How do you plant strawberry seeds
Plant Care & Growing Guide
A favorite fruit in nearly every culture and cuisine, strawberries are beloved for their sweet, juicy flavor and plump red appearance. And though many people cook with them (and eat them) regularly, few have actually considered growing them themselves. Good news: It’s relatively easy and inexpensive to grow strawberries from seed. The plants, native to North America, actually aren’t that picky about where they grow, as long as you can meet their basic needs. Keep in mind, growing strawberries from seed is a process—depending on your location and the length of your grow season, it's possible your plants won't bear actual fruit until the following year. Still, with proper care and patience, you will eventually reap the benefits, knowing you tended to the delicious berries from their very beginnings.
Click Play to Learn How to Grow and Harvest Strawberries
When to Start Strawberries
Because strawberries are perennials, the plants will come back each year. So taking the time to give them a good start will absolutely be worth it in the long run.
Bareroot strawberries can be planted anytime after last spring frost, or in the fall before first expected frost to overwinter. But when you start strawberries from seed, you’ll want to keep them indoors in the early spring to help them along until the last frost has passed.
December is a good time to start the process of growing strawberries from seed. Before you begin planting strawberry seeds, you'll need to stratify the seeds. This simply means giving the seeds a chilling period in order to help with germination. Place the entire seed pack into the freezer (not a deep freezer) for three to four weeks. After they've chilled, remove them from the freezer and bring the seeds to room temperature.
Sow the seeds thinly, pressing the seeds into a moist potting medium in seed starter trays, and barely cover the seeds with growing mix. Place the tray under grow lights, as strawberries need light to germinate.
Allow several weeks for germination. Be patient: seeds may germinate anywhere from 7 days to 6 weeks. Keep the seed tray in temperatures of 65 to 75 degrees. Do not let the seeds dry out. Provide good airflow to avoid dampening off.
Once the seeds begin growing, keep the grow light about two inches above the plant. Light that's too far away from the seedlings cause thin, leggy plants. When the seedling has grown and produced three sets of true leaves (the first leave to appear are the cotyledon, or seed leaves), transplant the strawberries into larger containers. Harden off plants before placing them in the garden or outdoor containers. Plant after last spring frost.
One major benefit of growing strawberries from seed is you can plant several different varieties of your choosing, as long as they can grow in your climate. But a drawback is you likely won't have a good harvest of fruit for a year after planting. Most growers recommend pinching off the strawberry flowers the first year to direct the plant's energy into producing strong roots and a good, healthy plant.
Enjoy fruit the second and third year. This is certainly a case where good things come to those who wait.
The Spruce / K. Dave
Location
Strawberry plants can go almost anywhere. From raised beds, containers, and in-ground gardens to interplanted in areas that need ground cover, strawberries aren’t picky. They also don’t grow very deep roots. So if you can find a spot for a container of any sort or designate a section of the garden, you probably can put strawberries there.
A few planting site options include:
Most strawberry plant varieties do best with lots of sunshine, so ensure that your growing location gets at least six to eight hours of direct sun per day. Also, make sure you've selected varieties that are hardy to your region, and double-check their care requirements because not all varieties can be interplanted in the same growing conditions.
Tending Strawberries
Strawberries can be everbearers, meaning they provide fruit to harvest all season long.
Or they can be summer-fruiting, having one big harvest time.
To encourage the best growth from your plants, provide well-draining soil fed with organic compost or fertilizer. Also, adding a layer of mulch around your plants can help to block out weeds that would compete with your strawberries. Pull weeds as soon as you spot them, and prune off yellowed or browning leaves from the strawberry plants. This helps a plant get as much moisture and nutrients to the healthy leaves and fruits as it can, giving you a better harvest.
Many gardeners pinch off the first blossoms of their strawberry plants to help direct the early growth into bushy leaves. A mature strawberry plant will likely be no more than 6 to 12 inches high. Strawberries do best planted around 12 inches apart, and if you're using containers, a few plants to a pot is plenty.
Moreover, give your plants good, well-draining soil amended with compost or feed with compost tea after planting and harvesting, as well as in the fall.
You can considerably cut down plants at the end of the season to encourage new growth for the next spring.
The Spruce / K. Dave
Harvesting
As soon as strawberries turn red (or white if that’s the variety you have), you can harvest them. If they’ve gone a bit too long and are soft and mushy, they’ll still be excellent in jams and other cooked-fruit recipes. And if the birds are beating you to the harvest, consider placing a low tunnel over your plants.
By tending strawberries carefully each season, you should be able to get several years of life out of your plants. However, strawberry plants tend to decline in fruit production after three years. Simply snip strawberry runners from the parent plant, and replant them to extend your strawberry bed.
