Mission Strawberry seed

Hello everyone. I've got some Strawberry seeds for my birthday and the discription that goes with it about growing them is very minimal. So what I would like to ask if someone stumbles across some information about propagating strawberry seeds (I found a lot about propagating via their runners, but I've no use for that at the moment), or has any experience with it, would like to share it. I've found one dutch website (unfortunatly I can't share it with a lot of people), but I would like to have some more information about it (there are a lot of unreliable things going around on the internet) Thank you very much.

Hi Zephyros. Happy Birthday!

I grew some "alpine/wild" yellow strawberries from seed for the first time this year. The sprouts are TINY -- the initial sprout could be hid by a radish seed leaf! My seed packet said to keep the soil moist, so I did. I kept the saucer under the strawberry jar full of water as best I could. I lost a few but have some healthy plants now that are blooming.

That's all I got.... hope it helps, and good luck!

So what you mean is that you put the jar where you where growing your plants in on a saucer and poured the water on the saucer? Interesting idea. Very easy for me to do. Because I forgot to mention that these strawberries (it is fragaria ananasa by the way) are in a special kind of kit. They put some soil and the seeds in a soda can. When you start growing them, you remove the top to pour the water and remove the bottom so the excess of water can leave the tin can. Then you replace a plastic bottom. But of course, if I do as you suggest, I don't need to put the plastic bottom back. The other idea I had was to put a glass jar over the top so that I get some kind of greenhouse. I found that strawberries like 20 degrees to start sprouting. They also need light for sprouting, at least, that was what a read somewhere. But I don't know how they put the seeds in there (I can only see it when the tin can is opened, but then the seeds are very tiny, and then I have to start growing them), but propably, the tin can has been in every direction by now. Well, they put some spare seeds with it, so I can try again evenually. But it must be nice if I got at least one plant growing up.

I've grown both alpine and normal strawberries from seed. I don't recall any problem. Just sprinkle the seed on the surface of the moist compost and as you say keep at about 20°C (or probably a bit warmer in my case as the room temp is a bit above that).
glass jar over the top sounds OK, or else put the pot in a plastic bag. Make sure you lift it off once a day though else it might all go mouldy.
Wouldn't it be better to do this in the early spring though? Or do you have lights to grow under?

Meant to say - you could look on the sales site of some big seed company like Thompson and Morgan. They have sowing directions for their seeds and it should all be similar

Zephyros wrote:So what you mean is that you put the jar where you where growing your plants in on a saucer and poured the water on the saucer? Interesting idea. Very easy for me to do. Because I forgot to mention that these strawberries (it is fragaria ananasa by the way) are in a special kind of kit. They put some soil and the seeds in a soda can. When you start growing them, you remove the top to pour the water and remove the bottom so the excess of water can leave the tin can. Then you replace a plastic bottom. But of course, if I do as you suggest, I don't need to put the plastic bottom back. The other idea I had was to put a glass jar over the top so that I get some kind of greenhouse. I found that strawberries like 20 degrees to start sprouting. They also need light for sprouting, at least, that was what a read somewhere. But I don't know how they put the seeds in there (I can only see it when the tin can is opened, but then the seeds are very tiny, and then I have to start growing them), but propably, the tin can has been in every direction by now. Well, they put some spare seeds with it, so I can try again evenually. But it must be nice if I got at least one plant growing up.

I'm sorry, I am probably confusing you. When I say a jar, I mean a strawberry jar, which around here is a fairly large terra cotta (or sometimes plastic) pot, taller than it is wide, with little pockets in the sides that the plants grow out of. Like this, this is my plants just recently. You can see the terra cotta saucer at the bottom. That is what I have tried to keep full, by watering from the top regularly. It has been VERY hot, here, though, so it did get dry from time to time, between the temperature and the birds/etc. drinking out of it.



(And here they are just after they got past their "microscopic" state!)

This is what I 've got:

Wouldn't it be better to do this in the early spring though? Or do you have lights to grow under?

I am very curious to start growing them, but fortunatley I am patient enough to start in early spring (february is what I found). I took the picture in the windowsill because I didn't know where to take it else. So the tin can is still closed. For now I am trying to gather all the information I can about doing this to get the success rate higer.

When I say a jar, I mean a strawberry jar, which around here is a fairly large terra cotta (or sometimes plastic) pot, taller than it is wide, with little pockets in the sides that the plants grow out of. Like this, this is my plants just recently. You can see the terra cotta saucer at the bottom. That is what I have tried to keep full, by watering from the top regularly. It has been VERY hot, here, though, so it did get dry from time to time, between the temperature and the birds/etc. drinking out of it.

I know these jars, they are sold over here aswell. But as you see, with this, you start in the tin can. Soil and seeds are already present, so I can't do much about that.

What I am planning to do with this information is of course to start in february and put it on my windowsill inside. Then, I leave the plastic bottom lid from the tin can and put it on a saucer instead, like you do with the strawberry jar. On top, I put a glass jar, to keep it nice and warm. I know it is not very cold in my room, and the window is on the sunny side, but sometimes I open my window and it might get cold near my windowsill and this way my strawberrie is still protected if it is a bit cold. Sounds like a good plan to me. But of course if there is someone else that would like to share his/ hers wisdom, I'd like to know.

