How to grow strawberries at home in pots?

Strawberries are one of the most favorite treats not only for children, but also for adults. Many gardeners quite often grow it on their site or in a greenhouse. But there are also such craftsmen who have adapted to grow strawberries in a pot at home on the window in the winter season. How to do this will be discussed today.

Features of growing strawberries in winter

Today everyone can grow any vegetables and fruits for a whole year. To do this, it is enough to have a special greenhouse. But this option is costly. Therefore, lately growing garden and garden plants at home on a windowsill or balcony is gaining great popularity... Strawberries were no exception. After all, many will agree that it is very original and tasty.

Growing strawberries in a pot is a popular activity.

This will require quality seedlings, a pot, soil and great patience, because strawberry is a rather moody plant.

An important point! Dug out strawberry seedlings are stored in a cold room for up to 9 months.

How to wake up a seedling

On short light days in winter, you will need a fluorescent lamp.

To wake up a seedling, it must be brought into a warm room. Thus, if desired, you can establish conveyor cultivation of strawberries, all year round.

It is important to remember that this plant is light-loving, and in winter, as you know, daylight hours are short. Therefore, additional lighting should be provided, a fluorescent lamp will help with this.

Pollination

The pollination process can be done with a brush.

Pollination will be another nuance. Since during the cultivation of strawberries in the greenhouse, you can place a hive with bees or launch bumblebees there, it is impossible to do this in an apartment.

But you should not get upset in order to carry out the pollination process, it is necessary to touch the strawberry flowers with a brush every day.

Suitable varieties of strawberries

To get a really suitable strawberry variety, you should not be led by pretty pictures in flower shops. According to many experienced gardeners, you should choose proven remontant strawberry varieties.They are less capricious in their care and are able to bear fruit for a whole year.

The Queen Elizabeth II strawberry variety is suitable for growing on a windowsill.

Repairing strawberry varieties do not live long, only 2-3 years.

Following the feedback from people who have been growing strawberries on the windowsill for several years the following varieties are ideal:

• Autumn fun
• Garland
• Crimean remontant
• Inexhaustible, etc.
• Queen Elizabeth
• Queen Elizabeth II
• F1 novel
• Tristar
• Brighton.

It is best to plant strawberries not from seeds, but seedlings. Since during planting with the help of seeds, you will have to try hard for the plants to grow. But during planting seedlings, the hassle will be much less.

Soil preparation

Once the variety is selected, you can start preparing the soil.

You can buy ready-made soil in the store.

Many people, in order not to bother, buy ready-made soil in soda centers. But there are also gardeners who cook it on their own. Moreover, such soil is considered the best.

• To prepare the substrate, you will need sand, humus and earth from ephedra in equal parts. All these components must be mixed well.
• It is undesirable to take land from the garden... Since it is not loose enough and very often it is infected with various diseases, which can lead to the death of plants.

Preparing strawberry seedlings

You cannot plant strawberries just dug from the garden in a pot.

Many people often make the mistake of planting strawberries dug from the garden in the fall without any preparation.

1. Before planting such a strawberry in a pot, you need to carefully examine for diseases.
2. You should choose only the most beautiful and complete sockets.
3. Selected seedlings before planting place a pot of soil and put in a cool place (basement or refrigerator) for 12-14 days. This will provoke a dormant state in the plant, thus, it will rest a little.

Planting strawberries in pots

The first step is to take care of the container for the strawberry bush. It is important that it is of the right size and has special holes for water drainage, for one seedling, a 3-liter flowerpot is considered the norm... Many housewives prefer to plant strawberries in long balcony pots. In this case, 3-4 bushes can be placed in one flowerpot.

Long balcony pots are suitable for growing strawberries.

Important to remember! You cannot transplant strawberries from one container to another. Because after transplantation, adult bushes very often die.

Landing technology

When planted correctly, strawberries will yield a harvest.

This stage is the most important, since the further growth of the strawberry harvest will depend on the correctness of actions during planting seeds or seedlings.

Transplanting

Pebbles can be used as drainage.

1. There must be a drain at the bottom of the container... To do this, use pebbles, expanded clay or broken brick.
2. Then it is necessary to examine the roots of the plant, if they are too long they should be shortened... So that they fit freely in the container.
3. The roots of the plant are carefully covered with earth and compacted a little.
4. After planting, the strawberries should be watered... This can be done with the help of growth stimulants.

Planting seeds

1. First, the grains are placed in small plastic cups and covered with plastic wrap.
2. Then they must be placed in the warmest place in the apartment.
3. After the sprouts grow a little, they are transplanted into a permanent place (flowerpot).

