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Strawberry plants in pots winter care


Winterizing Potted Strawberry Plants - Gardening Channel

Of all the fruits, strawberries are among the easiest to grow and are a good choice to grow as container plants. Winterizing your potted strawberry plants will keep them happy year after year.

Pots used to grow strawberries are usually made of terra cotta; the reddish-orange pots we all know so well. Both ‘regular’ terra cotta pots and those made specifically for strawberries or small succulents will work just fine. The reason for using terra cotta is that it’s highly porous which allows for well-drained soil. You can purchase strawberry pots at your local home and garden centers or online at places like Amazon. Another popular choice for a container gardener is a wire hanging basket lined with coconut fiber or moss.

Strawberries are perennial plants — they go through a period of dormancy in the winter and return in early spring ready to go again for another growing season. With a minimal amount of preparation for getting them through cold temperatures, your strawberry plants in pots can be as productive as in-ground plants. The amount of winterizing required depends on what planting zone you live in.

Virtually every planting zone is conducive for growing strawberry plants at least a few months out of the year. If you don’t know what zone you live in, go to PlantMaps.com to find out. Those living in zones 2-7 have long winter months and colder temperatures which will require winterizing your potted strawberries. Those living in zone 8 or higher can rest easy because no extra attention is necessary.

Winter care for strawberry pots in parts of the country with cold winters can be accomplished by putting the pots in a cool garage or cellar. You can also remove the plants from the pot and plant them in plastic pots. For best results plant those pots in the ground in your garden beds, up to the top rim of the pots (leaving the top of the plants exposed). Of course this needs to be done before the ground freezes. The plants should then be covered over with a loose layer of clean straw.

For warmer zones or areas with mild winters that don’t experience extended periods of temperatures below freezing, simply place the plants under the deck, on a covered porch or any protected area to provide coverage from winter precipitation and winter wind. If you have an extended period of cold weather with below freezing temperatures, it’s a good idea to bring them into your garage or cellar.

Those living in the warmest climates — where berries are produced commercially — simply removing unwanted runners from the plants to promote healthier growth of the mother plant and watering them less frequently is sufficient.

That’s about all there is to winterizing your potted strawberry plants. Honest. Homegrown strawberries make a great container crop for the following reasons. They:

1.     Have shallow roots

2.     Are low-maintenance plants

3.     Produce small fruits that don’t require a lot of room

4.     Have a vine-like quality that allows them to grow and produce outside the container

5.     Naturally propagate runners that can be rooted quickly and easily into more pots

Ever-bearing strawberries (those which produce berries in the spring and late summer) are usually the best for growing in pots. Some of the more popular varieties of everbearing strawberries are Calypso, Alpine, Arapahoe and Alexandria.

When buying your plants, make sure you purchase healthy plants with nice green foliage, few if any runners and plants whose root crowns are firm but fleshy feeling. Plants can be purchased at your local home and garden centers, or from fellow gardeners in your area who have plants to spare. Any of these reputable seed and plant catalogs are also excellent sources for quality plants that come with limited guarantees: Henry Fields, Gurney, Jung, Burpee, Park Seeds and Harris Seeds.

Growing strawberry plants in pots is a fun, economical, delicious and easy way to introduce you or your children to gardening and healthy eating.

(Growing Strawberries in Cold Weather)

Strawberries are a delightful treat for thousands of home gardeners every year. The sweet rush of flavor that comes after sampling the distinctive aromatic profile makes for a truly rewarding experience early in the growing season. Strawberries are one of the first fruits to be harvested in virtually every temperate region of the world, and the life cycle of the strawberry plant is uniquely suited to bearing an early crop.

Usually before spring even arrives, the strawberry plants are coaxed from their long winter’s slumber by rising temperatures and burst forth from dormancy in a fevered rush of vegetative production on their journey to setting a nice harvest of berries for the gardener who lavished care on them. But, in most areas, winter poses a real threat to the life of the little forbs.

This post will help you successfully overwinter strawberries so that YOU can enjoy that first burst of juicy strawberry fruits each and every spring.

Jump to:

The Annual Life Cycle of a Strawberry Plant

In the wild, strawberry plants are perennials. They set flower buds in the fall. Then the plant needs a long period of minimal activity to use photosynthesis in lower temperatures and less intense light to build up sugars in its stems and stolons to power a burst of fruiting the next year.