The Spruce / K. Dave
Growing Strawberries from Seed
Growing strawberries from seed is a great way to establish plants without spending a lot of money.
Honestly, it never occurred to me to grow strawberries from seed until a friend of mine showed me her beautiful heirloom strawberry seedlings.
Strawberry plants are readily available for sure, but varieties can be pretty limited. Unless a seed company can sell a field’s worth of bare-root plants, they’re not going to bother growing them out. That means the really unique, specialty varieties are becoming harder and harder to find.
In the past, anytime we want to establish new beds I order in a few bundles of bare-root plants. We grow a lot of strawberries you see, both for jam and fresh eating. You’d be amazed how quick my two and four-year-old can mow through a quarter acre of mature strawberry plants, leaving nothing but discarded strawberry tops in their wake.
This year we’ve planted some lovely heirloom strawberries to trial, and I may well hang most of these tender beauties in hanging baskets out of reach of my two strawberry monsters.
Do Strawberries Come True to Seed?
When something comes ‘true to seed’ it means that the new plants will have the same characteristics as the parent plants.
Apples, for example, don’t come true to seed and when you plant apple seeds you never know what you’re going to get.
Cherries and stone fruits, on the other hand, come mostly true to seed and the offspring will be very close to their parents.
Strawberries do come true to seed, and strawberry seedlings will be very similar to the parent plants (with a few exceptions). Generally, strawberry flowers are self-pollinating, and unless you have many different varieties growing in a small patch the seeds will come true to the parents.
Some strawberry varieties are hybrids, and they’ve grown from seed that results from the cross of two specially chosen parents. After that point, they’re propagated clonally from runners. These days, most commercial strawberries you’d buy at the grocery store are hybrids.
When you grow strawberries from seed, it’s best to stick to old heirloom varieties or open-pollinated wild alpine strawberry varieties.
Where to Buy Strawberry Seeds?
Since you won’t generally find heirloom or alpine strawberries in the supermarket, where can you buy strawberry seed for growing?
There are a number of places that sell specialty strawberry seed, and they’re all either old heirloom varieties or wild alpine varieties.
Either way, you’re in for a unique treat because you won’t find these varieties in the grocery store.
- Swallowtail Garden Seeds has 7 varieties, though at $6 for a pack of 10 seeds they’re a bit expensive.
- Johnny’s Selected Seed sells specially bred hybrid strawberry seed, mostly for commercial producers looking to plant a whole field. (They also carry bare-root plants, so pay attention to what you’re buying.)
- Urban Farmer has a number of heirloom varieties, including an heirloom alpine variety, and they’re relatively inexpensive for packs.
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has nearly a dozen rare and heirloom varieties.
- Renee’s Garden Seeds is where I purchased mine, and the germination rates were outstanding. They’re also relatively inexpensive with plenty of seeds to a packet. (They’re also where we bought our bulbs for growing saffron.)
There are also literally dozens of varieties of strawberry seeds for sale on Amazon.
How to Germinate Strawberry Seeds
The hardest part of growing strawberries from seed is getting the seeds to germinate in the first place.
Most strawberry seeds require cold stratification to germinate, and they won’t break dormancy until they’ve gone through winter-like conditions.
This is a bit of an insurance policy for the strawberry seeds because there’s no point in sprouting in the fall right before a snowstorm.
You can mimic “winter” by simply placing the seeds in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks, which signals to the strawberries that winter is past.
To germinate strawberry seeds: Place the seed packet into a Ziploc plastic bag or tight-sealing jar. Place that in the sealed container with the seed packet into the refrigerator and leave it there for about a month.
Read carefully, this is important…
After a month in the refrigerator, take the whole sealed container out of the refrigerator but DO NOT OPEN IT. Allow it to come to room temperature while still sealed, which will prevent condensation from gathering on the cold seeds.
After about a day on the counter, the seeds will have warmed and they’re ready for planting.
(Some strawberry seeds do not require cold stratification, but it’s hard to know which you have. They may well germinate without this process, but even if they don’t require it, it won’t hurt them. Better safe than sorry.)
When to Plant Strawberry Seeds
Plant strawberry seeds indoors about 10-12 weeks before the last spring frost in your area.
Planting strawberries from seed requires a good bit of advanced planning when you take into account the need to stratify the seeds. Germinating strawberries can be an extended process, and takes somewhere between 1 and 6 weeks.
If the strawberry seedlings are going to reach planting size by spring, they’ll need to go into the refrigerator for stratification 14-16 weeks before the last frost and to allow them to chill for 3-4 weeks before planting.
