Not all gardeners know how to grow strawberries from seeds at home and get varietal seedlings for the garden or for the windowsill. Some varieties of garden strawberries bear fruit all season until autumn frosts.
Material Content:
Variety selection and purchase of strawberry seeds
By purchasing planting material on the market, we get sockets of an unknown variety and all the diseases that she has. But in fact, you can get and at home beautiful seedlings of strawberries from seeds. To do this, you just need to know which grade to choose.
Moscow Delicacy is a very early, unpretentious, yielding stably high yield variety obtained as a result of domestic selection.
"Sarian" - also being a repair plant, is successfully grown in greenhouses, although strawberries are quite frost-resistant.
“Queen Elizabeth” is, without exception, a favorite variety of garden strawberries, which is distinguished by large berries with high commercial qualities.
“Gigantella” - the fruits reach 120 g. If the goal is to grow large-fruited garden strawberries, then this species should be preferred.
“Geneva” - appeared in our country in the 90s. The variety is distinguished by a very high yield. Strawberry is large-fruited, resistant to diseases, gives berries twice in one season, but at the same time has a dormant period.
Zephyr is an excellent variety suitable for both home growing and open ground. Large berries ripen early. However, such a strawberry is very moody, it does not tolerate a lack of light. Fruits once a season.
"Sakhalin berry" gives a crop to the very frosts.We must not forget about such varieties of garden strawberries, such as "Festivalnaya" and "Bogotá", which has a consistently high yield.
It is better to purchase seeds from trusted manufacturers to be sure of the quality of the products.
If you do this yourself, then it should be noted that hybrids are not suitable for such purposes, since the resulting plants will not inherit varietal characters.
Practical tips for growing
Strawberry seeds are well stored for 4 years and do not lose germination. If you can’t sow them right away, this can be done next season. But it is important to prepare for the upcoming work in accordance with all the rules.
For this, the seeds are disinfected for 20 minutes in a solution of manganese, then the bottom of the transparent container is lined with a cotton cloth, moistened, and the planting material is laid out. The container should be covered with a lid with holes. Strawberry seeds are very small, which allows them to be decomposed into tissues using toothpicks. Top planting material is covered with a second layer of wet cloth. It is advisable to use melt water.
It is very convenient to sow seeds in peat tablets, which contributes to higher germination and greatly facilitates care. In this case, the gardener will be able to avoid a lot of problems associated with picking and transplanting seedlings.
Tablet planting technology:
- Such containers must first be soaked in a tray of water. Peat should be well saturated with moisture, increase in volume.
- Put one seed in the center of each tablet, for which it is more convenient to use tweezers.
- After seeding, tighten the tray with foil. You can take a transparent cover from the cake.
- Ventilate the seedlings from time to time so that a lot of condensation does not collect on the lid.
- The soil must be regularly moistened.
Terms of sowing rules
In the southern regions, strawberry seeds for seedlings are sown in February. In the northern regions, the work schedule is shifted to March. Timing mainly depends on the variety and climatic conditions. If you are late with sowing, there is a risk that the seedlings simply do not take root because of the heat. To grow strawberries on the windowsill at home, it is advisable to do this in April.
For planting strawberries at home, there are certain rules. It is necessary to fill the tanks with soil and spread one seed on the surface of the previously moistened soil or make small grooves. Fall asleep planting is by no means impossible, otherwise the seeds will not germinate. The drawer is tightened with a film or covered with glass. The room should be warm and bright. When condensation appears in such a mini-greenhouse, it must be checked.
What should be the soil?
In order to grow strawberries at home and harvest, it is important to plant the berry in suitable soil. The soil mixture must be light, loose. The soil for planting seeds is never fertilized, since there is a risk of burning the tender roots of the sprouts. For example, you can mix forest land and river sand in equal volumes or take 3 parts of peat, the same amount of sand and vermicompost.
It is imperative to carry out work on the destruction of all pathogenic bacteria in the soil before sowing. To do this, the substrate is heated at 200 degrees in the oven for at least 20 minutes. Another method is to freeze the soil mixture by putting the box on the street.
Choosing the right capacity
It is very important to choose a good capacity in which the seedlings will grow freely. These can be special cassettes. One seed is placed in each of them. Many gardeners fit wooden drawers or small pots for this. Various packaging from cakes and pastries will also work.
How to care for seedlings
Strawberry seedlings sprout from seeds quite quickly, especially in hydroponics, and it is imperative to properly care for it.
Optimal conditions
The ideal temperature for proper growth is + 20-22 degrees.Seedlings need a lot of light, so you have to take advantage of additional features - phytolamps. Drafts should not be allowed in the room, otherwise the tender and still weak sprouts will die.
As soon as the first leaves appear, strawberries begin to be watered. At the same time, the lid or glass is gradually removed from the containers.
Watering and fertilizer
It is impossible to moisten the seedlings too much, as they can rot. Most often, strawberry seedlings become ill with a black leg due to excessive humidity or mold appears on the walls of the container. The first few days, when the soil mixtures dry, they are slightly moistened with a little warm water from the spray gun.
After the pick, they begin to fertilize. They feed strawberries every 10 days with solutions in which there is a high content of phosphorus and potassium. Formulations in which there is a lot of nitrogen should be avoided. The best option is water-soluble fertilizers. You can feed the seedlings "Kemira" or "Solution" with the addition of a weak solution of iron.
Pick strawberry seedlings
In the development phase of the fourth leaf, seedlings are dived. Some gardeners do this twice - at the phase of three and 5 leaves. If the seedlings have grown, and the weather is too cold on the street, you will have to carry out work twice. It is not necessary to arrange such events twice for planting in flowerpots for the purpose of growing on a windowsill.
For a dive, it is necessary to make 10x10 cm squares in a box. First, seedlings are watered, and then transplanted with a dive peg, trying not to damage the roots. A similar procedure is carried out together with an earthen lump. In no case should the stem be touched during work. The plant is placed in a hole, instilled, watered with a thin stream of water so that moisture does not get on the growth point.
It is important to place drainage at the bottom of the container into which strawberries are dived. A layer of special material will help protect young plants from stagnation of moisture near the roots and prevent the development of rot.
Diving is very convenient in small plastic cups. If a window sill is chosen for seedlings, it is better to look after it in such a container. A drainage hole should be made in each glass.
Preparing seedlings for planting in the ground
Usually, repairing strawberries from seeds are grown both for indoor conditions and for open ground. Although many gardeners, in order to grow varietal wild strawberries, plant it on the beds through home material.
For planting in open ground seedlings are prepared. The first thing to do is to harden the seedlings, for which, during the day, a window is opened for several hours in the room, and with the onset of warm days, the boxes are put into the air. Already in mid-May, when the threat of frost is over, plants are planted on ridges.
We must be prepared for the fact that most varieties of garden strawberries grown from seeds begin to produce crops only for the next season. The fact is that strawberries need to gain strength. It is advisable to cut off the flowers that appear so that they do not weaken the young plants.
To get strong and high-quality strawberry bushes of an expensive variety at home from seeds is a completely feasible task that every gardener will cope with.