In strawberry plants, dormancy doesn’t mean total inactivity. It just means that the plant is redirecting its energy to built up buds for fruiting and stolons that will reach across the ground to form daughter plants.

If a strawberry never gets the cooler and darker weather it needs to recharge and rejuvenate, it will continue to try to flower and set fruit. But it will get weaker and weaker with fewer and fewer strawberries, while the crown and roots become more and more susceptible to disease.

Many strawberry growers are fine with pulling up strawberries at the end of the growing season and planting again the next spring. But it’s a lot of work to pull up old plants, sterilize the soil or containers the plants grew in, make sure that the dead strawberry plants aren’t harboring insects or disease, and then put out new plants the next year.

There is also the added cost of new plants. But some varieties of strawberry plants are so productive that it makes sense to keep them going through the winter.

What are some good guidelines for choosing which strawberries to keep through the winter and which varieties to pull out and replant next year?

If the strawberry is day-neutral, it isn’t sensitive to the length of day, at least with regard to trying to set more and more strawberries. Day-neutral varieties like Albion, Jewel, Fort Laramie and Tristar may yield strawberries for months on end, but they only get weaker if you try to keep them through the winter for production next year.

If the strawberry bears most of its fruit in the early summer, then it is a good candidate for overwintering. These “June bearing” strawberries (depending on your climate, the peak bearing season may be as early as March or as late as July) only need winter care to rev up production all over again next year. Strawberry varieties of this type include Allstar, Chandler, Earliglow, Honeoye, and Surecrop.

We can’t list all the early-summer bearing varieties here. But chances are they were identified as such when you bought them. You can check with the grower or the nursery to be sure.
Winter care for strawberries begins in late summer.

Renovating Your Strawberry Plants

Late summer or early fall are times for “renovating” your strawberry plants. When you see that your strawberry plants aren’t producing new fruit, it’s time to prepare them for their pre-winter renovation.

The process of renovating your strawberry plant involves cutting it back to just 2 inches (5 cm) high and carrying away the trimmings. This interrupts any disease processes and deprives insects of a winter home.

If you have a small strawberry patch, or you grow your strawberries in containers, you can do the trimming with hedge clippers. If you have a large, flat field, you can use a lawn mower, but you need to make sure the blade is elevated so you leave the crown intact and you don’t take all of the foliage off the plant.

Make sure any plant debris is carried off to the compost pile. Then give your strawberry plants some late-season fertilizer.

Conventional growers can put out one pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer for every 25 plants. Scatter fertilizer pellets over the ground, rake them in gently, and water your plants (preferably with a drip, not with a sprinkler, to prevent a new round of fungal diseases).

If you are growing your strawberry plants organically, this is the time to give them aged compost and foliar mineral sprays.

Either way, fertilize in the late summer or early fall, at least a month before your expected first frost. You don’t want to stimulate tender new growth that would only get nipped by frost. You want the vines and flower buds to have a chance to mature before really cold weather sets in.
Winter care for in-ground strawberry plants

A few light frosts will just send your strawberry plants into dormancy. There is no need to race out to your garden to cover up strawberry plants for frost protection if they have already stopped blooming and bearing strawberries. (If they are still blooming, of course, a thermal blanket — not a sheet of plastic — offers adequate frost protection.)

Winter temperatures much below 15 degrees Fahrenheit (about -10 Celsius), however, will kill the flower buds that the plant needs for next year’s production. It is important to protect the flower buds from winter cold.

How to Overwinter Strawberry Plants in the Ground

Strawberries are relatively small plants, but they have a big productive capability. Due to their small size and easy adaptability, they make great ground plants and container plants. How to overwinter strawberries in containers will be discussed in the next section. Here the basics of overwintering strawberry plants in the ground will be briefly discussed. Extensive details on caring for strawberry plants can be found on the comprehensive Growing Strawberries reference page.

Overwintering strawberries in the ground is relatively simple. Strawberries are cold hardy, for the most part, and will survive mildly freezing temperatures without much problems. So, in areas with mild winters, little to no care may be required. However, in more northern (or southern for the Southern Hemisphere) regions, extra care will be required. That care takes the form of mulching.

Strawberry plants must have protection when the temperature drops into the low twenties. Once that temperature has been reached (usually in December), the plants should be in their dormant stage. At that point, it is time to overwinter them by mulching. For most regions, a mulch of straw or pine needles two or three inches thick is sufficient, but in colder regions more insulating mulch should be added. Again, more specifics about in-ground overwintering strawberries is available on the reference page mentioned above and on this page: How to Mulch Strawberry Plants for the Winter.