How to Plant Strawberry Seeds
Strawberry seeds are very small, and they should be planted at or near the surface of the soil. Start with pre-moistened seed starting mix in seedling trays.
Place 3-4 seeds in each cell, directly on the top of the soil.
Gently press tamp the seeds down, but don’t cover them with soil. Mist the top of the soil with water, and keep it just barely moist until the strawberry seeds germinate.
Strawberry germination takes varies widely and can take anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks. (Mine took 2 weeks to come up.)
Be patient, keep the trays in a warm sunny space and ensure the soil stays just barely moist without being soggy.
Renee’s Garden, where I got my strawberry seeds, has similar instructions, and also recommends fertilizing to get them off to a strong start:
“In spring, sow seeds 1 inch apart and 1/8 inch deep in a container of fine seed starting mix. Maintain at 60 – 70° and provide a strong light source. Keep evenly moist but not soggy. Be patient, seeds can take 14 to 28 days to germinate. Feed young seedlings every 2 weeks with half-strength fertilizer. When they have several sets of leaves, transplant 3 inches apart into a deeper container or individual pots so root systems have room to develop.
When 3 inches tall, gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions and plant 12 inches apart in fertile soil in full sun or partial shade in very hot climates.”
Transplanting Strawberry Seedlings
Once the young strawberry seedlings are 2-3” tall, and the last spring frosts have passed, it’s time to think about planting them in the garden.
Strawberry seedlings are delicate, and they’re accustomed to the consistent light and temperatures in their indoor growing area. It’s important to harden off the seedlings by exposing them to the outdoors before planting.
Once the seedlings are hardened off, transplant them to a prepared garden bed with rich soil, spacing about 6 to 8 inches apart for alpine varieties and 8 to 12 inches apart for regular strawberries.
(Alternately, transplant the strawberry seedlings to containers or hanging baskets.)
How Long Does it Take to Grow Strawberries from Seed?
Depending on the length of your growing season, strawberries grown from seed may actually fruit in the fall of the first year.
In short-season climates, you’ll have to wait until next spring.
Either way, keep the strawberry plants well-fertilized as they’re heavy feeders, and mulch with straw to keep the beds weed-free.
The parent plants will be productive for about 4 years before petering out, and during that time they’ll be producing runners and young clone plants. After 3-4 years, it’s time to thin the bed by transplanting strawberry runners to new locations (and removing the unproductive parent plant).
With this care, the strawberry plants will be self-perpetuating indefinitely, and you won’t need to start strawberries from seed again unless you want to try a new variety.
Preserving Strawberries
Once you’ve brought in your first harvest, here are some of my very favorite ways to preserve strawberries.
- Canning Whole Strawberries
- Strawberry Jelly
- Low Sugar Strawberry Jam
- Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
- Wild Strawberry Jam
- Strawberry Wine
Seed Starting Guides
Plenty of tasty edible perennials can be grown from seed!
- Growing Asparagus from Seed
- Growing Rhubarb from Seed
- Growing Apples from Seed
January and February - time to plant strawberry seeds
It is called the "Queen of the Garden" and is loved for its excellent taste.
What is necessary for this tasty and fragrant berry to please your family, - says a gardener with 30 years of experience, a member of the Zharok gardening club in the city of Shelekhov, Natalya Korytchenko.
- In order for amateur gardeners to grow strawberries from seeds, certain knowledge is needed. I started cultivating strawberries 15 years ago and learned a lot of tricks by experience.
Strawberry seeds are best planted in late January or early February. Planting seeds at this time will allow the seedlings to get stronger enough for further transplantation into open ground.
Selection and processing of planting material is important. When buying seeds, check with the seller whether it is possible to grow them in the conditions of your site, on your type of soil. Most strawberry varieties grow well and thrive in any type of soil, but there are exceptions.
I know from my own experience that small-fruited strawberry seeds germinate much better than large-fruited ones.
At the same time, small-fruited varieties are more resistant to certain diseases, while varieties with larger fruits, on the contrary, are susceptible to diseases.
I bred my own seeds, dried them and they germinated beautifully. In this case, I advise you to immediately sign bags, boxes, plots, so as not to confuse the varieties.
Don't get carried away with foreign made hybrids. Choose varieties that are best suited to our climatic conditions. I tried to grow Dutch seeds, but the plants from them freeze in winter.
Preparation of soil for planting seeds:
1 part of sod land,
1 part peat,
1 part pure sand.
Add eggshells.
Mix everything until smooth. It is recommended to freeze the prepared mixture.
Decide if you want to grow your strawberries horizontally or vertically. If the size of the site allows, I advise a horizontal position, it is more practical.
