How to grow garden strawberries at home. Strawberries on the windowsill all year round: growing remontant strawberries at home Grow strawberries from seeds at home in a pot

Growing strawberries at home will be mastered by anyone. Strawberries in a pot on the windowsill bear fruit every month.

Every year, people grow various greens, berries and fruits on their windowsills. Vitamins are needed all year round. But what if you grow strawberries or strawberries on the windowsill at home? I myself was surprised when I saw a neighbor with several pots of strawberries and ripe berries. At first I thought it was made of plastic, but the juicy taste of the berry delighted me.

I asked a neighbor how he grows strawberries. In this article on the website of the site I will share with you the features of growing berries on the windowsill, you will learn about the timing of the appearance of the first berries. It will be interesting to learn about making money on strawberries and strawberries grown at home in an apartment.

Growing strawberries at home

Many people are used to the fact that strawberries ripen in the garden or in the country at the very beginning of summer and the fruiting season does not last long. In the store you can buy strawberries, which are brought from Israel or Egypt several times a year.

Now many grow strawberries at home on a regular windowsill. Gotta choose the right one planting material, soil. A variety for growing at home should be unpretentious, suitable for an ordinary flower pot.

There are varieties of strawberries and wild strawberries, which are little dependent on temperature fluctuations and humidity, constant lighting. Ordinary strawberry varieties from a garden or greenhouse are not suitable for growing at home in an apartment. In winter, the apartments are dry due to heating and ordinary varieties will not grow.

Varieties of strawberries, for growing at home on the windowsill, must be remontant, unpretentious to the length of daylight hours and temperature.

List of varieties for growing strawberries at home;

• Queen Elizabeth
• Geneva
• homemade delicacy
• Albion
• Selva
• Supreme
• Tristan

These are the main varieties that sprout well on the windowsill of the house and often bear fruit. You can see pictures with the size of the berries and choose for yourself suitable grade. It is not difficult to grow berries yourself, it is no more difficult than growing ordinary green onions, but strawberries and wild strawberries will surprise all your relatives and friends.

In winter, strawberries on the windowsill are grown in the same way as in spring or autumn. In summer, you can take the plants to the balcony in the apartment. The most important thing in this business is the constant availability of berries and their size. The larger the berry, the more it can cost.

We are interested in making money and growing berries at home is a very simple business. Berries can be sold all year round to your friends, work colleagues. It is enough to pack strawberries in a small transparent container, just a few berries, and it will cost 150 - 300 rubles.

Strawberries are not always sold in the store, this is due to the seasonality of growing the plant in different countries. You need to watch, as soon as she disappeared in the store, then it's your time to make money on her.

How to make money growing strawberries? To do this, you need to plant several plants at different intervals. The more bushes you plant, the better.

If you work or study strawberries and their cultivation, you can follow in the evening. It is not necessary to be near the pots. Remember, strawberries and strawberries are no different from indoor plants, but they bring berries that can be sold.

The cost of 1 kilogram of strawberries in winter, spring and autumn is from 350 to 1200 rubles.

The yield of 1 bush grown on the windowsill is 300 - 400 grams in a bad scenario.

Norm 1 -1.5 kg from a strawberry bush. A good harvest of 2-3 kilograms in a couple of months, then a break for 2 months and again a harvest.

4-5 constantly fruiting bushes will provide you with an additional income of 3-4 thousand rubles a month.

It is best to sell not in kilograms, but in small transparent containers. You can tie it with a pretty ribbon. The price of 100 grams of strawberries in a package is from 150 to 500 rubles, depending on the place of residence.

Anyone can make money on strawberries at home, the main thing is to harvest on time.

Where to sell strawberries

Selling strawberries can be difficult. Here the berries have grown and ripened, where to put them.

It is possible to sell to several places, even if you are not working and retired.

• Negotiate with grandmas to sell on the market
• Sell ​​to cafes and restaurants
• Place ads on slando, avito and jula
• Create groups in in social networks with the name - fresh strawberries
• Sell ​​berries to colleagues and neighbors on the porch
• Place announcements at bus stops
• Negotiate with fruit stalls

As you can see, there are a lot of places to sell berries. If you sell through someone, then your earnings will be less. A good option would be to buy small containers and sell yourself.