How to Protect the Flower Buds From Winter Cold

An important principle of cold protection is that still air is an insulator. The secret to keeping strawberries warm in the winter is thick covering or a light mulch that traps warm air inside it. Even better, this mulch would have lots of surfaces that can catch drops of moisture that release heat as they freeze.

Pine needles make a great mulch. They are easy to rake away from your strawberry plants when the weather warms up in the spring, and they keep the soil slightly acidic as they decay.

Clean, weed-free wheat, oat, or soybean straw is also a good choice. Or if you had a corn patch, chopped up corn stalks make a great choice.

Covering your plants with plastic will increase the overall temperature underneath, so long as the edges are sealed. The heat of the ground helps maintain the temperature, since the underground freezes less quickly than top soil, the air or water.

Cardboard is sturdy and may be suitable if you have a small strawberry patch or pot to cover. It will block wind and increase the temperature underneath.

It is important to let your strawberry plants harden off with a few light frosts before you add protective mulch. You don’t want lots of active growth going on underneath the mulch that could produce tender shoots that could be damaged by sudden, severe cold.
Winter care for strawberries in containers

Winter can be prime time for growing strawberry plants. You can transplant year-old plants into containers in the early fall, placing the container in a sunny but protected enclosure. The plant can set flower buds and grow roots to grow like gangbusters next spring.

How Do You Get Containerized Strawberry Plants Through the Winter?

The principle to remember for winter care of strawberry plants in containers is that shoots are hardy, but roots are delicate. Most growing containers for strawberry plants don’t provide a lot of insulation. Cold drafts can circulate around the containers. The soil or planting medium inside the container can become as cold as the ambient air surrounding it.

If a shoot dies, the plant can replace it. But if the roots die, the plant dies, too.

The key to overwintering is controlling the temperature so that the plant is cold and alive, but not actively growing.

Slow exposure to lower and lower temperatures gives the strawberry plant to make its own “antifreeze”. The stems and the roots accumulate sugars in the plant sap that keep it from freezing through.

Constantly freezing and thawing keeps the plant producing new growth that dies with the next freeze, depleting its energy so it will be weaker next spring.
Get containers ready for overwintering

Successful overwintering requires good timing. Strawberry plants should be in their pots for several weeks before they are exposed to cold. In most of the colder-winter areas of North America, this means that year-old plants need to be in pots in their winter shelter in October so they will be ready for cold coming as soon as November. The stronger the root system, the stronger the plant.

Any dead stems or leaves should be removed to prevent botrytis infections.

The strawberry plants need to be thoroughly watered when they are put in their pots and at least one more time before they are put to bed for the winter. Watering is critical because soil moisture is a source of heat. Not only does dry soil freeze much more quickly than damp soil, water releases heat as it changes from liquid water to ice.

Don’t forget rodent control. Strawberry plants make a tasty winter snack for any mice or rats that may choose to spend the winter inside your plant shelter. But what kinds of shelters do strawberry plants need?

Choosing the Shelter for Your Strawberry Plants

Thermal blankets are a great choice for maintaining strawberry plants outdoors during the coldest winter months when temperatures are constantly below freezing. Common thermoblanket materials include polyethylene foam laminated with white UV-resistant polyethylene film (for instance, The Winter Blanket), flexible polypropylene foam (Microfoam), and closed cell polyethylene foam (Guilbond). There are also fleece plant blankets that keep plants warm even in severe cold. Blankets should be oriented north-south so they are not lifted by strong northerly winds. The edges should be weighted down. When thermal blankets are removed in the early spring, they should be stored indoors so they will last another two or three years. In locations where temperatures fall below -10 degrees Fahrenheit (about -25 degrees Celsius), plants should be covered with two layers of blankets.

For even more thermal protection, cover plants with a layer of plastic, a layer of straw, and another layer of plastic. First, build an inexpensive frame of wood or mesh wire to cover the area where the strawberry plant containers have been placed. The cover the frame and the plants with a sheet of inexpensive clear plastic. Cover the first layer of plastic with 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of dry straw, and then cover the straw with another layer of white plastic. This protects your strawberry plants against both extreme cold and thawing.

Yet another way to keep strawberry plants at a constant temperature below freezing is inside an unheated quonset polyhouse. Strawberry plants in their containers are placed on a flat, dry, well-drained surface. A quonset hut frame is built from PVC pipe. At temperatures you are likely to encounter in the fall, PVC pipe is flexible so it can be bent into hoops and attached to a frame built around the plants.