There are seeds that have been proven, including my own experience.
This is "dawn" and "Mashenka".
Strawberry seeds should be purchased in flower shops, or from trusted breeders of this crop, for example, in gardening clubs. Everyone knows them, they are invited to exhibitions at the Sibexpocenter, they are always in sight. And they are responsible for their products.
Weed out any damaged or underdeveloped specimens before planting.
To improve and speed up germination, seeds should be soaked in water for two to three days. If desired, the seeds can be treated with phytosporin before soaking, which will protect against possible fungi and bacteria when planted in open ground. Then, using tweezers, spread the seeds on the prepared soil and take the box to a warm place. I have been preparing the soil since autumn, before planting I pour snow on it. The seeds go into the soil when the snow melts. It is possible to plant strawberries in peat pots, but now they are not of the same quality as before, so I refrain from this method.
Seeds are germinated at a temperature of plus 27-30 degrees.
As soon as they hatch, it is necessary to remove the seedlings in a bright and cool place.
Sprouted strawberry seeds can be planted in plastic or wooden boxes. The main thing is that the seeds have enough light. Now the days are still short, so the seedlings can be highlighted additionally.
Seedling picking is done when a few leaves appear, or it becomes crowded. This is usually done in March. If the seeds sprouted freely, and the plants have enough space, you can not pick.
In May, seedlings are planted in open ground. We make the bed higher, with a wide hill and wide aisles. I also usually prepare the land for the ridges in the fall. Carefully transfer the sprout along with earthen cake into the prepared beds to nourish the root system. After the planting of the seedlings is completed, water each bush with half a liter of water with a diluted organic stimulant.
Seeds are usually sown after bird cherry has blossomed, when the danger of a return frost has passed.
If someone plants seedlings earlier, it is necessary to cover them so that they take root more reliably.
In summer, when the ground is warm enough, the soil around the bushes should be mulched with humus. The mulch layer should not exceed 1 cm, the root circle does not need to be mulched to avoid rot.
Remember, if your beds are in direct sunlight, the first few days they should be shaded in the middle of the day so that the sprouts smoothly adapt to the new place of growth.
How to grow strawberry seedlings from seeds in 2022 🌱🍓
Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19Category: Fruit and berry plants reprinted: Last amendments:
Content
- When sowing strawberries in 2022
- Sowing strawberries for seedlings in January 2022
- sowing strawberries for seedlings in February 2022
- Sowing strawberries in March 2022 for seedlings
- Sowing strawberries for seedlings in April 2022
- Growing strawberry seedlings in May 2022
- Growing strawberries at home
- soil for seedlings
- Growing seedlings from seeds
- How to grow seedlings of
- grocery seedlings
- Should I buy strawberry seedlings
- Strawberry seedling care
- Seedling growing conditions
- Seedling watering
- backlight
- Picking of strawberries
- Feeding
- Strawberry seedlings and their treatment
- Landing of strawberries in open ground
- CONDITIONS
- Useful links 9007 as soon as possible, you can not be late with sowing the seeds of this berry for seedlings.
- When and how to sow strawberry seeds for seedlings?
- How to care for seedlings?
- When to plant seedlings in the garden?
- Why do the leaves on the seedlings turn yellow, and how to determine by the symptoms which element is missing?
- Clerodendrum at home
- class A - seedlings with a rosette diameter of 12 to 15 cm, usually forming no more than two peduncles;
- class A+ - seedlings with a short shoot more than 15 cm in diameter, forming 2-3 peduncles;
- class A+ extra - this seedling has a diameter of more than 20 cm, it has lateral horns and at least 5 peduncles.
- Growing seedlings of tomatoes without watering and picking
- It is best to buy strawberry seedlings directly from nurseries or fairs. Avoid buying seedlings on the market from private traders, because they cannot give you any guarantees, while nurseries will not risk their reputation for momentary gain;
- carefully examine the seedlings before buying: its heart must be strong and resilient, the seedlings must have a well-developed root system, there should be no damage on the stems, leaves and roots. The color of healthy seedlings is light or bright green;
- the root collar must be at least 5 mm in diameter;
- rosettes should have no more than three leaves, and should not have any spots on them. Inspect the underside of the leaves for the presence of harmful insects.
- excessive nitrogen fertilization,
- extreme temperature fluctuations,
- air humidity.
- How to collect strawberry seeds?