If you have minimal experience growing at least greens for your table on windowsills, then the temptation is great to aim at something much more interesting, for example, to get juicy and fragrant strawberries in the dead of winter. Let's try!

Is it possible to grow strawberries on the windowsill and balcony

Nothing prevents growing strawberries from seeds at home. This does not require much expense and effort. If winter is chosen as the season for harvesting, then you will need to provide artificial lighting. Fitolamps are well suited for this purpose, which today can be purchased at the same stores that sell pots and soil for planting.

The secret to harvesting strawberries on the balcony in right choice seed material, which should be undemanding to growing conditions. Our tips will help you get guaranteed excellent results.

Varieties of strawberries for growing on a window at home

A common mistake is to buy varieties intended for greenhouses for growing strawberries from seeds at home. Only remontant varieties that are insensitive to daylight hours and temperature fluctuations in the apartment are suitable. Ampelous varieties that are sown in hanging containers and planters are also great.

In order to please the family with balcony strawberries all year round, you should pay attention to the following well-proven remontant varieties:

How to care after planting and before harvesting, step by step

Carefully considering each stage of cultivation is exactly what will increase the chances of fruitful cultivation of strawberries in the winter at home. Properly selected varieties tolerate a lack of light well, but are demanding on temperature regime, as well as top dressing, soil quality. Our tips for growing strawberries will help you avoid common mistakes and get a great harvest the first time.

A place

The best place for planting will be the southern windows, but the eastern and western windows in the apartment are also suitable. Only northern ones are not suitable, since daylight still plays an important role in the growth of bushes. Artificial lighting solves this problem when growing strawberries at home only in part. Also, the plant is extremely sensitive to drafts, so it is better not to use an uninsulated loggia.

In addition to window sills and hanging containers, planters, you can try to use multi-tiered floor flowerpots. They have only one drawback - a lot of space is required to approach such a bed from all sides.

Strawberries in a pot on the balcony

The rapid ripening of berries directly depends on the length of daylight hours. Ideally, it should be 12 hours. In summer, this is not difficult to provide, but in winter you need a phytolamp. You need to turn it on not for the whole day, but only in the morning from 8 to 11, and in the evening from 16 to 19. It is most convenient to set this mode using a special timer, with which such lamps are sold.

The temperature regime is chosen quite loyally. It is important not to fall below the acceptable minimum. For strawberries, it is + 18 0 C. The optimum humidity is in the range of 50-75%. IN heating season the air in the apartments is very dry. Morning spraying of bushes from a spray bottle helps to solve this problem. clean water room temperature.

What container to plant

Considering that a bush in one pot lives from 2 to 5 years, it is best to use not plastic, but clay containers ranging in size from 3 liters. There should be a sufficient number of drainage holes at the bottom, and the pan should not be too shallow. If hanging boxes are used to grow strawberries on the windowsill, then it is optimal to take 10-15 liters, in which 4 bushes can be planted at once. Small stones, expanded clay, crushed eggshells are necessarily placed at the bottom of boxes and pots.

Pot for apartment strawberries

However, it is important to consider the type of planting material. In large pots, only bushes with a few leaves can be planted. If you are germinating seeds, then first they are sown in small cups. This approach is fully justified, since the weak root system of seedlings is not able to draw enough moisture from the ground to prevent its stagnation and mold.

In what soil to plant homemade strawberries

If you go to a specialty store for soil, you can look for a special substrate, or purchase a universal one for vegetables or flowering houseplants. However, the soil for growing strawberries in boxes can be prepared independently. To do this, take sand, coniferous soil, humus in equal proportions. The second option is to prepare a mixture of biohumus and peat. The result should be an airy and slightly moist mixture, into which phosphorus fertilizer is immediately added.

Tip: you can not take land from the garden. It can contain pests and fungal diseases. If there is no other way out, then the entire volume of soil is thoroughly steamed in the oven for at least half an hour at a temperature of 180 0 C.

Planting material preparation

Planting material can be purchased in specialized markets and in stores. You can buy seeds, but there is a lot more work with them, because you need to not only sow, but also nurture young strawberry plants in a pot for a very long time until they gain enough strength to bear fruit. Of all the bushes, the strongest are selected, which are thoroughly washed in a disinfecting solution (for example, Fitosporin). This will prevent root rot.