The quonset frame is covered with one or two layers of polyethylene. If you use two layers of polyethylene, leave some air space between them for extra insulation. Once outdoor temperatures fall below 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 to -1 degrees Celsius), the plants inside the frame can be covered with a thermal blanket to prevent further freezing and to protect next year’s fruiting buds. This kind of protection is adequate down to about – 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius). It’s important to remove the thermal blanket from the plants during warmups to keep moisture from accumulating on the plants.

During periods of warmer weather, use a soil thermometer to check the temperature of the pots. If soil temperature is consistently above 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), remove the thermal blanket. On the other hand, if the soil temperature falls to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (about -10 degrees Celsius), then you will need to place a heater inside the hut.
Let your strawberry plants warm up gradually in the spring

As long as there is still a risk of cold weather, you don’t want your strawberry plants putting on heavy new growth. Make sure they start growing slowly in early spring by gradually removing cover in February and March, leaving them some cold protection in early April before returning them to growing season conditions in May. As plants are putting on new foliage, check them frequently for fungal infections and treat as needed.

Watering Overwintered Strawberries

Just as with storing bare-root strawberry plants, your overwintered strawberries still have to have appropriate water. Totally dry soil means dead plants. Too much moisture can also be fatal. During the cold temperatures and while the plant is dormant, only minimal water is needed.

For outdoor, in-ground, and mulched overwintering strawberry plants, the natural precipitation should appropriately maintain sufficient soil moisture. For the container plants, however, water will have to be provided. The easiest way to provide appropriate water is to collect snow from outside and throw a handful or two on top of the soil. The slightly warmer temperatures in the garage should slowly melt the snow allowing a more natural seepage into the container soil. Doing this periodically (about once a month) should sufficiently moisten the soil and allow the plants to thrive again come spring.

Benefits of Overwintering Strawberries

There are numerous benefits to be had by overwintering strawberries. Here are some of them:

Overwintering Strawberry Plants Is Natural

Strawberry plants have a dormant phase for a reason. It increases their life span! Strawberry plants can be kept inside at warmer temperatures all year round, but this essentially causes the plants to never “sleep” and drastically reduces the overall life span of the plant.

Overwintering Strawberries Maximizes Production

Strawberry plants are perennial by nature. Letting them go dormant during the winter as nature would have it allows for maximal production from each plant. Since strawberry flowers should be pinched during year one for spring plantings, the second, third, fourth, and even sometimes fifth years are where production really comes on strong. Protecting dormant plants during the winter yields much more production following.

Overwinter Strawberries to Save Money

If you overwinter strawberry plants successfully, you don’t have to buy them again the following year. And, since they’ll live longer, you don’t have to replenish them as often either. Plus, since overwintered strawberry plants are more productive than plants that are never allowed to go dormant, you get to eat more of your own strawberries; and that means you’ll be saving money by not buying strawberries at the grocery store or farmers market.

It Is Fun to Overwinter Strawberry Plants

And, lastly, it is just plain fun to overwinter strawberries! They don’t suffer cold injury, and it brings a true green thumb at least a modicum of satisfaction knowing that his plants are kindly looked after. So, save yourself the work of replanting new plants each year and overwinter strawberries henceforth.

How to Overwinter Hydroponic Strawberry Plants

Bradford Nick asked:

I have my strawberries outdoors in hydroponics. Summer has ended and we’ve had several killing frosts, but the seascape strawberries are still growing and flowering. My plan is to keep the strawberries in their hydroponic net pots, and to overwinter these pots with the roots hanging out, in a box of sand in the garage. I have a lot of runners I never trimmed. My question is, next year, will I get better production from the mother plants, or from the runners? Will unrooted runners survive 5 months in cold sand?

Answer to: Overwintering Hydroponic Strawberry Plants?

Bradford Nick,
Let me start off with a few quick comments before answering your question, as other readers may benefit from the information. So, strawberry plants are much more cold-tolerant than many other popular garden plants. Once a good frost hits, most tomatoes, melons, and just about everything else is going to bite the dust. Strawberries, however, are more resilient. While any flowers in full bloom will likely end up damaged or dead, a few mild nights aren’t enough to make the plants go dormant, much less kill them (as you’ve experienced!). Even frosts don’t put the kibosh on the hardy little fellows. Once the temperatures drop down into the low twenties or upper teens, depending on the varieties you have planted, they will go dormant. It isn’t until they go dormant (i.e. look dead). That they should be moved into your planned overwintering hydroponic strawberry plants area. So, fret not. Your plants will go dormant at some point as the temperatures decline. When they do, you can then overwinter them.

