Strawberry from seeds - at home

There are several ways to grow strawberries. The most common - seedling and through the rooting of antennae. In the first case, bushes of seedlings are usually bought on the market, the second is available to those who have a berry growing on the site. Growing strawberries from seeds at home is a much longer and laborious method. But it is to this resort experienced gardeners, burned on the purchase of seedlings from unscrupulous sellers who issue one grade of strawberry for another for profit.

Features of the method

Varietal seeds of strawberries are best purchased from trustworthy producers or harvested independently from a ripe berry. Only in this case it is possible to be completely sure that the necessary variety of berries will grow from the inoculum.

varietal seeds of strawberry grown from seeds of berries

We will not be encouraged to breed seeds easily. But this method has a number of significant advantages that are worth the effort:

• Strawberry seeds, unlike seedlings, are stored for a long time.
• Seeds are highly resistant to pests and diseases.
• From seeds, you can grow any varieties of strawberries, except for hybrid ones.
• At home, you can plant several varieties with different vegetative periods, which will allow harvesting throughout the summer.

In addition, collecting seeds from ripe strawberries independently is much more profitable than buying seed in a store or seedlings in the market.

Collecting seeds of strawberries

It is useful to know how to get strawberry seeds from a berry with your own hands for reproduction of certain varieties of garden strawberries on your own plot( cottage, vegetable garden).This is the easiest stage of the process of seed culture.

1. From the existing harvest of mature berries( purchased fruits) choose the most beautiful specimens and put them aside. The berries should lie down a little and sang.
2. After that, they remove the top layer of seeds from them with a knife, lay out an even layer on a clean gauze( paper) and cover with the same cut of gauze fabric. The remaining pulp can be recycled or eaten in its pure form.
3. After a while, the skin of the berry will dry. To collect the seeds from strawberries, releasing them from the connecting film, the material is gently grinded in the palms, not getting out of the gauze. Pure seeds are washed with water, dried, covered in paper bags or small containers of dark glass. In this form, the seed can be stored for several years.

It is best to take seeds located near the sepals and in the middle part of the berry. Such a seed has a well developed embryo, which provides a high percentage of germinating healthy strong seedlings. Besides, the strawberry from these seeds turns out the most beautiful, juicy, tasty.

How to quickly prepare seeds of strawberries - video

How to prepare seeds for planting

To increase the percentage of seed germination, strawberry seeds are soaked and stratified before planting, that is, they create conditions close to winter seeds for seeds. The stratification procedure is necessary in order to make the seeds of strawberries stronger, more enduring.

For large-fruited varieties, this procedure should be carried out no later than three months before sowing. The seeds are prepared for stratification as follows:

1. Wadded disc is wetted in warm water.
2. Lay the seed material on wet cotton wool.
3. Cover the seeds with a second cotton pad moistened with warm water.
4. Place the workpiece in a plastic container with a tightly fitted lid.
5. In the lid of the tank pierce with a needle a lot of holes, through which the air will enter.
6. The container with seeds is left for 2 days in a warm room.
7. Directly stratification is that the container with soaked seeds is held for two weeks on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. During this period, care for the seed material is to control the moisture of the cotton discs and regular airing of the seeds.

On the eve of planting seeds are taken from the refrigerator, removed from plastic containers and slightly dried. The sowing is carried out in low wooden boxes, containers for seedlings, peat pots with a pre-prepared earthen substratum.

Preparation of soil for seedlings of strawberry

For growing strawberry seedlings at home, it is recommended to take a light, not supersaturated with mineral substances and loose ground. The composition of the soil substrate can be as follows:

• Forest and garden( garden) land, plus, river sand.
• Biohumus( 3 parts), non-acid peat and coarse sand( 1 part each).
• Peat and river sand in a 4: 1 ratio.
• Soddy land( 2 parts), sand and peat( 1 part each), plus a little wood ash and the overgrown manure. Organic fertilizers can be replaced by complex mineral fertilizers.

Warning! Before you can plant strawberries from seeds at home, any soil should be disinfected. This stage is extremely important, as in the ground there may be seeds of weeds, pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms, larvae and / or eggs of insect pests that pose a real threat to young seedlings.

Disinfection is carried out by steaming or calcining the soil substrate:

• The soil is calcined in the oven at 180-220 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Steaming the planting land for strawberry seeds is needed for half an hour over a container with active boiling water.

After disinfection, the earth becomes sterile. However, not only harmful but also useful microorganisms are killed. To restore the beneficial microflora, the soil is exposed for 2-3 weeks in a moderately cool room.

If the growing of strawberries from seeds in boxes or special containers is planned for own garden( dacha), planting can be made immediately after stratification. The sowing period is the end of February or the beginning of March. If the seedlings grown by the seed method are intended for sale, seeds can be sown at an earlier time, but with mandatory artificial seedling illumination.

Rules for sowing

Prepared by all rules, the earth substrate is poured into the seedlings and tamped a bit. Earth is not watered, but slightly spray the top layer of the spray.

1. If the seeds are sown in boxes or containers, then on the ground surface a few grooves are made with a pencil up to 0.5 cm deep.
2. In these grooves, carefully place the strawberry seeds with a toothpick, match, drawer, tweezers.
   