If the seed method is nevertheless chosen, then stratification is mandatory for all varieties. Seeds are placed on wet gauze, rolled up and stuffed into a sealed bag. It is placed on the top shelf of the refrigerator, where they need to lie for 2-4 weeks.

Direct landing

Planting seedling bushes in pots for growing strawberries on the balcony should be done very carefully, carefully straightening the roots so that they take up a position to their full height. If the spine is too long, it can be shortened.

Stratified seeds are planted in a common box, where they are buried to a minimum depth. Then the box is wrapped with a film and put in a warm place. There he stands until shoots appear. Only after that the film is removed, and the box is transferred to a bright place. Transplanting into pots can be done at the stage of 2 true leaves. The ideal time to grow seedlings is early spring or late summer.

Don't forget about top dressing:

Comprehensive mineral fertilizer It is recommended to fertilize the soil with a frequency of 2 times a month.

Diseases and pests

Under natural conditions, a wide variety of diseases and pests can lie in wait for strawberries. And on the windowsill in the apartment, she is most often threatened with gray rot and spider mites. Rot often appears due to thickening of the planting or hypothermia of the bushes. Following recommendations for planting density and controlling the temperature in the room will help to avoid the onset of the disease.

But the spider mite is a frequent guest on window plantations. To get rid of it will help tincture of garlic. Crush two cloves and pour a glass of water. For two days you need to insist the mixture, and then pour the expressed liquid into a spray bottle and spray all the bushes.

Timing of emergence and harvest

The exact ripening time depends on the variety. The peculiarities of growing strawberries are that many factors influence the timing of flowering and the appearance of berries: the frequency of feeding, the length of daylight hours, and the temperature in the room.

Ideally, 2 months should pass from planting seedlings in a pot until the first berries appear.

Further, it all depends on the variety, because many bloom and bear fruit continuously, while others need a month to rest between fruiting. If you see that there are no flowers and berries on the plant, then it's time for rest. It is necessary to stop intensive watering and top dressing until the strawberries rest and resume vegetation.

Pollination at home strawberries in winter

Knowing how to grow strawberries on a balcony, one should not forget about its pollination. Under natural conditions, this is done by bees. And now you have to work instead of them.

We take a watercolor brush and gently brush the pile over the flowers, not forgetting any. If this is not done, then there will either be no berries at all, or they will be deformed and tasteless.

How to grow strawberries at home, video

Now you see that growing strawberries all year round is not that hard. It is quite possible to try, especially if there is an opportunity to buy seedlings.

Strawberries on the windowsill, growing all year round which everyone can do, with the right agricultural technology, will delight with delicious berries even in winter.

About Features growing strawberries on a windowsill, which varieties are suitable for this and how to choose the sowing time, properly cut and feed the bushes for abundant fruiting, is described in detail in this article.

Peculiarities

You can grow strawberries from seeds at home. If you plan to pick berries in winter, you need to provide artificial lighting with phytolamps, which can be bought at garden stores.

The main thing is to choose the right seed. It should not be demanding on growing conditions.

What varieties are suitable for growing strawberries on the windowsill

Important! You can not buy strawberry varieties for greenhouses to grow them at home.

It is necessary to choose only remontant varieties that are resistant to temperature changes and different daylight hours.

You can also sow ampelous varieties in hanging containers and planters.

The best remontant varieties for home cultivation:

• Supreme- a self-pollinating variety that produces berries from May for 9 months. During the season, 2 kg of berries are harvested from 1 bush. The average weight of strawberries is 40 g.
• Geneva- American variety with spreading bushes. The average weight of strawberries is 50 g. The berries are cone-shaped with a characteristic ribbing. In one place it can grow and bear fruit for 5 years.
• Queen Elizabeth II- not sensitive to the length of daylight hours. Flowering and fruiting from June to November at intervals of 1 month. The average weight of strawberries is 50 g.
• homemade delicacy- ampelous hybrid. Forms many small sweet and fragrant berries.
• Tristan-decorative ampelous hybrid with raspberry-colored flowers. It produces shoots up to 1 m long. Flowers bloom on them, and later berries. For season 1 bush forms up to 100 berries.
• Selva- bears fruit 9 months a year. The average weight of strawberries is 80 g.