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Remove the stems from ripe strawberries, put the berries in a mixing bowl, pour a glass of water, cover the bowl with a lid and chop the berries - one minute is all it takes. Do not be afraid that the mixer knives will damage the seeds, this will not happen. Rub the resulting mass through a fine sieve, then rinse the remaining in the sieve with plenty of water to remove the pulp. Then transfer the mass to a jar of water and carefully drain the water: the soft tissues will go away, and clean seeds will remain at the bottom of the jar, which must be spread out on a paper towel and dried until flowable.
Dry seeds pack, label and store until sowing. - What is the difference between strawberries and strawberries?
-
A varietal garden berry is a strawberry, and a forest plant with small, rounded, not elongated fruits is a strawberry. Strawberries have high flower stalks, leaves with more convex and lighter veins. Strawberries do not turn completely red. Garden strawberry is a monoecious plant, and strawberries have two types of flowers: male sterile and female fruit-bearing. In the forest, you can find both strawberries and strawberries, but only garden strawberries are grown in cultivation.
Unfortunately, in everyday life these two names are often confused, so on Internet sites they usually write about strawberries, meaning garden strawberries.
- Why won't strawberries sprout?
-
There can be several reasons why seeds do not germinate:
Non-sterile soil;
Poor pre-sowing seed treatment;
Poor stratification;
Storage of seeds in a dry cloth;
Damage to sprouts of hatched seeds.
That is, while preparing for sowing, you made one or more of the listed errors. The treatment of soil and seeds for sowing must be thorough. Make sure that the napkin in which the seeds are wrapped to swell is always damp. Do not let the seeds sprout, because when sowing they are easy to break off, and if this happens, the seed will never sprout.
- Why do strawberry seedlings grow poorly?
-
The following factors can negatively affect the growth of strawberry seedlings:
Unsuitable or contaminated substrate;
Under or over watering;
Lack of nutrients in the substrate;
Incorrect or insufficient lighting;
Sudden changes in temperature and humidity in the room;
Damage to the root system of seedlings when picking.
In order for seedlings to grow strong and healthy, you need to prepare carefully for sowing: study the recommendations of specialists, purchase high-quality seeds, properly stratify and disinfect them and the substrate, and let the seeds swell. After sowing, it is necessary to create the necessary conditions for the seedlings and in the future to properly and timely care for them.
- Why do strawberry seedlings turn yellow?
-
This happens for the following reasons:
Direct sunlight falls on the leaves and leaves burns;
Plants suffer from lack of moisture;
Seedlings affected by disease or attacked by pests;
In an improperly composed substrate, seedlings lack nitrogen or trace elements - iron, magnesium, boron.
Analyze your actions, determine the cause of the yellowing of the leaves and eliminate it.
- Mold has formed on the surface of crops - why?
-
When the substrate is sterilized, all microflora dies in it, but nature does not tolerate emptiness, therefore, ubiquitous fungi begin to develop in the soil, forming mold on the surface of the soil under greenhouse conditions. To prevent this from happening, regularly ventilate the crops and control the formation of condensate under the cover.
Loosen the soil very carefully so that the mold does not form a continuous film that does not allow the soil to breathe. Sprinkle the surface with a thin layer of dry sand or wood ash. Copper sulphate can be sprayed on the soil surface, but when preparing the solution, try not to overdo it with the dosage.
- Is it possible to grow remontant strawberries from seeds?
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Of course you can. Prepare the seeds, soil and sow in the same way as you sow ordinary varietal strawberries - spread the seeds over the surface without sprinkling anything. Cover the container with a transparent material, put the crops in a warm place and do not remove the cover until the first shoots appear. After that, regularly ventilate and water the young plants, and in the phase of the formation of one or two pairs of true leaves, plant the seedlings in separate containers.
The conditions for keeping and caring for seedlings of remontant and ordinary strawberries are practically the same. As soon as the earth warms up, and the seedlings undergo hardening procedures, it will be possible to transplant them to the garden. It is better to pinch off the first flowers of remontant strawberries in order to subsequently get a good harvest of large berries.
- Can seedlings be grown from frozen strawberries?
-
Why not try? Nothing terrible happens with the seeds in the freezer, on the contrary: at low temperatures they will undergo stratification, and you just have to collect the seeds from the berries, disinfect them and hold them in a damp cloth to swell. Then sow the seeds from the freezer in the usual way in sterile soil, place the crops in the necessary conditions and wait for germination.
Even if for some reason the seeds do not germinate, you will get, albeit negative, but invaluable experience. - What varieties of strawberries can be grown from seeds?
-
It is possible to grow Moscow delicacy, Ksima, Alyonushka, Lord, Festivalnaya, Fireworks, Holiday, Honey, Vima, Kokinskaya early from large-fruited strawberry varieties, and Crimean early, Queen Elizabeth II, Garland, Seasons, Ali Babu, Yellow Miracle.