That is a very cute can Hope you get some strawberry plants from it!

It is indeed. That is why I am so eager to get started. I am interested to see how well this works. Because the person who gave it to me had a carrot version herself, but she wasn't succesfull at it. So you can imagine why I am trying to find as much information I can. (I love eating strawberries to much and I guess I am not the only one.)

Meant to say - you could look on the sales site of some big seed company like Thompson and Morgan.

By the way, I checked out the website. When I saw the picture of the strawberries, I just wanted to eat them . But it is a really nice website indeed, with good usefull information. They even say you can start in january. Well, I have to be patience.

Wow, best of luck with your strawberries!

At the moment I am talking to my seeds to encourage to grow in Januari/ Februari

I promised to keep everyone updated on my tincan strawberries. A few months back, my mum got some strawberry seeds to. On this package it was written that if you start growing strawberrie seeds in oktober/ november you can have strawberries the next summer (in february you get your strawberries the next year). So I decided to start growing my tincan strawberries, like I told you people. There was no succes so far. So I decided to grow the spare seeds aswell and leave the tincan as I am still hopefull that something will happen. So I did this with the spare seeds:

I put the seeds in a small plastic lid from a container (it was from a box with ferro roche chocolates in it) and poured some water in it and covered with some plastic to prevent drying out. I put this on my radiator (it extually stands on my radiator, there is nothing else between the radiator and the plastic lid). And now, 2.5 weeks later, 4 of my seeds are sprouted. So I took a eggbox and filled it with sand that is used for seeding plants and put them carefully in there. I coverd that with plastic aswell and put it on the radiatior again. Of course now I have to give them water regullary and be nice to them.

Good Luck.

We are looking forward to pictures of your new baby strawberry plants.

Me, too. Mine have died back from the cold. Hope they live to sprout again next year.

They died!

I went on a holiday for christmas. And they died . They just dehydrated. The person that was taking care of them realised that her husband always puts a container underneath the cardboard containers filled with the seedlings and keeps a layer of water in the outer container, because otherwise the cardboard containers absorb all the water before the plants get a chance to take the water in. But when she did this, it was already too late.

At least I know this now, for when I am going to grow my other veggies, that if I want to grow them in the eggbox too, I have to put a container around it filled with a layer of water. I am not starting strawberries from seed again for the moment. It will be to late to get fruit this year, so I will try next autumn. Although I still have the strawberries in the tin can that haven't sprouted yet (and I am not convinced that it is going to happen). So, when they are starting to sell strawberrie plants, I will buy a few to have some this year.

zephyros, try Willemse Seeds -- I've found they have an excellent offering for very good prices...even better than Thompson & Morgan.

Willemse Seed? Is that another kind of strawberries?

No, it's a company that sells plants and seeds and garden tools. You'll have to google it -- when I enter Willemse seed, I'm taken directly to their French site.

I googled it. The hit I got was Vreeken's zaden. It is not clear to me if this is a company that is selling Willemse Seeds (like a brand name). Or that it is the dutch translation from it. Even so, it is a very nice website, with a lot of different strawberries. I decided not to look very close to it, or I would have bought everything on the website.

But it is also nice to see that they sell "weird" strawberries. Because in my opinion it is much more fun to grow things that are not sold at the supermarket. Not that they don't taste nice in the supermarket, but it is nice to have veggies or fruits that nobody has.

http://www.willemsefrance.fr/

I don't know if it will link to this site, or a different one, but at least this will point you toward it.

I'm waiting for their catalog - theirs came too late to order last year, but their pricing and selection are very good, compared to some of the others.

I've got it. I just changed it to .com and than you can pick the dutch one.

Zephyros, I think you still have a shot at strawberries for this year, if you want to get it a try. I started my strawberries from seed late April or May and I DID get some berries this autumn.

Thanks for sharing this piece of information. I will take this into account when I try it next time.

The thing is that I am not only trying to grow some strawberries, just for fun (although it definetly is). I also would like to grow some strawberries because I am getting a bit tiered of all those apples and bananas. You see, during the week I rent a room near my university, and in the weekends I am living with my parents. I am one of those smart people that take food from the parents place to the room were she lives. And apples and bananas tend to survive this process better. I know I could buy some strawberries from the store once in a while. But every strawberrie-loving-person knows that home grown strawberries tastes much better than the ones from the store. An advantage from home grown strawberries is that you don't have 500 gr at once, but spread over time. So I don't have to eat strawberries all week long. And I would feel less sorry for those home grown strawberries to put them in the freezer or a dish (read jelly) when I have to many.

So that also plays a part in deciding to buy some plants for this year, instead of trying to get more strawberries from seed.

Good luck, Zephyros. I hope you get more strawberries to grow.

Megan, I'm thinking about getting a strawberry jar. Do you fill the entire jar with MM before planting?

I have a bed of June bearers, but I'd like some to have throughout the summer to add to salads. Do the wild berries produce all summer? What variety do you recommend?