Planting and growing technique

To grow strawberries on the windowsill, you must adhere to certain rules and create the necessary conditions.

A place

It is best to grow remontant strawberries on the windowsill of a south or east window. On the western and northern windowsills, it will be necessary to create additional lighting.

illumination

Light day should last 12-14 hours. In summer, there is enough sunlight, in autumn and winter, fluorescent lamps are used for illumination. Lighting devices are switched on in the morning from 6 to 9 o'clock and in the evening from 16 to 20 o'clock.

Temperature

The temperature in the room should be kept within + 18 ... + 20 C. If it drops a couple of degrees, the bushes will get sick. Therefore, in autumn and spring, heaters are turned on.

Humidity

Humidity should be 70-80%. In winter, when the heating is on and the air is too dry, strawberries are sprayed with settled water from a spray bottle, it should be at room temperature. However, everything is good in moderation. Do not over-moisturize too much, otherwise strawberries will decrease resistance to fungal diseases.

Watch the video! Strawberries on the windowsill

What container to plant

First, the seeds are sown in small cups. After the appearance of the first two leaves, the seedlings dive into spacious containers. After the appearance of 5-6 leaves, it is transplanted into a permanent pot. It should be small. Ampel varieties grow well in hanging pots.

Bushes can be planted in long boxes 10-15 liters in volume, leaving a distance of 20 cm between plants. There should be drainage holes at the bottom of the container.

substrate

You can buy potting soil at a garden store or make your own. For homemade strawberries, they take a substrate for growing vegetables and flowers.

At self-cooking soil should be mixed in equal parts coniferous soil, sand and humus. Strawberries grow well in a substrate of biohumus and peat.

The main thing is that the soil is loose, airy and slightly moist. It is fed with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer.

Important! Do not use garden soil. It may contain nematodes and other dangerous diseases.

When using garden soil, it must be disinfected with a pink solution of potassium permanganate or calcined in the oven for 20 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Plants can be planted 7 days after this procedure.

Seedling preparation

Experienced gardeners they grow strawberries on the windowsill with seedlings, since growing seedlings from seeds is difficult and time-consuming. Seedlings can be bought at nurseries or dug up on your site.

Advice! It is best to plant seedlings for growing on a windowsill in the fall after summer mustache propagation.

Seedling preparation:

• Choose the largest and healthiest rooted rosettes.

• Planting material is separated from the mother plant.
• Leaves are removed, leaving a couple of young ones.
• Plant bushes in a pot.
• Pots are placed for 2 weeks in a cool place so that the strawberries adapt.

Planting seedlings

Step-by-step instruction planting strawberry seedlings at home:

• Drainage and a little substrate are poured into the pot.
• The roots are kept in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for several minutes.
• The seedlings are transferred to a pot, straighten the root system, which should completely fit in the container.

• If the rhizome is long, it is better to shorten it rather than bend it.
• For a speedy recovery, cut bushes are immersed in a heteroauxin solution according to the instructions (1 tablet is diluted in 5 liters of water).
• They fall asleep with soil to the point of growth, which cannot be buried.
• The soil is compacted and watered.

Advice! Watering the plant with growth stimulants Kornevin or Heteroauxin can improve the survival rate of the seedling in a new place.

Growing strawberries from seeds

You can also grow strawberries on a windowsill from seeds. Although with this method, the harvest will have to wait longer.

Sowing seeds

Seeds are hardened before sowing to increase their germination.

Planting material is laid out on a damp cloth, the cloth is folded in half and placed in a bag. The package is left for 30 days on the top shelf of the refrigerator.

step landing seeds:

• They take a shallow box and cover 2/3 with soil, slightly moisten it.
• Seeds are laid out in rows.
• Sprinkle with a thin layer of earth.
• The box is covered with a film or glass and left in a warm place.
• After the seedlings germinate, the film is gradually removed, and the container is transferred to a light windowsill.
• When 2 true leaves appear, a pick is carried out in spacious pots.

Advice! It is best to sow strawberry seeds for seedlings at home in early spring or from mid-August to the end of September.

Sowing and harvesting dates

Seeds after sowing will germinate in 20-30 days.

