Hello, I would like to try growing strawberries from seeds and I have totally no experience on it. could you give me some suggestion on purchasing what type of seeds first and when I can start germination. thanks Irisa
Stokes carries strawberry seeds, and I suspect that you can also find them at local garden centres like GardenWorks. They should be planted as early as possible indoors and transplanted to the garden during Spring, unless you want to grow them in a container. Definitely choose an everbearing type, but I suspect all of the ones grown from seed are everbearing. I prefer to buy plants as early in Spring as possible; they are much easier to grow and come into bearing much sooner. The Stokes catalog says that their seeds come into bearing 4 months after sowing in a greenhouse.
I have some coastal beach strawberry (fragira chilosensis) seeds that I'd like to cultivate. I was instructed to soak the seeds, mix them with a little sand, then sow them thinnly on the surface of peat-sand medium soil. Also, is anyone familiar with how important temperature regulation is for the first few months of germination? I have been reading that you can chill them for 60-90 days at 2-4 degrees C. Think it would be any issue if I just sowed them directly into a planter, then transplanted them in the garden in late spring?
I grew the variety 'Mignonette' from Renee's Garden last year. Made lovely plants, but I expected sweet alpine strawberry fruit. Instead the fruit was pithy, although abundant. I'm ripping them out and starting over again, this time with at least three varieties so I can taste test for my favorite. I'll let you know how it works out.
I have started a few alpine varieties from seeds. There are 2 ways I have had success with. #1 Plant the seeds outside just before the first frost, you should have a bunch of small plants show up just before spring. #2 Put the seeds into the freezer for 4 weeks, then plant them right into the soil When planting the seeds, just sprinkle them over the soil, no need to plant them deep.
Thanks for the tip! I planted the seeds about a week ago and they are sitting, in a container, on the window. I'll try freezing them for a few weeks, then sowing them outside in the garden. I'll let you know if they turn out.