You can grow seedlings from seeds collected from your own varietal strawberries, but hybrid varieties are not propagated by seeds. Hybrids in seed propagation produce plants whose fruits have the characteristics of only one of the plants used to breed the cultivar, and often these are not the best qualities.
- Why did small-fruited strawberries grow from seeds of a large-fruited variety?
-
This is how it happens when seedlings are grown from seeds not of a varietal, but of a hybrid strawberry. The fact is that hybrids during seed propagation transmit the characteristics of only one of the parent varieties that were used to breed them. For example, they crossed a large-fruited strawberry of mediocre taste with a small-fruited variety with sweet and fragrant berries. The result was a hybrid with large, fragrant and sweet fruits. You took the seeds of this hybrid, sowed them and got small-fruited tasty strawberries or large-fruited tasteless ones.
Therefore, only varietal strawberries can be grown from seeds, and it is better to propagate hybrid strawberries vegetatively.
- Learn more
And this means that preparations for the season should begin in the winter. To determine the optimal timing of the start of the sowing campaign, experienced gardeners refer to the lunar calendar, which indicates favorable days for sowing, and they are different for each crop. And after that, you need to start preparing for sowing: purchase seeds, substrate, seedling containers.
These and many other questions you will find the answer in our article.
While there is snow in the garden, a real gardener does not sit back, but prepares for the next spring-summer season - he buys seeds and fertilizers, repairs garden tools, lays seed for stratification ... But how many things does an amateur gardener have to do! After all, in addition to everything, lately you have to look more and more often on the Internet in search of the necessary information, since already in February you need to start sowing seeds of garden and horticultural crops for seedlings.
We decided in our articles to compile all the necessary information on the most popular crops so that you do not have to collect the necessary information bit by bit from different sites.
In this article, we will tell you when to plant strawberry seedlings, how to grow strawberry seedlings at home, and where to buy strawberry seedlings if you cannot grow them yourself. We will try to answer all the questions on this topic that you asked us.
When to sow strawberries for seedlings in 2022
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | 1 | NL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | PL | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | NL | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | PL | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | PL |
| 28 |
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | 1 | NL | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | PL | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | NL | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | PL | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | NL |
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| PL | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| NL | 31 |
| Excellent | Good | Normal |
| Bad | Terrible |
Never sow, plant or transplant plants during the new moon and full moon - in these lunar phases, all juices flow either to the top or to the rhizome, so the normal development of any crop in the future will be very difficult.
Growing strawberry seedlings at home
Soil for seedlings
Soil for strawberry seedlings should be loose and crumbly, but not oversaturated with fertilizers.
After you thoroughly mix the ingredients, the soil should be disinfected - calcined for 30 minutes in an oven at a temperature of 150 ºC, freeze or spill with a strong solution of potassium permanganate. After disinfection, the soil is placed for 2-3 weeks in a warm place so that bacteria useful for seeds appear and multiply in it.
Growing seedlings from seeds
Seeds can be bought, or you can grow strawberries from your own collected seeds. The only exceptions are hybrid varieties - their seeds do not transmit varietal characteristics from generation to generation, so you will have to buy new seeds every time.
Cultivation of strawberry seedlings begins with the disinfection of seed.
The seeds are placed for half an hour in a half-percentage solution of potassium permanganate, then rinsed thoroughly in clean water and proceed to stratification: spread on a moistened linen napkin, covered with the same wet napkin, then rolled up a roll from this “sandwich”, placed in a plastic container, covered with a perforated lid and keep warm for two days, after which they put the container for two weeks in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. Wipes must not be allowed to dry out - ventilate the seeds and spray them regularly with water, and dry them a little before sowing.
The seeds will be ready to be planted when they are swollen, but try not to peck them, because when sowing the small sprouts break off easily and you will have to wait for germination in vain.
Growing strawberries - planting and care
Place disinfected soil for seedlings in a container washed with a solution of potassium permanganate, compact and moisten it, spread the seeds on the surface in rows at 3-4 cm intervals using a wet toothpick and do not cover them - strawberry seeds grow in the world.
Cover the container with a transparent plastic lid with small holes for air exchange and place it in a bright and warm place where direct sunlight does not fall - window sills of western or eastern windows are most suitable for such purposes.
There is another way to sow seeds, which allows you to combine direct sowing with the stratification of strawberry seeds. Disinfected seeds that have not been stratified are laid out in the manner just described on the surface of dry soil, which does not reach the edge of the container by 2 cm, and a layer of snow is placed on top of the seeds to the edge of the container, after which the container is covered with a lid and placed in a refrigerator for two weeks. In the vegetable box, the snow will gradually melt and draw the seeds into the soil, as it usually happens in the garden in the spring. After two weeks, the container is moved to the windowsill under bright but diffused light, but the lid is not removed until the first shoots appear.