Strawberry seeds should be placed in a glass and placed in a warm place.

Room strawberry care

Strawberries require abundant watering.

Caring for strawberries in flowerpots on the windowsill is a laborious process. Since this plant requires a lot of attention, especially if it is not grown in a natural environment in winter. In order for strawberries to develop well and bear fruit, you must follow the basic rules of care:

• Lighting... Firstly, you need to place flowerpots with strawberries on the windows, where the sun's rays constantly fall. But there will still be little daylight for the plant in winter; it needs additional illumination with the help of fluorescent lamps.
• Watering... It should be regular and abundant.
• The temperature regime should be within 20—th degrees.
• Top dressing. It is required during flowering and ripening of berries. This should be done once every two weeks. During this period, it is recommended to apply complex, organic or mineral fertilizers. You can also spray strawberries with iron fertilizers, it has a beneficial effect on the amount of the crop.
• Loosening. It needs to be done regularly to ensure oxygen gets to the roots.

Pollination at home strawberries in winter

This is a must-have event for harvesting. Therefore, we will consider it in more detail.

This is done in two ways: mechanical and manual... During mechanical, a small fan is installed next to the plants, when it is turned on, the air flow carries pollen to all inflorescences. To pollinate the flowers by hand, you need to touch each flower on the bush with a soft brush. According to many experienced gardeners, the second method, although time consuming, is more effective.

Mechanical pollination requires a small fan.

None of the maintenance points can result in plant death or crop loss. Therefore, it is necessary to take all the above recommendations seriously.

conclusions

Growing strawberries in a pot will be great fun!

Despite the hassle that you will have to face while growing strawberries in winter at home, this process can bring tremendous pleasure to the gardener. Indeed, many in the winter begin to get bored, for the opportunity to dig in the garden. And the admiration of the household will be an excellent reward for the work done.

Video about growing strawberries at home

Growing strawberries in pots is a fairly new trend, but it already has a lot of fans. It is very convenient to plant strawberries in pots if there is not enough space at the summer cottage, but there is a desire to grow berries of different varieties and get a bountiful harvest. Another advantage of such cultivation is that ripe berries can be picked in their pure form, since they do not come into contact with the ground, do not be nailed to it by raindrops. With this cultivation, the fruits do not rot and are not eaten by slugs. Growing strawberries in pots on the street - an easy task and will be within the power of anyone, even a novice summer resident. What is required for this?

Growing strawberries in pots outdoors

Potted strawberries - how to grow?

Pots are often set in tiers, which will further save space and help increase planting volume. Also, you can use hanging containers. Such pots with bright berries will serve as a decoration of the site, its real attraction. What is required for such strawberry cultivation? Compliance with some recommendations:

• Choose a variety. It is necessary to choose the right strawberry variety, since not everyone is suitable for these purposes. It is best to choose remontant and ampelous varieties. From remontant bushes, you can harvest twice a year, and the second time in the fall.
• Prepare the seedling. For planting strawberries in pots, preparation begins in the fall. To do this, you should dig out the required number of the strongest and most productive bushes with two or three leaves. They are stacked in a row on top of each other, covered with breathable material and placed in a cool dry place until February.
• Pick up a pot. The bushes are planted in pots, the volume of which is at least one liter, but it is better to use two or three liter containers. The diameter of the pot is at least 45 centimeters, since the plant sprouts. A convenient option would be to use plastic containers.They keep moisture well and are light in weight. In case of unfavorable weather, the pots can be brought indoors or moved to another place.
• Create drainage. A hole is needed in the pots and a drainage layer should be poured - small pebbles, no more than 4 millimeters in diameter (pebbles, expanded clay). 2/3 of the containers are filled with soil (you can buy in specialized stores or use soil from your own plot, harvested in the fall).

In one pot or container, depending on the size, no more than three seedlings are planted. Moreover, the distance between them should not be less than 20 centimeters. Fertilizers should be applied weekly, or once every two weeks. It is recommended to use organic or complex fertilizers, as they contain special substances that stimulate plant growth. Feeding is especially necessary during the period of flowering and ripening of berries.

Care for potted strawberries

In the pots, you need to constantly maintain the necessary humidity for good berry formation. Since the soil in containers dries out faster than in the beds, it is necessary to water it often and not allow it to dry out, but the moisture should not stagnate. It is necessary to monitor the shoots and remove the extra ones, leaving no more than two that can replace the parent plant. Removed tendrils can be planted in other containers. The next year, the plants in the pot need to be divided so that they are not very crowded.

