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How long does it take strawberries to sprout


How to Grow Strawberries from Seeds – West Coast Seeds

Strawberries are hardy perennials, but the plants become less robust after about three years. Start strawberry plants from seed, and then propagate by cuttings and runners. Continue reading below for some pro tips on how to grow strawberries from seeds.

Latin
Fragaria vesca
Numerous hybrids exist listed as F. x ananassa
Family: Rosaceae

Difficulty
Moderately easy

Season & Zone
Exposure: Full sun
Zone: Most strawberries are hardy to Zone 5

Timing
Sow indoors in the winter. An earlier start may result in berries the first year. Start any time between December and the beginning of February. After that time, they will still produce plants, but berries may not be produced during the first season. Transplant out at least 3 weeks after last frost. Strawberry seeds will germinate at any time of the year if some simple steps are taken.

Starting
Germination is the trickiest aspect to growing strawberries. Be patient, and try the tricks below.

Tuck strawberry seed packet inside a sealed plastic bag or airtight container and place in the refrigerator freezer (not deep freeze) for 3-4 weeks. After removing the bag or container, do not break the seal until it (and its living contents) have reached room temperature. This may take several hours. Err on the side of caution. Opening the package too quickly may result in water condensing on the cold seeds, and this will reduce your chances of success.

Once the sealed package has “thawed” to room temperature, the seeds are ready to plant. Sow the seeds on the surface of pre-moistened, sterilized seed starting mix in trays or small containers. Place these on a piece of felt or other thick cloth that has its end sitting in water. The idea is to wick up water from below so that the seedling medium stays constantly and evenly damp until germination.

An alternative method is to sow strawberry seeds on the surface of moistened soil in a germination tray (or in small pots). Tuck the tray or pots inside a sealed plastic bag, and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.

Move the seeded trays under bright fluorescent lights at a constant temperature of 18-24°C (65-75°F). Seedling heat mats work very well. Germination may take anywhere from 7 days to 6 weeks: Be patient. Once germination occurs, increase ventilation around the plants to prevent damping off.

Once the seedlings develop their third true leaf, they can be gently transplanted into their own pots. Be sure to harden strawberry seedlings off carefully and gradually before transplanting outside.

Growing
Space transplants 60cm (24″) apart in rows 90-120cm (36-48″) apart. Ever-bearing varieties (such as ours) tend to produce fewer runners, and may produce more fruit if the runners are removed. In the first year of growth, it may be preferable to encourage runners, and let them fill in the spaces between transplants with new offspring plants.

Grow strawberries in a well-drained, sandy loam that has been generously dug with organic matter such as finished compost or well-rotted manure. Dig ¼ cup complete organic fertilizer into the soil beneath each transplant. Keep soil moist, but not soggy. A mulch of straw around plants may help prevent the soil from drying out.

Companion Planting
These little plants respond strongly to nearby plants. Couple them with beans, borage, garlic, lettuce, onions, peas, spinach, and thyme. Avoid Brassicas and fennel.

More on Companion Planting.

Strawberries Seed To Harvest

Learning Download: How to Grow Strawberries


Strawberries are frequently grown from bareroot, which are seeds that have developed and grown into roots, which are then easier to start in a garden. However, it is possible to start strawberry plants from seeds as well, it just takes a longer time and certain steps must be followed to ensure the best growth. Growing strawberries from seed allows the garden to have a wider variety of which types of strawberries they wish to grow.

To plant:

Although bareroot strawberries can be planted at any time, strawberry seeds must be started indoors to ensure they are ready to go when it comes to their normal growing season. To ensure strawberry seeds will grow when you plant them, you must first stratify them. To do this, place the strawberry seeds in an envelope or sealed plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator for a month. Since strawberry seeds must be planted by February to be ready for harvest, begin the stratification process in January. Once the month has passed, remove the seeds but leave them sealed overnight. Open them the next day.

Cold stratification is required for certain seeds to sprout properly. Cold stratification is a process in which seed dormancy is broken by mimicking the natural conditions a seed might go through.

After you have gone through the stratification process, plant the seeds 1/2 inch deep in a container filled with sterile seed-starting mix. Press the seeds into the surface but do not cover them, because in addition to cold stratification, strawberry seeds require light to germinate. Seeds will germinate in one to six weeks. Six weeks after the seeds germinate, transplant them into bigger, individual pots. In another six weeks, your strawberry seedlings are ready to plant outside.

To grow:

Harden off your strawberry seedlings by placing them outdoors in protected areas for half hour increments. Gradually increase the time the plants spend outside. Once they are hardened off, transplant the seedlings into the garden. Space them two feet apart and be sure to plant them in well-drained and acidic soil. Strawberries require full sun to grow. Water the strawberries at least 1 inch a week during their growing season. In addition to growing in a strawberry patch in the garden, strawberry plants also can grow in pots, strawberry towers, raised beds and more. The roots don’t grow deep, meaning the strawberry plant doesn’t need deep soil to grow in.

