Strength of vegetated coal-bearing soil is of great significance to evaluate the shallow stability of vegetated slopes in coal-bearing soil regions. This paper takes D-W cycles, dry density, water content, and vegetation root (VR) content as four factors and carries out the triaxial test for the orthogonal design of vegetated coal-bearing soil in southern China. The strength curves of vegetated coal-bearing soil under four factors were obtained. The Taguchi method was used to quantitatively analyse the effects of four factors. The microstructure of coal-bearing soil under D-W cycles and the theory of soil reinforcement by VR were discussed. The results indicated that D-W cycles had a significant effect on the cohesion and internal friction angle ( P <