As far as production goes, you should get better production from the older plants for about two years. The root systems are larger, and the plants more capable of producing fruit. After two years, however, the older plants will likely start to decline in vigor. While healthy plants can continue to produce well up to age 4, they often begin to decline before then. So, to be on the safe side, you should switch out plants no later than year 3 for younger specimens.

Overwintering hydroponic strawberry plants is more difficult than overwintering traditionally-grown plants due to their exposure. Water isn’t a good insulator and will freeze solid in cold temperatures. Your plan of overwintering hydroponic strawberry plants in sand can work. If you keep the strawberries in their hydroponic net pots and overwinter these pots with the roots hanging out, you can successfully keep them alive in a box of sand in the garage. You do, however, need to make sure that the roots are completely covered in the sand, and that the sand doesn’t dry out. As long as the sand remains damp and your temperature doesn’t reach arctic cold levels in your garage, they should make it. Also, make sure you use sterile sand when you are overwintering hydroponic strawberry plants. Otherwise, you can have all sorts of pathogens in it that may transfer to and kill your plants during their stay in the Hotel Silica.

What If You Only Have to Deal With Occasional Outbreaks of Cold Weather?

If really cold weather isn’t common at your location, you may want to maintain your strawberry plants in containers that are constantly thawed rather than constantly frozen. Heated greenhouse with roll-up sides give you the ability to keep plants from freezing all winter, but also to keep them from growing too quickly by opening the sides of the greenhouse when temperatures are cool but not cold. The objective in this setup is to keep plants at 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) or less until spring.

A heated greenhouse with roll-up sides gives you the ability to gradually introduce your plants to warmer weather and to keep them from accumulating moisture that attracts fungal diseases.

What Can You Do If Your Strawberry has Frosted?

If your strawberry patch got a little too cold and may have damage as a result, it’s time to take emergency measures to save them. While many plants are hardy enough to survive, it’s important to warm them up.

For cold-shocked plants, one of the best things you can do, is to water them. Water helps plants recover from stress and the trauma of the cold snap. When watering, apply around an inch of new water to your garden. It’s even better if you can water with lukewarm water, as it will help thaw the soil if it’s still frozen or extremely cool.

Why does water work? When plants are frozen, the water within them is removed. Without that moisture, they are dehydrated. Rehydrate your plants, and you should see them perk back up.

Another important step is to make sure not to prune a plant that has been cold shocked. Pruning can stress a plant, so wait until your plant begins to grow to assess which parts may have died and if you need to prune anything at all. Until then, you can remove dead leaves and dried leaves from the plant, since they are no longer supporting photosynthesis.

What About Cold Weather Growing for Strawberry Plants in Towers?

Strawberry towers are designed for single-season growth. There is too much surface area exposed to cold air to make overwintering practical, unless you live in an exceptionally warm-winter climate.

But What If I Want Fresh Strawberries All Winter Long?

We have written about greenhouse production of strawberries. But if you just want a few strawberries, you can grow your strawberry plants in a cold frame.

Overwintering Strawberries: Conclusion

Hopefully, you are now equipped whether you needed to know how to overwinter strawberries in containers or how to overwinter strawberry plants in the ground. Following the advice on this page and elsewhere on this site will help keep your plants productive year after year. So, have fun, save money, and maximize your harvest! And, if you have any strawberry-related questions, feel free to leave a comment. Good luck!

Learn more:
Fall Strawberry Plants
Strawberry Plants and Cold Injury
Winterizing Strawberry Plants

Learn everything about growing strawberries from the Strawberry Master Manual, also don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Facebook to stay updated with everything I post. We also have a Strawberry gardening group on Facebook! Feel free to join.

How to grow strawberries in pots at home in winter

Strawberries are one of the favorite delicacies not only for children, but also for adults. Many gardeners quite often grow it in their yard or in a greenhouse. But there are also craftsmen who have adapted to grow strawberries in a pot at home on the window in the winter season. How to do this, and will be discussed today.