When the weather is warm and the air temperature is above zero degrees at night, the pots of seedlings can be taken outside. Usually, containers are not installed on the ground, but structures are made for them from long beams attached to poles, on which the pots are placed. Or they build a pyramid and put plants on it. You can take pots of different diameters and set them on top of each other. When planting in a multilevel way, ripe berries should be picked on time, especially if they are large. Since when they fall, they can injure the branches.

Growing strawberries in pots on the street will not only bring you a lot of fruit, but it will also save you the trouble of caring. In the fall, it is recommended to cut off the ground part of the plants and remove the containers in a dark, cool place until spring.

See also the video:

Growing strawberries in pots

If you don't have a place in your garden to plant strawberries, don't be discouraged. We suggest you learn how to grow strawberries in a pot on a windowsill. Now you can taste this tasty and aromatic berry before anyone else. Growing strawberries in pots requires compliance with certain rules and conditions. Why buy a berry when you can grow it in your own apartment.

How to quickly and easily grow strawberries at home

Before you start planting strawberry seedlings in pots, decide on the variety. It turns out that not all species are adapted for growing in an apartment, some grow well only in the fresh air. It is advisable to select remontant strawberry varieties, since they bear fruit at least 2 times a year and are less demanding to care for.

According to gardeners' reviews, we can conclude that there are two types of remontant strawberries for growing in pots. The first one bears fruit only during the period when the daylight hours are long, that is, you can only harvest the fruits twice a year. Another type of remontant strawberry does not depend on the length of daylight hours, so it will bear fruit for almost 10 months a year. Choose a suitable variety for growing in pots, then you can eat the berry all year round.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of strawberry pots. They can be made of plastic or wood. It is very important to make good drainage, then a plastic pot will do, otherwise the seedlings will not breathe and will quickly die.

For one strawberry bush, the volume of the container must be at least 3 liters. You can use long drawers if there is room on the windowsill to place them.Remember to make holes in the pots to drain off excess water. Remember, strawberries don't like stagnant water.

Also read about the Budenovka tomato variety.

It is best to buy ready-made soil mix from the store, as it has a unique composition for flowering plants. For planting, you can use seeds or seedlings. Growing from seed is more reliable but troublesome. It is carried out in long boxes, which create a greenhouse effect for the rapid maturation of the seed. Pour soil into crates, add water, and then add seeds. Cover the structure with plastic and water the ground periodically. When the first shoots appear, the film can be removed.

Growing potted strawberries from seedlings is much easier, however, you cannot be 100% sure that you have planted the exact variety of strawberries you want.

1. Take a strawberry bush.
2. Trim part of the root and excess leaves with pruning shears.
3. Pour soil into the pot.
4. Make a small indentation.
5. Pour water into it.
6. Plant a bush in a pot and cover with earth.
7. Drizzle over the strawberries.

How to care for potted strawberries

After planting seedlings of remontant strawberries, it is important to provide proper care for them. It is important to cut the bush in a timely manner so that the plant grows well and quickly. As soon as the bush reaches a height of 10 cm, you will need to cut off its top. It is important to cut off all antennae, which take a lot of energy from the plant.

The main difficulty in growing and caring for potted strawberries is pollination. If you placed the pots outside, for example, hung them in a flowerpot, then the strawberries will be pollinated by bees. When grown on a windowsill in an apartment, you will have to pollinate yourself with a brush. Do not forget to monitor the ripening of the fruit so that they do not break the branches.

Now you know all the features of growing strawberries in pots with your own hands. Get vitamins all year round and surprise your family with always delicious homemade strawberries.

Strawberries are the most long-awaited and demanded berry in the middle lane for most consumers. Unfortunately, its mass ripening season is very short. Usually it is only 2-3 weeks in late May and early June. But amateur gardeners often grow homemade strawberries at home, right on the windowsill at any time of the year, getting small harvests of this beautiful berry.

Technologies for growing strawberries at home all year round

Home cultivation of any crop is characterized by small areas due to the limited size of window sills and a number of difficulties in maintaining the required lighting and air humidity. However, those who are seriously interested in this usually build a small greenhouse for strawberries, or adapt a balcony for this.

Strawberries in pots in winter

The best option with this method is to dig up a strawberry bush in the fall and store it in the cold until mid-December. Next, the bush is awakened, forced to actively grow and harvest in early spring.

The dug out bush is planted in a pot the size of its root system. The soil can be prepared from 1 part of humus, 1 part of land from a coniferous forest, 1 part of sand. But store-bought soil for strawberries or universal is also suitable.

The pot is placed on a balcony or in another cold room and stored at a temperature not exceeding +10 degrees, watering infrequently. In this case, you do not need to worry about the lack of lighting, since in this mode, the processes of photosynthesis in plants stop.

