Who doesn’t love sweet and fragrant strawberries? Probably many people dream of being able to grow this plant in their apartment. Strawberries on the balcony – this is quite a feasible dream! You only need to know how to properly plant the bush and care for it at home.
Conditions for growing
To successfully grow strawberries at home, you should know in what conditions it should be planted and maintained.
Temperature regime
During the germination period, keep the temperature at 18 degrees, if it’s higher, many of the seeds won’t germinate at all.
But when the seed sprouts, the container is placed in a cooler place with a temperature of 14-15 degrees.
During the flowering and fruiting phase of the plant on the windowsill, you should ensure that the thermometer mark does not go below 20 degrees.
Light
On the windowsill, strawberries should have enough light, so it is better to choose to install containers on the most illuminated side in the apartment.
If the plant does not get enough light, it will have to use a phytolamp, illuminating it for at least 12 hours a day.
If you do not do this procedure, the berries at home may never appear. On hot summer days, the bushes on the windowsill is better shaded from direct sunlight.
Watering
The plant should be watered very sparingly, but you should not allow the top layer of topsoil to dry out. At the stage of germination of the seeds it is better to replace watering by spraying with a sprayer, because small sprouts can stick to the ground under a strong stream of water. When the bushes get stronger, they are watered with water at room temperature in the morning or evening.
Container
The container for planting strawberries should have a depth of at least 15-17 cm, it can be an ordinary flower pot of 30-40 cm in diameter or a long box.
For planting strawberry seeds on the windowsill, you can also use peat pots, but then you will still have to transplant the seedlings into a permanent bulk container.
The main nuance for any container is the holes at the bottom for the outflow of excess liquid. Also, you can not forget about the drainage layer, which is made of expanded clay, broken bricks or pebbles.
Soil and its fertilization
For strawberries, you can buy a universal soil mixture for sprouts in a gardening store, but suitable soil can also be tried to make it yourself from peat, sand and biohumus in a ratio of 3:1:1. The other option requires 2 parts of turf soil and one part each of peat and sand. Peat in both cases should be taken nonacidic, also in the prepared mixture will not be superfluous to add ash and manure in small quantities. Mixed soil self-made better steamed for 30 minutes over a pot of boiling water to kill harmful bacteria and other pests.
Strawberries in nature get their nutrients from the soil, but at home, the plant on the windowsill needs to be fertilized. Choose liquid fertilizer, which is applied to the soil when watering, they can be bought in the store. Fertilize strawberries once every 14-15 days.
Propagation of strawberries
Multiply strawberries can be seedlings and seeds. Everyone chooses for themselves the more convenient method.
Vegetative method of propagation
Strawberry seedlings can be bought in a store or from familiar gardeners. However, there are ways to independently propagate strawberries vegetatively.
When the garden strawberries will have tendrils, you need to take any pot with holes in the bottom, fill it with one part soil and one part sand. Then it is necessary to dig the container into the ground so that only its edge was visible, bring the first rosette of the plant to the pot and press it to the ground with a pin. After that, regularly perform watering, not allowing it to dry out. After 21-23 days, the plant should start to take roots, then we separate it from the mother stem and don’t forget to water once a day. When frost arrives, we remove the seedlings from the soil and disinfect them in a manganese solution for 10-20 minutes. When the liquid drains off, leave the plant for a couple of days in a place at no more than 10 degrees. Then we place the plant on a light window sill, but dosveschivanie special lamp he will still need.
Another method is more simple. Before frosts, young rosettes that have put down roots should be dug up. We leave only 2-3 young leaves on the plants, the old ones are removed. Next, we dip the seedling in a manganese solution, and then plant it in a container with a prepared soil mixture. Water the plant and leave it for 3-4 days on a window sill, which is not very well lit, so that the seedling adapts to the sun. Then the strawberries should be placed on the brightest window sill + dosvetchivayut phytolampa.
How to grow berries from seeds?