Contents

Peculiarities of growing strawberries in winter

Today everyone can grow any vegetables and fruits all year round. To do this, it is enough to have a special greenhouse. But this option is costly. Therefore, recently has been gaining immense popularity in growing garden and garden plants at home on a windowsill or balcony . Strawberries are no exception. After all, many will agree that it is very original and tasty.

Growing strawberries in a pot is a popular pastime.

This will require quality seedlings, a pot, soil and a lot of patience, because strawberry is a rather capricious plant .

An important point! Dug strawberry seedlings are stored in a cold room for up to 9 months.

How to wake up a seedling

During short daylight hours in winter, you will need a fluorescent lamp.

To wake up a seedling, it must be brought into a warm room. Thus, if desired, it is possible to establish a conveyor growing of strawberries, all year round.

It is important to remember that this plant is photophilous, and in winter, as you know, daylight hours are short. Therefore, additional lighting should be provided, a fluorescent lamp will help in this.

Pollination

Pollination can be done with a brush.

Another nuance is pollination. Since during the cultivation of strawberries in a greenhouse you can place a beehive there with bees or run bumblebees, it is impossible to do this in an apartment.

But you shouldn't be upset, in order to carry out the pollination process, you need to touch strawberry flowers with a brush every day.

Suitable strawberry varieties

To get a really suitable strawberry variety, you should not be fooled by beautiful pictures in flower shops. According to many experienced gardeners, you should choose proven remontant strawberry varieties. They are less capricious in care and are able to bear fruit all year round.

The Queen Elizabeth II strawberry variety is suitable for growing on a windowsill.

Remontant strawberry varieties do not live long, only 2-3 years.

Following the feedback of people who have been growing strawberries on the windowsill for several years , the following varieties are ideal :

It is best to plant strawberries not from seeds, but from seedlings. Since during planting with the help of seeds you will have to try hard for the plants to grow. But during planting seedlings, the hassle will be much less.

Soil preparation

Once a variety has been selected, soil preparation can begin.

Ready-made soil is available in the shop.

Many people, in order not to bother, buy ready-made soil in soda centers. But there are also gardeners who cook it on their own. In addition, such soil is considered the best.

Preparing strawberry seedlings

Strawberries that have just been dug out of the garden should not be planted in a pot.

Many people often make the mistake of planting strawberries dug up from the garden in autumn without any preparation.

  1. Before planting such a strawberry in a pot, it must be carefully examined for the presence of diseases .
  2. Only the most beautiful and complete rosettes should be chosen.
  3. Before planting, selected seedlings are placed in a pot of soil and placed in a cool place (cellar or refrigerator) for 12–14 days. This will induce dormant states in the plant, so it will rest a bit.

Planting strawberries in pots

The first step is to take care of the container for the strawberry bush. It is important that it be the right size and have special holes for water drainage, for one seedling, a 3-liter flowerpot is considered the norm. Many housewives prefer to plant strawberries in long balcony pots. In this case, 3-4 bushes can be placed in one flowerpot.

Long balcony pots are suitable for growing strawberries.

Important to remember! It is impossible to transplant strawberries from one container to another. Because after transplantation, adult bushes very often die.

Planting technique

If the strawberries are planted correctly, they will yield.

This stage is the most important, since the further growth of the strawberry crop will depend on the correctness of actions during planting seeds or seedlings.

Planting seedlings

Pebbles can be used as drainage.

  1. The bottom of the container must have drainage . To do this, use pebbles, expanded clay or broken bricks.
  2. The roots of the plant must then be examined if they are will be too long and should be shortened . So that they fit freely in containers.
  3. The roots of the plant are carefully covered with soil and lightly compacted .
  4. Water strawberries after planting . This can be done with the help of growth stimulants.

Planting the seeds

  1. First, the seeds are placed in small plastic cups and covered with foil.
  2. Then they must be placed in the warmest place in the apartment.
  3. After the sprouts grow a little, they are transplanted into a permanent place (flowerpot).

Strawberry seeds should be placed in a glass and placed in a warm place.

Caring for indoor strawberries

Strawberries require abundant watering.

Caring for strawberries in flowerpots on the windowsill is a time-consuming process. Since this plant requires a lot of attention, especially if it is not grown in the natural environment in winter. In order for strawberries to develop well and bear fruit, you must follow the basic rules of care:

Home pollination of strawberries in winter

This is a mandatory event for harvesting. Therefore, we will consider it in more detail.