To awaken strawberries, they are brought into a room with room temperature (you can immediately on the windowsill) and wait for the first new leaves to appear. When this happens, it is necessary to light up the bushes. In December and January, on cloudy days, the duration of the backlight is usually 3-4 hours a day, on clear days 2-3 hours are enough. In February, you can reduce it by 1 hour, and at the beginning of March, turn it on only in cloudy weather for 1-2 hours. Additional lighting is no longer required from mid-March.

A more difficult path is strawberry from seed. In this situation, the first harvest can be obtained only in May, and for this you have to try.

Seeds are sown in January-February in shallow containers with sandy soil. A mixture of purchased seedling soil and coarse sand is suitable. Seeds do not need to be covered with a layer of soil, just spread over the surface. After that, the soil is sprayed from a spray bottle, and the container is covered with a plastic bag or a mini-greenhouse.

Seedlings appear in 3 weeks. They are kept on the windowsill at room temperature and must be illuminated, preferably with phytolamps or DNAT or DNAZ lamps.

Important! Seedlings dive in 2-2.5 months, when they reach a sufficient size, and for the grown seedlings, an already fertile soil mixture is induced.

Use of ready-made automated systems

The easiest way for those who are ready to spend money is to purchase a ready-made automated system for growing strawberries. The Fazenda Green system is popular on the Russian market.

It is a wall shelf with three shelves, each of which contains 7 pots. Each shelf is illuminated by a phytolamp with a perfectly matched radiation spectrum. Also, a compact drip irrigation system is supplied to each tank.

The system is equipped with sensors that monitor the level of illumination on the shelves, humidity in the pots and themselves regulate the switching on and off of lamps, water supply.

Growing in bags

Growing strawberries in bags is not fundamentally different from growing them in pots. A feature of this technology is the ability to plant bushes in several rows. This saves space in a cramped balcony or small greenhouse.

To do this, a bag made of polyethylene or burlap is tightly packed with soil, sealed, and placed vertically. Then - holes are carefully cut in it with a knife for planting bushes. The distance between the holes is 10-15 cm. They can be cut in many rows along the entire height of the bag.

Seedlings (taken from the garden or grown from seeds) are planted in the cut cells. Further care for them is the same as for growing in pots.

Using hydroponics

Hydroponics is an advanced cultivation method for indoor crops. With this method, the yield increases sometimes several times than with traditional cultivation in soil.

This is achieved through a variety of factors that contribute to success:

• the possibility of accurate dosing of the applied dressings;
• saving water (the same water can be reused);
• no weeds;
• compact placement of plants in several levels.

The hydroponic method requires special equipment that can be purchased or made by yourself.

To make a hydroponic plant, you will need PVC pipes with a diameter of 10-15 cm. Holes are made in them at a distance of 10-12 cm to fit the size of the pots. The pipe system can be placed in several rows horizontally on top of each other. A container with a working nutrient solution is placed at the highest point.
Often such a system is equipped with a pump and an automated system that allows 2 times a day for 5-10 minutes to drive liquid through the pipes, pump it into the upper reservoir and start it again in a circle. For home conditions, a reservoir is enough, and the solution can be run manually by opening the valve 2-3 times a day.

Important! It is preferable to use plastic pots with large drainage holes. Their size should correspond to the volume of the root system of the grown strawberry bushes.

Strawberries are placed in pots and fixed either with the help of a special hydroponic substrate, or thanks to pebbles, expanded clay.

The pots are inserted into the tubes and a test run of the liquid is carried out for 5 minutes.As a result, strawberry roots in all containers should be moistened by at least 2/3 of their height. If this condition is met, then the system is ready for use.

Varieties for year-round breeding

For home conditions, only remontant ampelous varieties of strawberries are suitable. This will provide constant yields of berries throughout the year, since these varieties are able to bloom and bear fruit regardless of the season. Also, the bushes of such strawberries are very decorative, therefore they will also serve for aesthetic purposes.

Renovated strawberries are represented in a great variety of varieties, and new ones appear every year. But the requirements for them for home cultivation remain unchanged.

They have to:

• be capable of self-pollination;
• have a high immunity to fungal diseases, are resistant to adverse environmental factors (primarily temperature);
• have early maturity;
• form large berries (according to the principle: less, but better).

Here are just some of the possible options for growing at home: Pineapple, Selva, Crimean remontantnaya, Queen Elizabeth, Garland, Geneva, Darselect, Moscow delicacy, Sakhalin.

What to choose - seeds or seedlings?

All flower growers, summer residents, gardeners who are wondering which is preferable: to grow remontant strawberries from seeds or propagate with a mustache - you need to remember one important point once and for all. Repaired varieties reproduce only by seeds!