Once the growing season is over, cut the foliage back to 1 inch. Mulch over the plants with 4 inches worth of straw, pine needles or another type of organic material. Remove the mulch in the spring.

To harvest:

Strawberries are ready to harvest as soon as they turn red. They should be slightly firm to the touch, but if strawberries are too mushy, they can be used to make jellies and jams. Strawberries likely won’t be ready to harvest the first year you plant the seeds because many times, gardeners pinch off the blooms to direct energy into the plant itself. This allows the strawberry plant to direct all of its energy to its roots and leaves, which will need to be strong to produce fruit in the second year of growth.

When they are ready to harvest, cut the berry off at the stem. Do not pull the berry from the stem to harvest it. Unwashed strawberries can be stored in the refrigerator for three to five days.

What strawberries crave:

Begin the fertilizing process when seedlings are still indoors. Start fertilizing with liquid kelp every two weeks for the first month of growth. Use only one tablespoon of kelp per gallon of water to fertilize. After the first month, double the fertilizer strength. Prior to transplanting the strawberries outside, mix ¼ cup of 5-5-5 all-purpose organic fertilizer into the holes meant for each transplant. Water after transplanting and mulch with straw. The last time you will feed the strawberry plants will be after you harvest. At this time, add compost into the soil around the plant. Strawberries are perennials, which means they return each year, and taking care of the soil will allow the strawberries to grow back even stronger than before.

Where to buy strawberry plants:

You can find a wide variety of both strawberry seeds and plants at Urban Farmer.

Learning Download: How to Grow Strawberry Roots


Fresh, sweet strawverries from a homegrown berry patch add to the deliciousness of summer, and gardeners wanting to start their own berry patch usually purchase bare root strawberry plants. Bare roots are the roots of a strawberry plant that are dormant and not planted in soil. To ensure the plant wakes up from its dormant state, bare root strawberry plants must be planted properly.

How to plant bare roots:

It is time to plant bare root strawberry plants once all danger of frost has passed. Prepare the strawberry patch by choosing an area in full sun that has good drainage. Test the soil of the chosen area and make sure the soil pH is between 5.8 and 6.5. Amend the soil with 3 inches of compost and 1 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per every 100 square feet of the strawberry patch. Before planting, trim the bare roots to a length of 6 inches. Soak the bare roots in a bucket of water for 20 minutes. Only soak the roots, do not submerge the entire plant. This breaks the dormancy cycle by rehydrating the roots.

Dig holes in the bed the depth of the bare roots and two times as wide. Spread out the roots and keep the crown slightly above the level of the soil. If soil covers the crown, the crown can rot and not produce any plants. Space roots 18 inches apart in rows set 3 inches apart. Water the plants immediately after planting them and lay 2 inches of mulch over the newly planted roots. Water the bed up to 2 inches each week.

Caring for bare root plants:

Once the strawberries wake up and begin to sprout, you can add a side dressing of fertilizer and again after the harvest has ended. After a few seasons of growing the strawberries, the plants will begin to grow runners with baby strawberry plants. Guide the plants across the row as they form and once it is long enough to reach all the way across, encourage the baby plant to grow by weighing down the stem with some weighed object, like a small rock. Every third year you can remove the mother plants and the baby plants will begin to produce, which makes the strawberry patch self-regenerating.

Types of strawberries to choose from:

There are three types of strawberry plants. The most popular strawberry plants are the June-bearing varieties, which produce fruit in May and June. These plants only produce fruit once a year, which makes them good for creating jams and jellies.

There also are ever-bearing strawberry plants, which produce fruit twice a year. Fruit isn’t produced until the second year after planting, and they are ready to harvest in mid-summer and in the fall.

Day Neutral strawberries produce fruit all season long. This is the best variety if gardeners are growing strawberries to eat them fresh.

You can find a large selection of strawberry roots at Urban Farmer.

Learning Download: Strawberry Comparison Chart


Type Variety Harvest Color Planting Region Disease Resistant
 Junebearing Allstar mid/late red ground, containers, hanging baskets anywhere yes
Junebearing Giant early/mid red ground, containers, hanging baskets Southern
Junebearing Honeoye early/mid red ground, containers, hanging baskets anywhere
Junebearing Sequoia late red containers, hanging baskets anywhere yes
Junebearing White Alpine mid white containers, hanging baskets  anywhere
Day-Neutral Seascape  continuous red ground, containers, hanging baskets Northern
Everbearing Eversweet continuous red ground, hanging baskets Southern yes
Everbearing Fresca continuous red containers, hanging baskets anywhere
Everbearing Temptation continuous dark red containers, hanging baskets  anywhere
Everbearing White Carolina Pineberry  continuous  white ground, containers Southern

Growing strawberries from seeds, including planting, how to care for seedlings, related video

One way to propagate strawberries is from seeds. Young bushes obtained in this way can bloom after 6 months, so most often planting material is planted for seedlings in January and February.

