When to sow strawberries for seedlings: basic growing rules

Wild strawberry
Strawberries are a delicious berry that grows in gardens everywhere. Even in the tiniest plots there is almost always room for a bed of this berry crop.
The love for the plant is evidenced by the many varieties with very different characteristics, size, taste berries, fruiting dates.
Strawberries are propagated with the help of whiskers, or more precisely, with the root rosettes that form on them. However, given the characteristics of some varieties, the berry is very often propagated by seeds.
Let's try to figure out when to sow strawberries and how to care for them later in order to get a good harvest.
Content:

Time for sowing strawberries for seedlings

Most often, amateurs plant strawberries with rosettes, which are located on the tendrils of the plant. They take them either from their own plants, or purchase them in nurseries, stores, and markets.
Seedlings of popular or new varieties of strawberries are sometimes unreasonably expensive, much more expensive than the number of berries that one bush will produce.
Wild strawberry
The seed propagation method is much cheaper, but many people find it labor-intensive and inaccessible.
Varietal seeds You can choose at an affordable price in a retail chain or assemble it yourself.
In addition, it is worth considering that vineless varieties are now popular, so the skills of growing strawberry seedlings from seeds will be useful to lovers of this berry.
From an economic point of view, self-harvesting seeds is beneficial. To do this, choose bushes of the desired variety from the garden bed, or simply strawberries you like in taste and size.
A well-ripened berry is removed from the bush and allowed to lie still. After that, use a knife to scrape off the top layer of seeds, spread them on paper and dry. Store dry seeds in paper bags until sowing them for seedlings.
The timing of sowing strawberry seeds depends on whether the seedlings are intended for spring or autumn planting in the ground.
The main difference in these terms is that from seedlings planted in the fall, next summer there will be a full harvest of berries.
From the spring plantings there will either be no berries at all, or the harvest will ripen at a very meager rate. Only remontant varieties can please you with a sufficient number of berries at the end of summer.
In order for the seedling to become stronger by the time it is planted in the ground and have a developed root system, true leaves and produce the first berries of the current season, it is better to sow strawberry seeds at the end of January or in the first ten days of February. The difficulty with such sowing is the need for additional lighting.
For planting in the ground before autumn, strawberry seeds are sown for seedlings in April - May. Such seedlings will be ready for transplanting into the garden by the beginning of August.
Thus, two main periods can be distinguished when sowing seeds strawberries for seedlings - this is January, February and April, May. Although, depending on climatic conditions, there may be deviations from these deadlines.
Video on how to care for strawberry seedlings:
To successfully obtain planting material, you need to know some of the features of growing strawberries from seeds.

Important points in growing strawberry seedlings, varieties

Soil pre-treatment

The land for sowing seeds must be well disinfected by any available means. You can hold it for half an hour under a quartz lamp or steam it at a temperature of + 150 degrees in the oven for at least half an hour.
In this case, proceed to sowing possible after the soil has cooled.

Seed stratification

To speed up the germination of strawberry seeds, they can be placed for five to six days in a room where the temperature is not higher than + 5 degrees.
The bottom drawer of a refrigerator or a glazed unheated loggia or greenhouse are also suitable for this. If possible, the seeds can be sprinkled with snow.
In addition to stratification, seeds can be soaked for a day in a solution of potassium permanganate or any growth stimulant.

Sowing seeds

Sow seeds in priming need at a distance of 2 - 5 cm. Lay them out on top, without embedding them to depth.
This can be done with a toothpick, a sharpened match or small tweezers.
Before the emergence of seedlings, the soil should be sprayed with a spray bottle, not allowing it to dry out.
There is a practice to keep the seeds in a transparent bag in sunlight in a humid environment, and when a seedling appears, plant them in the ground. Sowing on peat tablets has proven itself well.

Emergence, care

The first shoots may appear on days 14-15, but very often strawberry seeds begin to germinate only after three to four weeks. There are known cases of seedlings appearing after 35 - 40 days.
In the first weeks, the seedlings need regular watering, but they are so thin that it is better to do this with a small syringe, dripping a few drops next to the seedling.
To maintain the humidity regime, the container must be covered with perforated transparent film. The holes in it are needed to prevent condensation from accumulating.
Strawberry fruit
The film can be removed when the first pair of true leaves appear.
It is optimal to transplant seedlings to a permanent location at the stage of three to four true leaves.

Choosing a strawberry variety

For amateur cultivation, we can recommend the following strawberry varieties:
  • Gums, early
  • Kokinskaya early
  • Corrado, mid-early
  • Festival, medium
  • Lord, medium
  • Cardinal, medium late
  • Bogota, late
  • Queen Elizabeth, remontant
  • Yellow miracle, remontant
  • Snow White, decorative
If the experience of growing strawberries from seeds was successful, then after a year the number of strawberry bushes can be doubled by dividing them after the end of fruiting, and for varieties that produce mustache, it is better to take planting material from the bushes of the third year of life.
Grown strawberriesStrawberry fruit

Comments

I tried to plant a white strawberry variety with seeds, but for some reason it didn’t take off. After reading your article I realized that the temperature was wrong. Well, let's try again this spring!