Strawberries from seed

[MissMoustache]

Hi all!

I'm wondering if you've grown strawberries from seed and what your favorite (s) were? Any tips or tricks I should know? I'm winter sowing and cold treating this year.

I have Pineapple and Mignonette (alpine) from Renee's Garden Seeds. I'm thinking about ordering seeds for Mara de Bois and either Toscana or Merlan.

I know I can't grow them from seed but I'm also planning on buying some pineberry plants and growing them.

My fruit gardening first priority is flavor I can't get from the local no spray you pick farm. The second is beauty. I prefer ever bearing for at home since I can get what I need for preserving locally and without chemicals. If it matters I can plant into raised beds or pots only.

So I'm considering doing a whole bed of strawberries with pink or red flowers (Toscana, Tristan, Ruby Ann, or Merlan) or maybe doing a bed that mixes in white flowered cultivars too. The other bed will be either pineberries or Mara de Bois (or both).

Which non white flowered strawberries taste the best? Anything I'm planning on buying not worth it? (Disease etc) And what are your favorite alpine strawberries?

[NarnianGarden]

Yes, yes, that's the best way
We are all strong pioneering gardeners and grow all our stuff from seeds.. no need for plants and seedlings! Those are for lazy sissies, lol.

In all seriousness: I believe the process of growing your own strawberry plants in your own conditions makes them stronger from the start, better acclimatized for their intended location.
During the last three years, I have grown Yellow wonder (Alpine variety), they grew and bloomed well, from a slow and tiny start became large lush bushes.
They died after two years (thanks to a harsh winter 2015-2016), but that's actually their normal cycle.
Last year, I sowed another alpine variety Rügers, and also a garden variety Temptation. Those seedlings are now planted in the ground, we'll see in the spring how many survived under the snow.
There are also some natural alpine strawberries growing in the same location (it's so common it's like a weed in our country...), will be interesting to see how they'll interact and possibly cross pollinate.

I might sow some more seeds in April and grow those seedlings in pots just for the fun of it..

Tristan, the lovely pink-flowered beauty: Had one in a pot last summer, was pretty, and plenty of flowers. The taste of the berries, however, was not something spectacular. If you want it for decorational purposes, it's very lovely.. for taste, I'd recommend something else.

[Durgan]

I have grown from seed. I just took a berry and dried the seed and planted it in a cup. Many germinated. I matured two plants. This was about ten years ago as an experiment. I don't grow them any more. Not worth the effort since many are grown commercially in my area and I only need about 30 pounds which I make into juice.

http://durgan.org/2016/June%202016/2...%20Juice/HTML/ 23 June 2016 Strawberry Juice
Twenty four quarts\pounds of strawberries were picked at a cost of $2.00 per quart and made into 19 liters of Pressure canned juice. Process was to remove ends, place in cooking pot, cover with water about seven liters, bring to a boil and blend into a slurry. Put through food mill screen 2 mm mesh. There was little residue and this step could be eliminated. The juice was placed in liter jars (19) and pressure canned in batches of seven. The pressure canning was 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. A quart or liter of berries weight about one pound. Each liter of juice contains about 1.2 pounds or a quart/liter of berries. The juice has a slight tart taste, since strawberries are not very sweet.

[MissMoustache]

Thank you for the reply! Its good to know that alpines are pretty much done after two years.

According to the two reviews of growing pink flowered strawberries from seed that I could find...Toscana tastes better than Tristan. I think I'll probably do a mixed bed of the pink and white then.

Here in the Midwest USA we have lots of wild strawberries at least in my area. I think they're a bit different from Europe's cultivars though. We have lots of the wild yellow flowered ones that aren't very tasty and then some white flowered ones that are...but are less common. I'm transplanting the yellow ones out of the other parts of the yard to a bird and butterfly border to add food for wildlife so I don't feel so guilty about netting all my fruit

And I agree, I think plants done from seed in the conditions they're going to grow in acclimate better. Especially if you save seed and replant year after year.

[NarnianGarden]

Wow, yellow-flowered strawberries.. well, why not! It would be interesting to try some American native strawberries here, perhaps some day we'll have a swap.

The Tristan plant I had by the way was purchased as a seedling, it was so cute in the shop. I still have the little plastic label somewhere..
Yeah, I would not expect too much flavor-wise. My biggest surprise was, it survived so long and I did not manage to kill it, but the harvest was nothing to mention about.

Yellow Wonder Alpine was quite tasty and fragrant. The thing with white varieties is they are hard to detect under foliage. which is a good, considering the birds...

[NarnianGarden]

This is our native strawberry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca

Every child knew it, when I was growing up (the modern IPad and IPhone generation may well be cut off from nature), it's the legendary summer fruit that symbolizes summertime, sunny days, home and nature.

[NarnianGarden]

My new seedlings of this spring are growing well. In addition to what I already have in our flower/ vegetable bed, I sowed some more Yellow Wonder (older seeds, great germination) and then the American wild strawberry Fragaria Virginiana. One seed germinated and is now growing.
Really curious about where I'll find the space for them all - probably will plant some in containers and then re-plant in the ground after summer for overwintering.
...

[Darren Abbey]

Would the yellow-flowered wild strawberry you mention happen to look like the Mock Strawberry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry)?

I've tried the fruit and yes, they are not all that tasty.

[Andrey_BY]

Do you try to germinate Ananasnaya Alpine strawberry from me?

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

My new seedlings of this spring are growing well. In addition to what I already have in our flower/ vegetable bed, I sowed some more Yellow Wonder (older seeds, great germination) and then the American wild strawberry Fragaria Virginiana. One seed germinated and is now growing.
Really curious about where I'll find the space for them all - probably will plant some in containers and then re-plant in the ground after summer for overwintering.
...

[NarnianGarden]

Andrey - I am still waiting for them to pop up, no sign yet... I did not put them in the freezer, so perhaps that's why..

[NarnianGarden]

Last year, I managed to grow some new straberry varieties from seed, and got seedlings for American wild strawberry, and some Russian alpine strawberry varieties. It will be fun to see how they all grow side by side this season - really curious as to how they overwintered.
Perhaps in a few years' time they all will even cross-pollinate and produce some interesting colored strawberries.. that will be so exciting...!

[Hatgirl]

Some things that worked for me
*I stuck them in the freezer for 48hrs to break dormancy
*the pots I used were as shallow as I could get, because the plants stay small for a long time and damp compost encourages fungus gnats.
*I put them in bright light as they need light to germinate
*I moved them into a tray of water whenever they needed watering as they are really prone to damping off. I splashed two pots of seedlings while watering a different plant and in less than 12hrs all seedlings were dead

[Nan_PA_6b]

Don't plant a bed of just pineberries. Pineberries need regular strawberries to pollinate them. Thoroughly intermix the two.

Nan

[NarnianGarden]

'Pineapple' is a name for Alpine variety (self-pollinating), it's not the same as 'Pineberry' (the large fruited hard to find speciality)...

Originally Posted by MissMoustache

Its good to know that alpines are pretty much done after two years. -----------

And I agree, I think plants done from seed in the conditions they're going to grow in acclimate better. Especially if you save seed and replant year after year.

Alpines last a lot longer than that in my garden, but I have never kept track. The plants do get quite large over the years.

About 45 years ago I sowed alpine seeds and they have been growing in my garden ever since. I would pick and toss away any berries that had been partly eaten by a bird. Wherever they landed, new plants would grow, so I have strawberries in many places on my half acre.

They are just beginning to flower this week, and will continue producing berries until a hard frost, probably sometime in November.