Contents

Is it possible to grow strawberries from seeds

Many gardeners are accustomed to propagate strawberries vegetatively: by rosettes or by dividing the bush. But plants can be grown from seeds, although most often this method is applied to beardless small-fruited varieties. With the help of seed propagation, breeders develop new varieties and hybrids.

Those plants that we grow in our garden plots, it is correct to call garden strawberries, but the word "strawberry" has long been established in everyday life.

Seed pretreatment

Strawberries from seeds are most often grown through seedlings. In this case, use:

Since strawberry seeds are very small, they are not planted directly in open ground. To increase the germination of planting material, it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing treatment, which consists in stratification and germination.

Selection of seeds for planting

Now on the market you can find seeds of various varieties and hybrids of strawberries. When choosing a bag, you must definitely look at the expiration date, since the planting material quickly loses its germination capacity and may not germinate a year after ripening and packaging. The number of seeds also varies in the package, some hybrids contain from 4 to 10 seeds. And, of course, you need to consider what you want to get in the end: bushes for a balcony, a fruit-bearing plantation in the open field, or beautiful hanging ampelous plants.

On the market you can buy different varieties and hybrids of strawberries

Another option is to collect seeds from your own berries. But if you have several varieties on the site, then they could pollinate, and your own unique hybrid will grow from the seeds.

Stratification

Stratification of seeds is a prerequisite for obtaining friendly seedlings. It is carried out both before sowing and after it.

The procedure consists of the following steps:

  1. Sprinkle strawberry seeds on a damp cotton pad and cover with a second one.
  2. Everything is placed in a small food container and removed for 2 days in a warm place.
  3. Then the container is placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and kept there for another 2 days.

    For stratification, strawberry seeds are wrapped in wet wipes or discs and placed in the refrigerator

  4. Within two weeks, the seeds are moved either in heat or in cold. Every day the container is opened and ventilated.

If you are preparing to plant several varieties, do not forget to sign the names.

After stratification, the seeds can be sown in bowls, peat pellets or left warm until roots appear.

Sprouting

Seeds of especially valuable varieties can be germinated before planting.

  1. Stratified planting material is laid out on a saucer with a napkin folded in several layers.
  2. Spray with melt or rain water and place in a transparent plastic bag.
  3. The package is left in a very bright and warm place with a temperature of 25 °C. Accumulating drops of condensate are removed, and if the bag is dry, moisten the seeds by spraying.

When germinating, seeds should not float in water.

How many strawberry seeds germinate

Seeds of small-fruited varieties, stratified and under ideal conditions, germinate in a week. With improper sowing or with a lack of heat and light, seedlings may not appear.

Seeds of large-fruited strawberries germinate in about 2-3 weeks.

Methods for planting strawberries from seed

The following sowing methods are most commonly used:

Snow

One of the easiest ways to plant strawberries is to sow dry seeds in the snow.

  1. Take a small food container with a lid and make drainage holes in the bottom.
  2. Fill the container with soil mixed with sand or vermiculite, lightly compact.
  3. Spread 1-2 centimeters of snow.

    The layer of snow on top of the soil must be 1-2 centimeters

  4. Strawberry seeds are sprinkled or spread with a toothpick on the snow.

    From above, the seeds are not covered with anything, when the snow melts, they will be pulled into the soil

  5. The container is put in the refrigerator, and after a few hours, when the snow has melted, it is covered with a lid.
  6. After 7–10 days, the stratified seeds are removed from the refrigerator and placed in a warm and very bright place. Best of all - under the lamp. At a soil temperature of 25 °C, seeds germinate within a week.
  7. Every day it is necessary to ventilate the crops by lifting the lid.
  8. Do not remove the lid from the container until the seedlings have 2-3 true leaves.
Video: planting strawberry seeds in the snow

B peat tablets

Recently, peat tablets have become increasingly popular. Their main advantages are:

It is better to plant already stratified or germinated seeds in peat tablets.

Easy to grow small seeds in peat tablets

Stages of planting in peat tablets:

  1. Soak tablets in warm water.
  2. The swollen peat tablets are lightly squeezed and placed in a container with a lid.
  3. Each tablet contains 1 germinated seed or 2-3 stratified seeds.
  4. Cover the tablets with a lid and set in a warm and bright place. Ventilate the greenhouse once a day by opening the lid and inspecting the plantings.
  5. After germination, the cover is not removed, only the emerging condensate is removed.
  6. When 3 true leaves appear, strawberry seedlings are gradually accustomed to ordinary air.
Video: planting seeds in peat tablets

Care of strawberry seedlings

From the very first days, strawberries need 12 hours of daylight. With early winter crops, seedlings must be illuminated. Best of all, bicolor phytolamps cope with this task. Due to the red and blue spectra, the seedlings are not stretched. In extreme cases, you can illuminate with conventional LED or fluorescent lamps.

