How to grow strawberries from seed: country tricks

Growing strawberries from seeds is a possible task even for a novice gardener, you just need to know some details of the process.

The main advantage of this method of cultivation is the preservation of varietal characteristics, as well as obtaining a large number of seedlings from several berries.

Top Grades

Varietal variety of berries allows you to choose a crop with the best combination of characteristics: taste, yield, resistance to weather conditions and diseases. Consider the most interesting varieties for planting strawberry seeds:

• "Diamond". The variety is high-yielding, the berries are not juicy, but sweet, giving abundant crops in one place for up to 3 years. It is immune to fungal and viral diseases, tolerates transportation, cold-resistant.
• "Ducat".Sweet juicy fruits with a delicate aroma, compact bushes, giving a high yield. The variety is medium early, not afraid of drought and frost, resistant to diseases, transportable.
• "Queen Elizabeth II". The variety is popular for seed cultivation. Fruits are large, juicy and sweet, the weight of the berry reaches 100 g. The variety is winter-hardy with good fruiting, but requires transplanting in two years.
• "Clery". Large, juicy, sweet and fragrant berries. The culture is resistant to root and deciduous fungal diseases, drought and frost. Berries are universal in application: fresh, canning, freezing, candied fruits.
• "Olbia". The variety is adapted to a sharp change in weather conditions, is not afraid of drought, resistant to diseases, transportable. The berries are large, hard but juicy, with high levels of sugar content.
• "Kent". Soft, sweet and juicy berry. A long period of fruiting, not afraid of frost, tolerates transportation, is not capricious in the care, resistant to most diseases of the culture.

Growing conditions

Seed strawberries are grown mainly in seedlings at home. Contain under a film covering with daily airing.Be sure to ensure that the crops were not standing in the draft.

Temperature

During germination, the temperature regime is from 23 to 25 degrees Celsius. After the emergence of shoots, so that the shoots are not strongly stretched, the temperature is lowered to 18 degrees, gradually accustoming the seedlings to coolness, removing the film. During adaptation, the seedlings do not water.

Lighting Requirements

The seedlings are demanding for lighting, since the time of sowing early and the light day is still short, crops need to provide additional light. Artificial lighting includes the absence of daylight, so that the seedlings are lit at least 12 hours a day.

You can purchase an outlet with a timer that will automatically turn the light on and off at a set time.

Requirements for soil for planting (container, peat tablets)

For sowing in the container, two types of soil are suitable:

• sand, peat and biohumus in a ratio of 1: 3: 1;
• sand, peat and turf 1: 1: 2.

You can grow strawberries in peat tablets: it will save time on tillage and pick picking.The tablets are placed in a container, poured with water to increase in size and spread the prepared seeds. The container is covered with a lid or film.

Features of sowing strawberries

Seeds can be used from the berries grown personally, or buy. It should be noted that the seeds of hybrid varieties do not retain maternal characteristics.

Selection of seeds for planting

When buying seeds for the first time, it is advisable to enlist the support of a more experienced gardener, but if you buy it yourself, then follow the following rules:

• Same-grade grades are more delicious, but remontant berries can be eaten all summer long (decide on the variety of berries);
• seeds of elite varieties are expensive and there are few of them in packaging; for the first time, it is better to focus on a simpler option;
• be sure to check the shelf life of seeds;
• You need to buy planting material in a specialized store, not on the street.

Planting dates

Today, most gardeners determine the dates of sowing, planting and other garden work, focusing on the lunar calendar gardeners.Strawberry seeds begin to sow in February, in which case the seedlings will have to be illuminated, but then the berries can be seen already in the coming summer. You can sow strawberries in April, in this case, the harvest will be only in a year.

How to plant a plant

Strawberries from seeds are not difficult to grow, but it is advisable to know some summer tricks that allow you to grow a good harvest. The fineness begins before sowing with the preparation of the seeds themselves and the soil for them.

Soil and Seed Preparation

The prepared soil mixture is calcined in the oven for about half an hour at a temperature of 150 degrees or, on the contrary, frozen, exposing to cold, preferably negative temperature for a week. Then put in the heat to the earth "came to itself."

For disinfection of seeds, they are soaked for 30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, rinsed and spread on a damp napkin, covered with another, also moistened, rolled up into a tightly closed container. Then a roll of napkins is placed in the fridge for two weeks, moistened daily, and slightly dried before sowing.

Sowing rules

Another caveat: before filling the tank for crops with soil, you need to thoroughly wipe it with a solution of potassium permanganate. At the bottom of the container should be openings for drainage of excess moisture. Seeds are not buried in the soil in order for them to hatch, they need light, they place seeds at a distance of 3 cm from each other.

Features berry care

For strawberry seeds, the best place to grow seedlings will be the western or eastern sill.

For shoots

Shoots air out every day, monitor the amount of condensation on the film: if it is not there at all, then shoots need moisture; if there are too many drops on the film, watering should be reduced, and the condensate wiped.

Shoots watered at the root, using a conventional medical syringe. This will protect the leaves from sprouting from water and darkening during evaporation. Watering is carried out once a week, in the morning or in the evening, the water is used purified or separated.

Once every three weeks, seedlings are watered with a fungicide ("Trichodermin", "Planriz"), respectively, instructions for prevention against fungal diseases. After the formation of 3-4 strong leaves sprout dive, pinching the spine. Nuance: the sprout is taken out not for the stem, but for the cotyledon leaves, shoots are pre-watered. A few days after the picking, you can feed potash phosphate fertilizer. Fertilize strawberries every ten days before transplanting into the open ground with water-soluble preparations with a small amount of nitrogen.

After landing in open ground

Planting in open ground can be carried out when the soil has warmed up to 12 degrees, and there is no threat of return frost. Landing is carried out either in the evening or in cloudy weather, having previously dug up and cleared the soil. Shrubs are laid in the wells, straightening the roots, leaving the root neck at the level of the soil surface. The distances between bushes are 30 cm, between rows 50 cm. After planting, the bushes are watered.

Strawberries do not like waterlogging, water planting as the topsoil dries. It is desirable to carry out watering in the morning, while pouring water under a bush, trying not to fall on the foliage. In order not to waste time on frequent weeding, strawberries are mulched, at the same time the soil is preserved from drying out and overheating. At the beginning of flowering strawberries are fed with a mullein solution of 1: 6, adding wood ash - half a glass to ten liters of solution. Potash-phosphorus complexes are introduced during the laying of berries.

Three times a season the site is sprayed with preparations containing copper for the prevention of fungal infections. For insect prophylaxis, several insecticide sprays are performed. Against slugs I use crushed walnut shells.

Self harvesting seeds

Own planting material gives many advantages: you know what qualities a future crop has, what kind of care loves this variety and how to grow this strawberry from seeds. In order to collect the seeds, you need to choose a large and ripe berry, put it in a container with water and leave it for several days. Then the pulp is gently rubbed through a sieve, separating the seeds.The seeds are washed, dried, sorted and folded in a paper bag. Tara seeds stored in a dark, dry place.

Growing strawberries can be both work on the decoration of the site. By choosing an unusual planting method - hanging pots, flower beds in the shape of a pyramid, vertical multi-tiered plantings, you can add a special aromatic-berry note to the design.