This is done in two ways: mechanical and manual . During mechanical, a small fan is installed next to the plants, when it is turned on, the air flow carries pollen to all inflorescences. To pollinate the flowers by hand, use a soft brush to touch each flower on the bush. According to many experienced gardeners, the second method, although laborious, is more effective.

Mechanical pollination requires a small fan.

None of the care items can lead to the death of the plant or loss of yield. Therefore, it is necessary to take all the above recommendations seriously.

Conclusions

Growing strawberries in a pot is a lot of fun!

Despite the troubles that you will have to face while growing strawberries in winter at home, this process can bring tremendous pleasure to the gardener. Indeed, many in the winter begin to get bored, for the opportunity to delve into the garden. And the admiration of the household will be an excellent reward for the work done.

Video on strawberries growing at home

Growing strawberries in pots on the street

Content

    9000 5 Caring for plants
  • 6 Vertical beds using pots
  • 7 Ideas for creating decorative beds
  • 8 Overwintering pots
  • 9 Conclusion

The traditional technology involves growing strawberries (garden strawberries) in beds, however, this method has a number of disadvantages, so gardeners regularly look for new methods of cultivating this berry. So, some farmers practice growing strawberries in pots. The technology is relatively new, but already quite popular. It has a number of advantages and features that farmers who first decide to grow strawberries in this way should definitely familiarize themselves with.

Advantages of technology

Growing strawberries in pots can produce a good harvest of berries and a unique decorative element of landscape design. In comparison with other methods of cultivation, this technology has some advantages:

  • the mobility of the structure allows you to move plants from one area of ​​the site to another, or transfer pots to a shelter for the winter to prevent freezing;
  • the convenience of picking berries that hang from the pot and ask to be picked up;
  • lack of contact between the berries and the soil prevents their decay and leaves the harvest clean, without sandy deposits;
  • growing strawberries of remontant varieties of continuous fruiting in pots allows you to harvest all year round, provided that the pots are moved to room conditions;
  • Space-saving option for small plots.

Of course, with all the described advantages, the technology of growing strawberries in pots cannot be called ideal, since some financial costs are required for its implementation. Caring for such plantings also has certain difficulties.

The best varieties for a pot

For growing in a pot, it is better to use remontant varieties that will repeatedly bloom and form fruits during the season. This will increase the crop yield and provide high decorative planting qualities.

Important! Remontant varieties of long daylight hours bear fruit 2 times per season, varieties of continuous fruiting, regardless of the length of the light period, bear fruit with a cycle of 6 weeks.

When choosing a strawberry variety for growing in a pot, you should pay attention to the ability to form a mustache. There are special varieties that are deprived of this ability at the gene level, which means that the plants will give all their strength to the ripening of berries. That is why such varieties should be preferred.

Deciding to grow strawberries in a pot, you need to give preference to remontant varieties "Bolero", "Home Dessert". The well-known variety of continuous fruiting "Queen Elizabeth II" is also suitable for growing in a limited amount of soil. The variety "Finland" is distinguished by a high decorative effect. It belongs to the ampelous, climbing varieties. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that berries are formed throughout the entire vegetative period both on the bush itself and on its mustache. Moreover, the formation and ripening of berries occurs simultaneously. A photo of such strawberries in a pot can be seen in the photo below.

For more information about strawberries, watch the video:

How to choose the right pot

When choosing a pot for growing strawberries, you should not rely only on its aesthetic appearance. Beauty and design in this case do not matter at all, since most of the pot will be covered with foliage and plant berries. You can choose ordinary flower pots, planters, or oblong plastic containers. You can make a pot yourself, using mayonnaise buckets, cut 5-liter water containers as a base. You can decorate homemade pots by coloring, gluing beads, pebbles, shells.

Important! Coconut fiber pots are not suitable for growing strawberries.

The volume of the pot may vary, depending on how many strawberry bushes are planned to be planted in it. At the bottom of the selected container, it is necessary to make drainage holes that will not allow excess moisture to accumulate in the soil. An important role in the drainage system is also played by the drainage layer of expanded clay or broken bricks at the bottom of the landing tank.

Filling the pot with soil

Strawberries are demanding on soil nutrition, and cultivation in pots requires a limited amount of soil, which is quickly depleted by the roots of plants. That is why even at the stage of creating a strawberry pot, you need to take care of the nutritional value of the filler. So, the optimal composition of the soil should include a mixture of soddy soil and humus, in a 1: 1 ratio. A couple of spoons of nitroammophoska per 5 liters of soil will also allow you to add some necessary minerals to the soil.