In cloudy weather, the light is left for 12 hours, in clear and sunny weather, it is turned on in the evenings for several hours. If it is not possible to illuminate seedlings, then sowing is best done in March or April, when there is more natural light.

Strawberry seedlings must be illuminated if seeds were sown in winter

Another important nuance is warmth. Strawberries will only grow well at 25°C. If the seedlings are on the windowsill, then check its temperature and, if necessary, cover the surface with insulating material:

For the first few weeks, the strawberries should grow under the lid so that the inside of the container has its own humid microclimate. When the soil dries up, watering is carried out by spraying from a spray bottle or a syringe with a needle that is stuck into the soil. If the container with seedlings is closed well, then it is rarely necessary to water.

Strawberry seedlings are very small, do not open the lid immediately, wait until 3 true leaves grow

Picking seedlings

When 3 true leaves appear on young bushes, the plants can be transplanted into separate containers, and then accustomed to the air of the apartment. Picking stages:

  1. Before picking, it is advisable to spill the container with strawberries with a solution of HB-101 (1 drop of the drug per 500 ml of water).

    Vitalizer HB-101 diluted at the rate of 1-2 drops of the drug per liter of water

  2. We prepare individual containers for each bush, fill them with loose nutrient soil mixture. To do this, mix:
  3. We hook each bush from the nursery with a small fork and transplant it into an individual pot, lightly water with a solution of HB-101. Keep the strawberry heart at ground level.

    We dive strawberry seedlings, one in each cup

  4. We spray the pickled seedlings with Epin or HB-101 to relieve stress and better rooting. If the seedlings grew under the lid before picking, then we cover the pots with a film and over the next few days we gradually adapt to the air of the room.

I accustom my strawberry seedlings to the dry air of the apartment immediately after picking, spraying the plants every 2-3 hours with water, in which the HB-101 preparation is diluted. All plants perfectly tolerate picking and quickly take root.

If strawberry seedlings were grown in peat tablets, then you need:

  1. Cut the tablet, remove the grid.
  2. Place the plant with an earthen ball in a pot.
  3. Sprinkle with earth.

After transplantation, care for strawberries is reduced to regular watering, periodic top dressing and, if necessary, adding soil. Strawberries are very fond of water, especially if they stand on a hot windowsill or in the sun. Then small pots need to be watered every 2-3 days.

Strawberries can be fertilized 2 weeks after picking, but the dose of fertilizer should be halved. It is best to use those preparations where nitrogen predominates.

I feed all strawberry seedlings every 10 days with Humistar, breeding according to the instructions. Plants develop very well, grow strong and healthy.

Strawberries are very fond of top dressing with Humistar, which contains nutrients and growth stimulants

Video: strawberry pick

Planting in a permanent place

At the age of two to three months, strawberry seedlings can be transplanted to a permanent place.

Quality seedlings by the time of planting in a permanent place should have several leaves and a well-developed root system

Small-fruited remontant strawberries are grown mainly at home in pots, on a balcony or loggia, along paths or in a separate garden bed. A two-liter pot is enough for each bush. You can plant several plants in a long balcony box, then the distance between plants should be 20–25 cm.

Large-fruited strawberries, as a rule, are grown for planting in open ground or a greenhouse, less often for growing in a flowerpot. Seedlings are planted in open ground only after a positive temperature has been established and frosts are no longer expected. Young plants are gradually accustomed to new conditions: bushes are taken out into the air for several hours, leaving them longer and longer every day.

Usually, the desired distance between the bushes is indicated on the back of the bag, because each variety has its own characteristics and some plants can be very large. Therefore, planting large-fruited strawberries can be at a distance of 20 cm to 50 cm between the bushes.

Ampel strawberries bear fruit not only on the rosette itself, but also on the mustache, so it looks very nice in hanging baskets, planters or vertical beds.

Photo gallery: where to transplant strawberries

Ampel varieties can be planted in hanging boxes
Large-fruited strawberries are most often planted in open ground.
Small-fruited strawberries have enough two-liter pots

Further care for strawberries grown from seeds is the same as for those obtained from rooted whiskers.

Video: planting strawberry seedlings in open ground

To grow strong and healthy strawberry seedlings from seeds, it is necessary to sow with stratified planting material, apply additional illumination of plants in the initial period, carefully water and feed the seedlings. Then by the beginning of June you will get blooming strawberry bushes.