How to grow seedlings in tablets
Seedlings of strawberries develop well in peat tablets. They are convenient because you do not need to bother with the preparation and disinfection of the soil, and you can skip the picking of seedlings.
Peat tablets are placed in a container and filled with water to increase in size, after which the seeds that have undergone the disinfection and stratification procedure are laid out in tablets with a wet toothpick. To prevent moisture from evaporating quickly, the container is covered with a transparent lid, after which it is placed in a warm, bright place.
It will be necessary to ventilate the crops daily and remove condensation from the cover, so that mold does not appear on the substrate, but if you suddenly find it, remove the mold and water the place with a fungicide solution. Remove the cover as soon as the seedlings begin to develop the first true leaves.
Frigo strawberry seedlings
In recent years, a new practice has emerged to dig up developed annual rosettes of strawberries of the first and second order for the winter, store dormant bushes with an open root system in sealed packages at a certain temperature and humidity, and plant these rosettes in spring to the garden. The advantage of frigo is that, , such seedlings of strawberries quickly take root and grow in spring, because during the winter, with proper storage, the normal biorhythms of plants are not disturbed.
By choosing the dates for planting freego at your own discretion, you can get a harvest by the scheduled date. In addition, frigo strawberry seedlings take up little space during storage.
Specialists from Great Britain and the Netherlands, who developed this method of growing strawberries, have already completely switched to freego seedlings, which are divided into three classes:
Frigo seedlings also have disadvantages - it is difficult to determine the time of digging rosettes and maintain at home the temperature necessary for storage (from 0 to 1 ºC) and air humidity (90%. The disadvantages include the high cost of frigo, although gardeners claim that the price of seedlings fully pays off due to its productivity.
Growing seedlings in a greenhouse
Seedlings of remontant strawberries, as well as those varieties that do not form mustaches, are usually grown from seeds. You can get strawberry seedlings at home, and continue growing in the open field. Or you can plant mature seedlings in a greenhouse and grow strawberries in it all year round. We will talk about how to grow strawberries in a greenhouse in a separate article.
Is it worth buying strawberry seedlings
If you have a lot of experience in strawberry cultivation, you will surely be able to grow seedlings yourself.
But for beginner gardeners, this can be a difficult task, so for the first time it is better to purchase seedlings from well-established manufacturers. Please take a few tips from us to help you choose healthy seedlings:
Care of strawberry seedlings
Growing conditions for seedlings
Contains strawberry crops in a bright warm place under a transparent cover.
If there is no condensation on the inside of the coating, then the soil needs to be moistened, if there is too much condensation, it must be removed. Air the crops once or twice a day. Stratified seeds can germinate as early as 4-5 days, and mass seedlings will appear in 2-3 weeks. Seedlings will need maintenance at a temperature of 23-25 ºC. A week later, so that the sprouts do not stretch, the air temperature is lowered to 15-18 ºC.
The cover is removed when the seedlings develop their first pair of true leaves, but do so gradually to allow the seedlings to adapt to their environment. At this time, the crops are not watered, and the temperature in the room is maintained at 18-20 ºC.
Seedlings will need even more light after you remove the cover, so be prepared to arrange additional lighting for them, and the air temperature at this stage of development should be between 10-15 ºC. Remember to air the seedlings regularly, but make sure that they do not get into a draft.
Watering seedlings
It is best to use a pipette or medical syringe for watering, from which you can “drink” each seedling under the root once a week. Water for moistening crops should be settled for at least a day or filtered, the same temperature as the air in the room, or two degrees warmer. Make sure that water does not get on the leaves of the seedlings, otherwise they may become stained.
Do not overmoisten strawberry seedlings, as this is fraught with the appearance of black leg - a fungal disease that affects plants during the seedling period. But it is also impossible to allow the drying of the soil with crops.
Watering seedlings is carried out either early in the morning or in the evening, after sunset. As a prophylaxis against fungal diseases , 1-2 seedlings should be watered with a fungicide solution (Planriz, Trichodermin or Trichopol) with an interval of 2-3 weeks.
Backlight
Since strawberry seedlings are grown in winter or early spring, when the daylight hours are still short, it will be necessary to install an artificial light source over the seedlings - a phytolamp, LED or gas discharge lamp or a fluorescent lamp, which should work daily for 13-14 hours.
After all, even at 12 noon, natural light in February is not as bright as in May.
