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advice regarding strawberries for newbie

Hello i am new to gardening and this site.

I am attempting grow strawberries from seeds that I bought from seed at my local nursery. A couple have germinated and I have so far 2 very very small green seedlings.

I have a small north facing rear garden, I was hoping these could be planted at the front of the property in a hanging basket and I would get a small harvest this year, However reading around the internet there are lots of different opinions on this.

Can someone give me there take on this as I thinking of just buying some plants now instead.

P.s they are f1 seeds

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  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    You will struggle to get them big enough grown from seed to flower and fruit in the first year

    Next year they should be OK-better in the second year and fine in the third year-then they need replacing

    A strawberry grower propagates from runners every year to keep the succession going-what variety are these you are growing from seed?image

    image

  • I am on my lunchbreak at work but could find out, I know they are F1 from dobbies off the top of my head. If I put them in pots for this year will they survive the next winter then if they have protection.

    P.s if they dont fruit this year do they still make a pretty plant as I dont want to give up on them but im limited to space and am considering buying some  two pound plants from dobbies and hope to get a decent bunch of strawbs off them

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Yes to the first part-they only need protection in pots if we get a really long cold spell of below freezing-by march 2014 -seems a long way offimage-you should have size-able plants

    If they do produce a flower this year pinch it off- you don't won't them wasting energy trying to fruit much better to build up the plant for the following season

    It is just a longer method raising from seed-but ultimately more rewarding wayimage

    Bought in plants will usually flower and fruit this Summer

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,032

    It's much easier and not very expensive to buy young plants in spring, but perhaps not as exciting as seeing your seeds germinate. When I redo a strawberry bed I buy young plants of 3 or 4 different varieties, early and late, then the next year I pinch off runners to keep plants strong, then the next year I pot on runners to grow new plants. Then in a few years time I change the bed to a new place. At least that's the theory! One year I didn't get round to it, another year I had a deer problem and they ate the lot (and most of the rest of the veg garden), another year the weather wasn't right etc.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    If sowing strawberry seeds you can leave it as late as May and June although on most packets it says sow Autumn and Spring, sowing later still produces plants large and strong enough to get through the winter to fruit the following year.   

    It depends what type of strawberries you want. It's easier to buy plants but I found little choice when doing this, you can buy your usual garden varities but can grow some fabulous tasting alpine strawberries from seed, an acquired taste. Alpine are alot smaller but seem to produce fruit all summer but they don't produce runners. They come in different colours too...I'll have red, white and yellow this year.

    The plant you get this year will probably just be foliage and a few buds, wouldn't go as far as saying it's a nice looking plant. You'll also get some die back on the leaves which can be removed without damaging the plant.

    One or two plants aren't going to produce many stawberries either, you need at least a dozen or more plants. If you have a variety which produces runners, they can be planted in hanging baskets as the runners will hang down and these will produce fruit next year along with the mother plant. Keep the baskets well watered.

  • hi there if i was you i would carry on with the seeds and raise plants from them,( this is so rewarding) but while they are growing get a few plants for this year theres nothing better then home grown strawberrys and take the runners off them for new plants and you will have two different varities when your seeds turn into plants and start cropping, and you will have strawberrys for many years. 

  • thanks for all the feedback, im gonna contininue with my seeds and when it gets a bit warmer buy some plants too

  • Hi,

    I have just come home. One of the very small seedlings has gone brown and appears to be failing. the other has wilted slightly.  while two others seem to be poking there heads through the surface. I have them in a propagator with the air vents open and the temp is usually between 16-18c, i have been spraying them with water once a day.

    am i doing something wrong, i dont want the others to fail image

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Might be too wet and humid David-stop the spraying and once germinated take the lid off-they dont need heat once that has happened

  • will taking the lid off affect the ones that have not yet germinated? so far i only have 4 out of 24.

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