To grow a good crop of berries on the windowsill from seeds, it is necessary to properly perform planting, because some beginners already at this stage make mistakes. Seeds can be purchased in a store or extracted from the berries you like on your own. However, in the latter case, the taste of the fruit may not be similar to your expectations. To extract the seeds ripe berries dried 14-15 days, then rubbed through a sieve and pour water. Then the water is drained off, and with it goes the pulp, leaving small seeds, of which the largest are selected and dried.
Before planting in the ground at home, the seed needs to be prepared. How to do it properly? To do this, we take the seeds and soak them in melted snow or rain water for 3 days. After that, the seed should be transferred to filtered moistened paper, which is placed on a plate and moved into a polyethylene bag. The bag should be placed in a bright and warm place, but so that direct sunlight does not fall on it. When the seed sprouts, it can be planted in the ground.
How to properly plant the seed?
In a pot with a prepared earth mixture we pour cold water, another option is to cover the top of the soil with snow. Then we spread the prepared seed on the surface of snow or soil. In the latter case, you need to lightly press the seeds to the ground, if the seeds are on the snow, you do not need to press. When planting in the soil, an interval of at least 2 cm should be maintained between the planted seeds. Covering strawberry seeds with soil is a big mistake of beginners! Next, we put the container with seeds in a plastic bag, tie it up and place it in the refrigerator for a day. After a day we put the pot in the heat. This procedure is called stratification, it accelerates the sprouting process. Open the bag every day to air it out and moisten it as needed.
Planting and care instructions
- To grow fruits at home, you should plant as early as the beginning of February. In a container with moistened soil mixture spread the prepared seeds. The seed should be placed on a layer of soil evenly and not abundantly. Do not cover the seeds with soil!
- Then the container is covered with cling film or glass and put in the refrigerator for 1 to 14 days.
- Then we place the container on a cool window sill, without removing the greenhouse. As necessary, moisten the soil with a sprayer. Sprouts may appear after 10-25 days. Start piercing holes in the film, so that the plants get used to the new conditions. If a lot of condensation collects on the greenhouse, open it and air it out.
- If the sprouts have grown too densely, you should thin them out. If the sprouts grew from seeds in small containers, they should be pickled in a large container after the formation of 2-3 true leaves. After continuing the standard care.
- Watering should be very regular and moderate, over drying the soil should not be allowed, but an overabundance of moisture can also have a negative effect on the plant. If necessary, dosveschivayut seedlings phytolampa. Fertilize strawberries together with watering 1 time in 14-15 days.
- Strawberries begin to bloom in about a month after planting, and bear fruit in a month after flowering. During the formation of flowers and fruits it is better that the temperature does not go below 20 degrees.
- It is better to pick the first buds so that the plant gains strength for the formation of fruits. When the bush begins to bloom, you need to artificially pollinate the flowers with a brush once every 7 days. Do not forget about the formation of the stem. On a bush you can leave 4-5 tendrils, but no more.
As you can see, growing strawberries at home is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance! Take care of the plant properly, then the result will not make you wait!
For a long time I thought about growing strawberries at home, even planted the seeds, but they do not sprout. Because of what this happens, I learned from the article. It turns out that they need to be pre-prepared for planting and then adhere to the light and heat regime of cultivation. Instruction on planting and care is informative, I will definitely use it.
I also made a number of mistakes, so I did not get the long-awaited berries of strawberries. I planted in special containers already ready seedlings, but apparently quite late. Strong heat my bushes did not survive. Now I will try the process of growing seedlings from pips. It is really not difficult, but time-consuming.
Pretty informative article. Although I have been growing all kinds of plants in the greenhouse for quite a long time, but I had a lot of problems with strawberries. As it turned out, it is all about the soil. It is very important not to forget to boil the soil to avoid micro-organisms. Because of my negligence the previous two attempts were unsuccessful and the seedlings died. Interested in the accurate and competent description of the irrigation regime and temperature conditions for cultivation.