However, if we are talking about growing strawberries at home by forcing them, then, of course, it makes sense in the fall to dig out a bush from the garden bed, which at one time was obtained precisely from seeds. In other words, growing a bush from seeds at home is a longer and more laborious process, which, however, is also practiced.

Conditions for growing berry crops

The main factor that allows remontant strawberries to bear fruit throughout the year, and not only in the high season, is the timely application of fertilizers.

There are several recommendations for growing strawberries at home:

• Lighting. It should be enough, especially in winter. At a minimum, you need to use 2-3 fluorescent lamps per bush, but it is strongly recommended to purchase phyto-lamps.
• The soil. At home, strawberries are often affected by fungal diseases, so the soil is either purchased in a special store (where it has already been disinfected), or disinfected on its own. The best methods of disinfection are calcination, watering with phytosporin and a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Strawberry care at different times of the year

Strawberries at home often suffer from a lack of light and drafts (in winter), dry air (at the height of summer), fungal diseases.

Therefore, it is important to properly care for her at different times of the year.

• In late autumn and early winter, while strawberries are on their winter "rest", they are rarely watered. The main thing is not to overfill, thereby preventing rotting of the root system.
• When it is brought into the room, supplementary lighting becomes the main factor, since in winter and early spring there is an acute deficit of sunlight.
• The first feeding can be done only when the first flowers appear. If we are talking about the forcing method, then this happens in March, and if the plant is grown from seeds - at the beginning of May. To do this, use either complex organic fertilizers, or a mixture of mineral fertilizers with an equal content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. If in the fall the plant was planted in a new soil, then you can do without feeding at all, or bring the solution in a lower concentration than indicated on the package.
• In summer, strawberries need moderate watering and feeding. Regardless of whether the method of forcing or growing from seeds is used, during the summer, strawberries are fed with complex fertilizers 2-3 times, and also once in September (which will allow to collect another 1-2 autumn harvests).
• In extreme heat, strawberries are either taken out into the open air in a shaded place, or they are furnished with containers of water in order to increase the humidity of the air. They do the same in winter if the heating batteries dry up the air too much.
• In the first half of autumn, you can continue to care for the berry as if the summer had not ended yet. From the end of September, artificial lighting is switched on for 1-2 hours a day. When the strawberry finally stops bearing fruit, the owner has the right to decide its fate: plant it in open ground, transfer it to the balcony for the winter, or get rid of it.

Practice shows that at home it is very difficult to keep the bush until the next season. Even if this succeeds, the strawberries are not already bearing fruit as abundantly as in the past. Therefore, the best solution is to plant it on a garden bed, and the next year - to take a bush from open ground or stock up on seeds.

The main secrets and subtleties of year-round strawberry cultivation

Growing strawberries at home all year round is ensured not only through the selection of a remontant variety, but also other simple secrets:

• With the forcing method, gardeners use one trick to extend fruiting over all four seasons. For this, the dug strawberries are stored in a regular refrigerator. The bushes are awakened not at the same time, but in waves with a difference of a month. Thanks to this, you can even achieve year-round fruiting of strawberries! That is, remove the first bushes in December, and the last in May. With proper care, the latest ones can give their last harvest even in winter!
• The second secret is hand pollination. Above, a recommendation was given to purchase self-pollinating varieties, but additional manual pollination, as practice shows, increases yields.

Reasons for the lack of fruiting

If the strawberry does not bear fruit, then it is obvious that some mistakes were made in its cultivation. But which ones?

Let's consider the most common ones.

• Overfeeding with nitrogen fertilizers. As mentioned above, strawberries are fed with complex fertilizers with approximately the same content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. If the balance is disturbed in favor of nitrogen, then strawberries will actively build up their green mass, preventing the fruit from forming.
• Lack of lighting. This is especially true in winter and until mid-March. In winter, this demanding culture is sorely lacking in light. Fluorescent lamps give a very weak luminous flux, and if strawberries were supplemented by them, then there is nothing surprising in the fact that they do not bear fruit. Those who seriously want to do this business should purchase either special phyto-lamps, or a powerful lamp DNAT or DNAZ from 250 watts.
• Lack of dressing. Starting in May, strawberries need phosphorus-potassium and complex feeding. This should not be neglected.

Growing strawberries at home is not an easy task, but it is not overly difficult either. It is a demanding and vulnerable culture that bears extraordinarily valuable fruits. Probably, everyone would dream of getting the long-awaited berries at a time when the strawberry season has long passed or has not yet begun. Well, everyone now has such a chance. Armed with knowledge and patience, anyone can succeed in this direction.