The nutrient soil is poured into the pot over the drainage layer. In the process of growing strawberries, the nutritional value of the soil is periodically increased by applying mineral fertilizers.

Plant care

Pots filled with nutrient soil can be used for growing strawberry seedlings or seeds. The second cultivation method requires a lot of time and care. You can sow seeds in the soil at room conditions in January - February.

Important! Strawberry seedlings for planting in pots can be harvested in the fall.

To do this, the mustache must be cut off and tightly folded into a rag bag, then stored in a cool place.

Almost all varieties of strawberries have a high level of resistance to cold, however, it should be borne in mind that the pots can be taken outside at night temperatures not lower than 0 0 C. Even with slight frosts, the soil in the container may freeze, which will stop the growth of plants or will harm them.

Caring for potted strawberries is very different from caring for plants in the garden. Bushes do not need to be weeded or loosened, which greatly facilitates the care of plantings. At the same time, watering requires special attention. It must be carried out regularly as the soil dries. The amount of water when watering should be moderate, since the closed space of the pot can contribute to root rot.

Tip! To moisten the soil, the pots can be placed for 2-3 hours in a container filled with water. Through the drainage holes, the soil will absorb the necessary amount of moisture.

Fertilizers play an important role in the process of growing strawberries. So, the soil in pots must be periodically saturated with minerals. As a fertilizer, you can use an infusion of manure or wood ash. Also, for feeding strawberries, you can use the Kemira Lux complex fertilizer. Remontant strawberry varieties should be fed in early spring, during flowering and at the end of each fruiting stage. For this, fertilizers are added to the water during irrigation.

It is interesting to know that many industrial plants grow strawberries in containers. This technology is similar to the cultivation of plants in pots. However, its peculiarity lies in the fact that there is no fertile soil in the containers, and expanded clay or special granules are used as a filler. All plant nutrients are obtained from moisture, which is a mixture of water and mineral fertilizers. Moisture is supplied to the roots of strawberries regularly in a small amount using drip irrigation. This allows you to grow berries in a short time in large quantities. The lack of soil prevents even the slightest contamination of the berries, which is why you can see beautiful, large, clean fruits on store shelves.

Potted vertical beds

Potted vertical bed technology allows growing a significant amount of berries on small plots. To do this, you need to create a stand, up to 1.5 m high. You can use a board as a material. It is convenient to use self-tapping screws to fix strawberries in flower pots or oblong plastic containers. Also, for growing berries on stands, pipes with holes can be vertically fixed.

Examples of other ways of growing strawberries vertically are shown in the video:

The stand can be replaced by metal or wooden supports, the wall of the building on the south side.

Ornamental garden ideas

Strawberry pots can be used to decorate absolutely any area. Such a flower bed will be a unique design "highlight" of the existing backyard landscape. Compositions using several pots of different diameters look most interesting. They can be stacked on top of each other, getting a beautiful high bed.

On sale you can find flower pots of various irregular shapes, which can also be a springboard for growing strawberries and a unique design element. An example of such a composition can be seen in the photo:

Planting strawberries in a pot allows you to eat berries and decorate a garden plot or, for example, a veranda. Strawberries of ampelous varieties look great in a hanging planter, the berries of which are abundantly formed on hanging shoots. Remontant strawberry varieties can be hung in pots in a greenhouse. Suspended structures will not interfere with other crops and will please you with a good harvest of delicious berries.

Strawberry pots are conveniently attached to the window sill of the building from the outside. This will make the outdoor decor unique, and at the same time enjoy the berries without leaving home.

Thus, the way to arrange and combine pots with strawberries is limited only by the gardener's imagination. Mobile structures can be moved from one place on the site to another, following the sun. This will allow the plants to receive the maximum amount of sunlight and heat, which means that the berries will be tied in large numbers and ripen quickly.

Overwintering in pots

Growing strawberries outdoors in pots allows you to save plants even with the arrival of severe winter frosts. This can be done by hiding the containers in a cool room with a temperature of -1 to -3 0 C. This temperature causes the plants to go into hibernation and wake up safely in the spring with the arrival of heat.

However, as mentioned above, remontant varieties of continuous fruiting can please with berries all year round. To do this, in late spring, containers with plantings should be placed in room conditions. The growth and fruiting of strawberries in winter is limited only by the lack of light, therefore, in order to obtain a crop in winter, it is necessary to highlight the plants so that the daylight hours are at least 12 hours.

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