   
   

   You do not need to sprinkle seeds on the ground. Since scattered sunlight is necessary for better seedling germination, small strawberry seeds are just slightly pressed against the soil and left on the surface.

3. After seeding, the container is covered with a film or a transparent plastic lid with holes for air circulation. It is desirable to put the container in a place well illuminated by the sun. However, direct sunlight is destructive for seedlings of strawberries, so they should be protected from too bright light.
4. In a container with a lid or box under the film, an optimal microclimate is created for the germination of the seeds. It is desirable to control the process without violating the hothouse conditions, i.e. without removing the lid( film).If the condensate on its inner surface is small or there is no droplet of moisture at all, then the earth is dry and it needs to be moistened. In the reverse situation, when the condensate is too much and the water drains into the tank with ground, it is necessary to ventilate the seeds and shake off the drops of water from the lid.

For normal germination of strawberry seeds, the temperature regime is very important. Optimum - +18 ° С.As the temperature rises, shoots will appear later, and weaker seeds will not germinate at all.

There is another method of planting seed strawberries on seedlings. From the first, it differs in that stratification is not carried out in advance, in the refrigerator, but directly in the land of the container.

Sowing with stratification is carried out as follows:

1. The box( container) is filled with soil substrate not up to the very top, but 2-3 cm below.
2. A layer of snow 1-1.5 cm thick is poured onto the soil and densely packed.
3. Seeds of strawberries are laid out, as with a normal planting, with tweezers or a toothpick directly on the snow.
4. Container with crops covered with glass or plastic wrap.
5. The capacity is put in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
   
   
   
   

Every day the container is opened and the seeds aired. If necessary, moisturize the crops. As the snow melts, the seeds slowly sink to the ground, occupying the desired position. You do not need to correct them. After the deadline, the boxes are transferred to light in a warm place and wait for emergence, as in the usual method of planting.

If the seeds germinate not simultaneously, but with a runaway of 1-2 weeks, you should not worry. Such a time interval is not a deviation from the norm. To stabilize the process, after the appearance of the first shoots, the box with seeds should be opened and transferred to a well-lit cool room with a temperature of no higher than 15 ° C.

It is best to take seeds located near the sepals and in the middle part of the berry. Such a seed has a well developed embryo, which provides a high percentage of germinating healthy strong seedlings. For this purpose, the sprouts are transplanted into separate containers.

Seeding of strawberry seeds with stratification - video

Transplant of strawberry sprouts

Transplanting of seedlings can be performed when 3 real leaves appear on the shoots. Plastic cups or peat pots are suitable as containers. The optimal size for them is 5x5 cm.

1. Before transplanting seedlings in the bottom of each cup( pot), it is necessary to make a hole for draining excess water. Stagnation of moisture is fatal for fragile strawberry sprouts.
2. Then to the bottom of the tanks lay a layer of drainage from calcined river sand, small gravel or shards of the shell of the nut. The soil is poured on top of the drainage to the very top of the glass. In the center of the container make a shallow hole with a pen, pencil or wooden skewer. Pour a little warm water into the hole
3. Strawberry seedlings from the common box with the seedlings are extracted very carefully with a toothpick or a match with a small earthen lump. The main thing is not to damage the root system of a young plant.
   
   
   

   Otherwise, it will take a long time to perish at a new site or die. It is advisable to take sprouts not for the trunk, but for a leaflet. Take seedlings better in cotton gloves to prevent skin contact with tender sprouts.

4. The seedling is gently transferred to a new container and placed in a well with a toothpick. They fall asleep and just press it with the ground exactly enough so that it occupies a strictly vertical position. At the same time, it is not possible to deepen the germ too much, all the leaves of a young plant should remain on the surface of the soil.

How to grow strawberries from berries in separate containers? Further care for the shoots is the timely moistening of the soil, providing sufficient lighting, fertilizing seedlings with solutions to enhance growth.

Planting strawberries in the open ground

Before planting on the beds, the plants are hardened:

• Starting in April, the greenhouses with seedlings are carried to a glass balcony or loggia. Beginning with small, the duration of the hardening procedure is gradually increased to several hours.
• A week and a half you can leave strawberries on the balcony for the night. Lowering the air temperature at night to 5-7 ° C is useful for quenching seedlings.

Plant strawberry seedlings in the open ground when the weather is warm enough. The time of landing is from the end of May to the beginning of June. By this time, on the sturdy strawberry bushes, the first flowers are already appearing. To better adapt the plants, actively grow green mass and achieve high yield, these florets are recommended to pinch.

Antennae appearing on the strawberry bush of the first year of life, must be removed. This procedure also helps to obtain a greater harvest of berries and helps plants to survive the first winter on beds.

If desired, seedlings of seedlings grown from seeds can be planted not in the open ground, but in flowerpots, balcony boxes, arrange for them on a loggia or terrace a vertical or cascading bed.

If there is enough sunlight in the house( city apartment), you can even grow strawberries on the windowsills.

Watering, weeding, nutrition of nutrients, pest and disease control with this method of cultivation is practically the same as the standard care for strawberries growing on beds. Related Videos:

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