainage, and will get good sunlight. ooh, that reminds me of another question I had. If I plant the berries all around the planter then the ones on the north side will get very little sun. Will I have to rotate the pots regularly, or should I just concentrate the plants on the other three sides of the pot?

Any suggestions you can offer would be fantastic.