How to succeed in growing strawberries from seeds at home?

Garden strawberries, large-fruited and small-fruited strawberries are a generally recognized berry crop. They are grown both industrially and in amateur gardens.

Strawberries are perennial herbaceous plants from the Rosaceae family. It reproduces both by seeds and vegetatively.

Strawberries can be propagated vegetatively by rosettes that appear on their tendrils, and the whiskless forms are propagated by dividing the bush. What happens quite slowly and does not make it possible to obtain the required number of seedlings for planting a berry plantation. Propagation by seeds speeds up the production of planting material.

To grow strawberries from seeds at home, you should take care of the seed material in advance.

Content:

Collection and preparation of strawberry seeds for sowing
Seeds from the store
Sowing strawberry seeds at home

Collection and preparation of strawberry seeds for sowing

To collect seeds You need ripe, large berries of the selected varieties. In order not to make a mistake with the choice, it is advisable not only to study the properties, but also to taste the chosen variety. Therefore, seed collection should begin at the height of the berry season. Hybrids should be avoided, since when hybrid forms are propagated by seeds, the daughter plant may not display outstanding characteristics of the mother sample. Also, due to cross-pollination, 10% of berries grown from collected varietal seeds may exhibit properties uncharacteristic for the variety.

Using a clean knife, cut or peel the seeds from the selected ripe berry, lightly grabbing the pulp. Distribute them evenly over the surface of the paper and leave to dry for several days.

Then, carefully, using a needle, remove the seeds from the paper, separating them from the paper and the remaining pulp. Place the dried seeds into dry paper bags. Store in a dry place until spring.

You can put in a ripe berry and wait for it to ripen and soften, after which you can gently grind it, and then rinse the seeds from the pulp. Dry them and put them in a bag.

Procuring seeds yourself is a very profitable business, because there are a great many of them on one berry. But given the small size, it is very troublesome and painstaking.

Therefore, you can use ready-made seed material, which is sold in specialized stores.

Seeds from the store

In specialized stores you can purchase seeds of varietal and hybrid berries. When purchasing, pay attention to the expiration date of the seeds. They do not retain their germination capacity for up to five years, but starting from the third year after collection, the germination rate of seeds begins to fall by 10 - 15% annually. Therefore, you should not purchase seeds older than two years.

The following varieties and hybrids are most recommended for growing at home from seeds:

Alexandrina
Ruyana
Yellow miracle
Rügen
Snow White
Lizonka F1
Sashenka F1

It is worth saying that Alexandrina and Ruyana feel great in flower pots and bear fruit on a windowsill or loggia, producing several harvests a year.

As a rule, the number of seeds in bags is limited, their number ranges from 10 to 25 pieces, so purchasing seed material will require some financial costs.

Sowing strawberry seeds at home

Strawberry seeds can be sown throughout the year, but it is most convenient to do this in March or April, when there is already enough natural light for successful cultivation. When sowing seeds in January - February, they will need additional lighting.

Sowing is done in planting boxes, containers, flower pots. You should not use packaging for juice or dairy products, since even if you wash them thoroughly, there remains a risk of infection with unwanted microorganisms, such as mold or yeast.

Young strawberry sprouts very sensitive and may die from infection. Therefore, you need not only clean pots, but also disinfected soil. It must be calcined in the oven in advance. Then sift through a sieve to remove lumps and large fractions, making the mixture light and loose.

Any soil with neutral acidity will do. You can take a mixture of equal parts of sand, peat, and turf soil. The easiest way to sow strawberries is to distribute the seeds over the surface of the soil. Embedding into the ground is not required. After planting, water each seed with clean water from a pipette.

The second method requires pre-soaking the seeds for swelling. The process takes 48 hours. After which the swollen seeds are laid out on a damp paper napkin placed on a flat plate. Place the plate with the seeds in a bag to prevent drying out and place it in a lighted place, since the seeds will germinate in sunlight, do not sprinkle them with soil or sand.

As soon as the sprouts sprout from the seeds, they are transferred to the surface of the soil using a toothpick, placing them at a distance of 2 - 3 cm from each other.It is very convenient to sow seeds on peat tablets, since in the future it is easier to plant strawberries in a permanent place.

It is important to remember that strawberry seeds rarely sprout simultaneously and uniformly. The first shoots may appear in a week, and the last in a month. At first, they should be covered with glass or film, and watered not from a watering can, but by spraying. You can moisten the soil with a syringe.

After germination, strawberry seedlings require special care.

Seedling care

In the first days after the emergence of seedlings, you should not keep them open; you can remove the glass or film for a very short time, which can be gradually increased as the seedlings grow.

It is important to maintain moderate humidity do not allow it to dry out and waterlogging of seedlings.

After three to four leaves appear, the protective covering can be removed. At the same time, you can begin to plant the seedlings into separate containers. If strawberries are intended for further cultivation in a room, on a loggia or balcony, they can be immediately transplanted into the pots intended for them. During this period, strawberries are still sensitive to fungal diseases, so the seedlings need to be treated with antifungal drugs, such as Fitosporin.

Young bushes can be transferred to open ground in May - June, when they already have at least five leaves.

Growing strawberries from seeds at home requires care and painstaking care, but all efforts will be rewarded with a harvest of tasty, healthy, aromatic varietal berries.

Video about growing strawberries at home: