Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 4: Selecting seedlings
• Method 2 of 4: Planting strawberries in the garden
• Method 3 of 4: Growing Potted Strawberries
• Method 4 of 4: Strawberry Care
• Tips
• What do you need
• Planting strawberries in the garden
• Growing strawberries in pots
• Strawberry care

Strawberries can serve as an ornamental plant as well as a source of delicious red berries; they bear fruit for about five years. It is rarely grown from seed. Get a strawberry seedling or whisker from your nursery and plant it outdoors or in a pot to enjoy a fragrant harvest next year.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Selecting seedlings

1. 1 Purchase a small strawberry bush or whisker from your garden supply store or plant nursery. You can buy both a pot-grown plant and individual whiskers.
   • The strawberry bushes grown in pots have already matured and grown a little. Sometimes berries appear on the bushes already in the year of planting, although a full harvest often has to wait until the next season.
   • Mustaches are usually cheaper. They are shoots with long roots, separated from the strawberry bushes. If you plant a mustache, you will have to wait a little longer for the first harvest.
2. 2 Choose an early strawberry variety that bears fruit in June if you want to harvest one big crop a year. The early varieties are bountiful, but they only bear fruit once a year, in June. Get this variety if you plan to cann or freeze strawberries.
   • There are various varieties of strawberries that bear fruit in June, including "seneca", "kimberli", "elsanta". Ask a store or nursery worker for recommendations on a variety that is suitable for your area.
3. 3 Choose a remontant (continuously bearing) variety for two less bountiful crops per year. Repaired varieties bear fruit in spring and autumn. During the year, you will harvest more crops, but the number of berries will be less than in the case of a variety that bears fruit in June.
   • Remontant varieties include “Queen Elizabeth”, “temptation”, “diamond” and others.
4. 4 Choose a plant with neutral daylight hours if you want to harvest small crops throughout the year. These varieties bear fruit as long as the temperature is kept in the 2-29 ° C range, but their yields are very low.
   • The varieties of neutral daylight hours include "albion" and "monterey".

Method 2 of 4: Planting strawberries in the garden

1. 1 Choose a sunlit and well-drained area in your garden. Look for a place where the strawberries will get 6-10 hours of sunshine a day. In this case, the soil should absorb moisture well. Do not plant strawberries where water stagnates.
   • To test if the soil is absorbing moisture well, dig a 30 x 30 cm hole and fill it with water. The next day, refill the hole with water and check how long it has been absorbed. Ideally, the water level should drop by 2.5-7.5 centimeters per hour.
   • Do not plant strawberries where you have grown tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplants in the past four years, or they may get infected with the fungus.
2. 2 Look for soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. Purchase a soil acid test kit from your garden supply store. Follow the instructions included with the kit to determine the pH level. The soil should be slightly acidic.
   • If the soil has an unsuitable pH level, it should be corrected. If the pH is too low, add lime or some dolomitized limestone to the soil. If the pH is too high, add sulfur or peat moss (sphagnum).
3. 3 Plant strawberries after the last frost in March or April. When the soil warms up enough and the last frost has passed, plant strawberries. This is usually done in March or April - check the frost forecasts in your area.
   • The soil should be soft and pliable so that you can easily dig a hole in it with a garden shovel. Otherwise, wait a few more weeks.
   • The soil must be dry. If it rains, wait a few days before planting strawberries.
4. 4 Dig a hole deep and wide enough for the roots. Usually, a hole of 10–20 centimeters is enough, depending on how long the roots are. If the plant is in a pot, dig a hole about the size of the pot.
5. 5 Transfer the plant from the pot to the hole. Remove the strawberries from the pot - be careful not to damage the roots. Place the roots in the ground and dust them on top with soil. Water the plant immediately afterwards.
   • Sprinkle only the roots with earth. The thick green stem should remain above the ground.
6. 6 Plant strawberry shoots 50 centimeters apart. If you are planting strawberries in several rows, the distance between them should be 1.2 meters. In this case, the plants will have enough room to grow.

Method 3 of 4: Growing Potted Strawberries

1. 1 Choose a large pot with drainage holes. For normal growth, take a pot with a diameter of 40–45 centimeters. Drainage holes in the bottom are needed to drain excess water from the soil.
2. 2 Place pebbles, small stones, or pottery shards on the bottom of the pot. Fill the pot about 1/3 full with them and spread agrotechnical cloth on top of them. This will ensure proper drainage of the soil. Strawberries do not take deep roots, so there is no need to fill the entire pot with soil.
   • It also makes the pot less heavy and easier to carry.
3. 3 Fill the remaining volume with potting soil. Use a versatile soil with a pH of 5.5–6.5. Leave enough space for the strawberries. You can add compost if desired to enrich the soil.
   • The potting mix should have the pH value indicated on it.
4. 4 Transfer the strawberries to a pot. Remove the plant from the original pot. Use your fingers to carefully remove any clumps of soil from the roots, but do not touch the roots to avoid damaging them. Place the plant in a hole in a new pot and cover the roots with soil.
   • The stem of the plant must remain above the ground. Make sure that only the roots are underground.
   • If you are using a large pot or box for several plants, plant the shoots 25 to 30 centimeters apart.
5. 5 Place the pots in a sunny spot. Strawberries need 6-10 hours of direct sunlight daily. Place the pots on your porch, garden, or balcony to give your plants enough sunlight. In winter, the pots can be brought indoors and placed near a sunlit window.
   • If the strawberries aren't getting enough sunlight indoors, try placing them under a plant lamp.

Method 4 of 4: Strawberry Care

1. 1 Water your strawberries regularly. She needs about 2.5 centimeters of water per week. Water the base of the plants.Do not pour water on berries and leaves, as this can lead to the development of fungus and rot.
   • To roughly estimate the amount of water needed, assume that for every 2.5 meters of plants, approximately 20 liters of water are required.
2. 2 Add mulch in the fall to protect the roots from frost. Spread the mulch around the base of the stems. You can use straw, pine needles or wood shavings. In the spring, add mulch to the spaces between the rows to keep weeds out of the beds.
3. 3 Weed the strawberries. Weeds can easily drown out strawberries, especially newly planted plants. Inspect the garden once a week and manually pull the weeds and roots. A hoe can be used between the rows.
4. 4 Pick off the first flowers. Remove the first flowers that appear to encourage the strawberry to grow. Flowers can be picked by hand or trimmed with garden shears.
   • If you have a variety that bears fruit in June, remove all flowers in the first year to harvest the next year. Don't pick flowers the next year.
   • If you are growing a remontant or neutral daylight variety, remove flowers by the end of June. After that, leave the flowers to harvest in the fall.
5. 5 Protect plants from parasites with insecticides. Many insects like to eat strawberries, including caterpillars, beetles, aphids and thrips. To protect your plants, treat them with insecticidal soap or neem spray. Read the directions for use and make sure the product can be used indoors.
   • Be sure to follow the directions for use that came with the insecticide.
   • Cover the strawberries with a net to prevent birds from eating them.
6. 6 Use a fungicide to prevent fungal infections. Strawberries are susceptible to many fungal diseases such as powdery mildew or gray mold. Purchase a fungicide suitable for indoor use. It should indicate that it is good for strawberries. Follow directions for use.
   • If some of the leaves change color or become stained, tear or cut them to prevent the spread of the disease.
7. 7 Collect strawberries. When ¾ of the berries turn red, they can be picked. Take a bowl or basket for this. Rotate the stem to pick the berry. Wash strawberries in cold water before eating.
   • Collect the berries as soon as they are ripe. If ripe strawberries sit on the ground for too long, they will start to rot.
   • Remove the berries that have begun to rot from the plant. It is best to throw them away rather than leave them on the bush.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   "Strawberries usually ripen in 4-6 weeks."

   
   

   

   Maggie moran

   Home and garden specialist Maggie Moran is a professional gardener from Pennsylvania.

   Maggie moran
   Home and garden specialist

Tips

• Strawberries usually stop bearing fruit after 4–6 years. Depletion time depends on the variety. Remove bushes when they no longer produce a normal crop.
• If you've planted strawberries in a hanging basket or pot, remember to rotate it frequently so that the plant gets enough sunlight from all directions.

What do you need

Planting strawberries in the garden

• Pot-grown seedling or mustache
• Trowel
• Soil test kit
• Garden hose or watering can

Growing strawberries in pots

• Potted Sapling or Mustache
• Pot or drawer
• Potting soil mix for indoor plants
• Trowel
• Plant lamp (optional)

Strawberry care

• Garden hose or watering can
• Gardening scissors
• Hoe
• Mulch
• Insecticidal soap or neem
• Fungicide
• Grid