Install a lamp above the seedlings at a distance of 20 cm, and for convenience, you can purchase a timer-socket that will automatically turn on artificial lighting, for example, at 6 a.m. and turn it off at 11 p.m. - such daylight hours will be enough for your seedlings.
Strawberry seedling picking
Strawberries are dived at the stage of development, they have 3-4 real (toothed) leaves, but this applies only to seedlings growing in a common container. They are well watered before picking, removed from the soil by the cotyledon leaves (in no case by the stem!), Pinch off their central root and transplant the seedlings into separate cups, where they will grow before planting in open ground. After transplanting, the seedlings are carefully watered.
If you have sown the seeds in tablets, then as soon as the roots of the seedlings begin to sprout through the mesh, plant them directly in the tablets in separate cups.
Sometimes gardeners carry out not one, but two picks - the first at the stage of development of 2-3 leaves and the second, when the seedlings already have 4-5 leaves. They do this mainly because the seedlings are developing too quickly, and the weather conditions will not allow the seedlings to be planted in the ground on time. In this case, picking can save strawberry seedlings, preventing it from overgrowing and even slowing down its development somewhat.
After picking, care for seedlings consists of watering, loosening the soil and top dressing.
Top dressing
At home, strawberry seedlings do not need top dressing until picking itself, but after this procedure, fertilizers containing mainly potassium, phosphorus and only a small amount of nitrogen are applied to the soil every 10-12 days. Strawberries prefer water-soluble fertilizers - Kemiru or Mortar with the addition of a 2% solution of trace elements and iron chelate.
Diseases of strawberry seedlings and their treatment
With good care, strawberry seedlings do not suffer from diseases, but with chronic waterlogging it can be affected by black leg - root collar rot of seedlings, which manifests itself from the beginning of seed germination to the stage of development of 2-3 leaves .
Against the background of high humidity in 4-6 days, the base of the stem turns black, softens, breaks, and the seedling lodges.
If the disease is widespread, pick healthy seedlings into separate sterile containers in decontaminated soil, place them in a warm place and protect from direct sunlight. As soon as they take root, the temperature of the content can be lowered, and a fungicide (Fitosporin, Bactofit or Maxim) must be added to the water for the first irrigation.
I am inspired by the fact that seedlings growing in peat tablets practically do not get sick with blackleg, since the tablets are disinfected and impregnated with a fungicide.
Sometimes at home, seedlings can become ill with powdery mildew, and then a whitish coating appears on its leaves and stems, which gradually darkens and becomes dense and brown. Affected plants stop growing and die. Infection can be caused by:
In the fight against powdery mildew on strawberry seedlings, solutions of biofungicidal preparations prepared in accordance with the instructions - Alirin-B, Fitosporin, Gamair or Planriz, are used.
Diseases and pests of strawberries and their control
In conditions of low humidity, strawberry seedlings can be invaded by spider mites, which make small punctures in the leaves of seedlings and suck out cell sap through them. In addition, ticks carry incurable viral diseases, such as mosaic. Destroy pests with a solution of acaricide - Aktary, Actellik, Karbofos, Fitoverma.
Planting seedlings of strawberries in open ground
Two weeks before planting seedlings in open ground, they begin to harden it off - gradually accustom it to the conditions in which strawberries will grow in the garden. During the day, seedlings are taken out to an unheated room, first for half an hour, daily increasing the duration of such sessions.
A day or two before planting strawberry seedlings in the garden, transfer the seedlings to a balcony or veranda where the air temperature will be around 10 ºC.
Strawberry seedlings are planted outdoors after the return frosts have passed and when the soil warms up to 12 ºC - from mid-May to mid-June. Strawberries are undemanding to the composition of the soil, but grow better on black soil fertilized with wood ash. Peat soils are not suitable for cultivation. It is good if onions, garlic, legumes, root crops or green manure grew on the plot before strawberries.
Before planting strawberries, the soil should be prepared - dug up, freed from wireworms, cockchafer larvae and grass weeds.
Planting strawberry seedlings on the plot: how and when
Choose a cloudy day or time after sunset for planting seedlings. Deep and wide holes are placed in a row at a distance of 30-50 cm from each other with row spacing 40 cm wide. The soil taken out of the holes is mixed with fertilizers in the following proportion: 2 cups of ash per bucket of soil, a bucket of compost (humus) and a bucket of manure.
In each hole, a hill is made from the prepared soil mixture, a seedling is placed on it, its roots are straightened and the soil mixture is poured into the hole, while adding water so that there is no air left in the roots. After planting, the heart of the bush should be at the level of the surface of the site.
