Growing strawberries from seeds is not easy, especially for beginners. This plant has very small seeds and is not easy to germinate. To get a full-fledged plant, you need to know how to grow strawberries and how to properly care for seedlings, as well as some other subtleties.
Sowing time
It is best to sow strawberries from early February to early April, although sometimes gardeners germinate seeds until the summer. However, some argue that it is best to plant the grown seedlings before the onset of drought: seeds sown late do not have time to grow to the desired degree to transfer the transplant. If the plant is sown late, then it is better not to plant it in a permanent place, but to leave it to winter in a pot.
Seed preparation
To grow strawberries from seeds at home, you should properly prepare them. Seeds are soaked to promote growth. This is best done in a plastic container with a lid: at the bottomcotton pads or rags moistened with water are laid out. Then seeds are laid out on them. From above they are covered with a second cotton pad, which should also be wet. Holes must be made in the lid for ventilation. When preparing seeds of different varieties, it is better to sign them so as not to be confused.
The container is covered with a lid and placed in a warm place for two days. Then stratification is carried out: germinated seeds are removed for two weeks in the refrigerator. Periodically, you need to look into the greenhouse, make sure that the disks do not dry out. If necessary, carry out moisturizing.
Condensation will accumulate on the lid of the container, which must be removed. If this is not done, the seeds may rot.
What to do next with prepared seeds, how to grow strawberries? After two weeks, the prepared seeds are sown in the ground or in peat tablets, in cups.
Preparing the soil
For sowing use light soil. Professional gardeners who grow different varieties of strawberries recommend mixing forest soil with a vegetable garden by adding sand (2: 1: 1 ratio). The composition should be disinfected by heating it in the oven at a temperature not lower than 150 degrees for twenty minutes. This is necessary, because in the garden soil there can be a variety of insects that can damage the sprouts. After warming up, so that beneficial bacteria appear in the soil, it is left to lie down for a couple of weeks. Based on this, it is recommended to make the soil immediately, along with the preparation of the seeds: while they passstratification, the land will be ready for sowing.
Sowing in a container
There are several ways of sowing: prepared seeds are sown immediately in a container, in peat tablets, or they are sown in the ground and then put on stratification. What is the best way to grow strawberries? Which way to choose?
Method one
With this method, seeds are sown immediately after stratification. To do this, a container is taken, filled with already prepared soil. It is slightly compacted, moistened with water from a spray bottle. Then the seeds are carefully laid out on the surface of the substrate, slightly pressing them to the ground. You do not need to sprinkle them, as they germinate in the light.
Then the container is covered with a lid and placed in a warm place where it is planned to grow strawberries. As soon as shoots appear, you can start airing the plants. Until this moment, you should not open the lid: a special microclimate is created inside the container, water collects on the lid and drips back as rain, thus watering occurs. If the lid is dry, then water the soil a little. If, due to drops, seeds are not visible through the lid, then this indicates an excess of moisture. In such cases, it must be removed by airing the greenhouse and removing moisture from the lid.
Second way
You can not prepare the seeds on cotton pads, but immediately spread the seeds on the ground and put them in the refrigerator. To do this, the container is filled with earth so that at least three centimeters remain to the top. Same waysnow is laid and pressed down. The seeds are laid out on the snow, the top of the container is covered with a lid and put in the refrigerator for two weeks.
Slowly the snow will melt, pulling the seeds slightly. The moisture from the snow is enough not to look into the greenhouse for two weeks, but if necessary, you can moisten or ventilate the crops. After two weeks, the container is pulled out and placed in a warm place.
Plant picking
What to do next, how to grow strawberries from seeds? After a young strawberry has a third true leaf, it is necessary to plant the crops in separate containers. It is best to use cups or pots for seedlings, 5 x 5 or larger. Holes are made at the bottom to remove excess water, drainage is laid out at the bottom. It can be coarse sand, gravel, foam. Then the container is filled with soil and moistened.
Strawberry seedlings are very fragile and small. To carefully transplant, you can use toothpicks. They carefully take seedlings and transplanted into cups. During the pick, it is important that the middle with the leaves is above ground level.
Sowing in peat tablets
In peat tablets, you can also grow strawberry seedlings at home. As soon as the seeds germinate, they are transferred to cups and sprinkled with soil.
For cultivation in peat tablets, it is necessary to prepare them in advance: they are soaked and only after that one seed is sown, placing them in the center of the tablet. You can sow seeds in the snow, and thenplace in the refrigerator for stratification. Inoculation tablets are placed in a container and covered with a lid.
When shoots emerge
Knowing how to grow strawberries at home, you can get different unique varieties that will delight you with high yields for a long time.
There are a few tips to help you get he althy and strong seedlings:
- After the seeds germinate, there is no need to rush to remove the cover and put the greenhouse on the light. You should open the container little by little: you can make a hole in the lid so that the sprouts get used to other conditions. If you immediately open it, then from a humid climate, young plants will fall into a dry one and may die. Plants should be gradually accustomed to light, exposing them to the sun for several hours: they begin to accustom to sunlight from fifteen minutes, gradually increasing the time.
- In some seedlings, the root may be located above ground level. So that the plant does not die, it is important to sprinkle the root with soil. This is done very carefully so as not to damage the tiny plant.
- White or green plaque, mold may appear on the ground. In this case, it is necessary to carefully remove part of the earth and add fresh. You can carry out antifungal soil treatment.
- Drip irrigation, which was observed at the stage of seed germination, adversely affects the sprouts. Drops falling from the lid can break the plant. To avoid this, the condensate is constantly removed. Plants are watered with a spoon under the root.
- From Aprilplants begin to harden off. You can take seedlings to a balcony or glazed veranda. Start hardening in the same way as accustoming to sunlight - from fifteen minutes, gradually increasing the time.
- At the end of May, seedlings can be planted in a permanent place.
It is not enough to get seedlings, you need to properly care for them throughout the growing season. And here the question arises, how to grow strawberries from seeds at home so that it grows for many years and pleases with abundant harvests?
After planting seedlings in a permanent place, it is important to let the bushes grow green mass and a good root system. To do this, the first flowers are removed from the bushes, allowing the plants to get stronger.
Strawberry out of grade
Wishing to grow strawberry seedlings from seeds, such as shown in the video below, you need to understand that this is laborious. In case of failure, the gardeners are upset, but they try to grow strawberries again. The greatest disappointment awaits those who dream of getting certain varieties by buying very expensive seeds, carrying seedlings, and as a result, getting a plant of the wrong variety. This happens periodically, and this is due not to producers, but to pollination. When pollen from other plants gets in, varieties mix. In this way, new varieties of plants, hybrids are bred.
Collect your seeds
Any strawberry you like can be grown from your seeds. For example, you bought a homemade, large, tasty berry in the market, which is so good thatI want to grow it on my site, but there is no way to buy seedlings. In this case, you can get seeds from the berries yourself.
To do this, choose the largest and most ripe berries, from which the top layer with seeds is removed. They are laid out on fabric. Then carefully grind it. During this process, the film from the berry is torn, and the seeds do not violate their integrity. After this procedure, the mass is washed in water, the seeds are dried. The resulting seeds can be stored for several years.
Now you know how to grow strawberry seedlings and you can experiment with breeding by crossing different varieties. To do this, choose two flowers on different varieties and tie them with a cloth at the bud stage. As soon as they open, with a cotton swab, pollen from one plant is transferred to another. After the berries ripen, seeds are collected from it. Plants derived from them can inherit a variety of qualities from their parents.