When planting seedlings, remontant strawberries bloom on the 30-35th day, and the berries will ripen 60 days after planting.

Care

Strawberry care consists of watering, fertilizing, pruning, pollination and pest control (the last 2 activities as needed).

Watering

Watered 2 times a week in the afternoon settled not cold water. Water can simply be passed through a filter. After watering, the soil is loosened.

Advice! It is necessary to regularly spray strawberry bushes to increase the humidity of the room.

top dressing

Top dressing is carried out 1 time in 2-3 weeks after the appearance of the first leaf. Use complex top dressing or nutrient mixtures for strawberries. Fertilizers are applied according to the instructions on the package.

You can also use folk remedies for fertilizing strawberries:

• In a 3-liter jar, crushed egg shells are poured into 1/3.
• Add 1 glass of ash.
• Fill to the brim with warm water.
• Insist 5 days and filter.
• Dilute with water 1:3 before use.

You can also use a weak solution of mullein (1:10), chicken manure (1:20).

Important! You can not overfeed strawberries with nitrogen, as it stimulates the growth of green mass and has a bad effect on the formation of berry ovaries.

During fruiting, strawberries are fed with iron to form ovaries. You can stick a rusty nail into the pot a few cm deep. However, you can buy preparations with iron and spray the plants 1-2 times a month.

After harvesting, the bushes can not be fed at all or rarely done.

pruning

Strawberries need to be pruned to increase yield. On seedlings grown from seeds, the first few flowers are plucked.

Important! It is not necessary to cut flower stalks on strawberries grown from seedlings.

Mustaches should be removed regularly if strawberry propagation is not planned. This will help direct all the forces of the plant and nutrients to the fruits.

Pollination of strawberries in winter at home

Under natural conditions, strawberries are pollinated by bees. At home, you will have to do it yourself.

Take a watercolor brush and gently brush over each flower. If you do not carry out this procedure, then there will either be no berries, or they will not be beautiful and not tasty.

Diseases and pests

On the windowsill, strawberries can be affected by gray rot and spider mites. Rot appears as a result of planting thickening or cool temperatures. Therefore, it is important to monitor the temperature in the room and plant bushes at the correct interval.

But get rid of spider mite garlic tincture will help:

• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped;
• pour 1 glass of water;
• insist 2 days;
• filter and spray all the bushes from the spray gun.

Advice! Against powdery mildew, Fitosporin is recommended.

Grow remontant strawberries on the windowsill all year round many will like it. The main thing to choose right sort, observe the rules and conditions of cultivation, timely water and feed the plants. Then, in return for care, the bushes will delight you with tasty and juicy berries even in winter.

Watch the video! Strawberries on the windowsill

All year round to please your tomboy with sweet berries of garden strawberries, knowing exactly how they are grown and what they are fertilized with - some parents not only dream about it, but also try to bring their unusual desire to life. Although the word "unusual" for classes in growing strawberries or garden strawberries is already irrelevant now.

Breeders have long been offering not only strawberry varieties intended for outdoor cultivation and not suffering from rain and drought, from the difference in morning, evening and daytime temperatures, but also those that bear fruit best at constant air temperature and humidity.

In order for the ardor of a lover of berries plucked from a room garden not to fade from the fact that the berries have grown bitter, the leaves on the bushes have turned yellow and dry, some bugs have gnawed out the pulp from the berries, it is necessary to deal with the peculiarities of growing strawberries on the windowsill.

• If strawberry-strawberry bushes are dug out of a garden plot for transplanting into containers for home maintenance, then it is best to use native soil for plants, previously fertilized and disinfected from rot and pests, to fill the pots.
• You need to choose only healthy, disease-free bushes.
• The strawberry variety should belong to plants with a remontant ability to bear fruit (that is, a strawberry bush does not take a break for rest for the entire period of its development, but constantly blooms and sets berries).
• It will be necessary to allocate time for manual pollination of blossoming flowers, or use self-pollinating varieties for planting on the windowsill.

Choosing a strawberry variety for growing at home

In addition to the method of pollination and the period of fruiting, there are several more signs of varieties of garden strawberries.

Breeding strawberries with a mustache

The most famous indicator is based on the characteristics of mustache (type of reproduction) of strawberries. Having chosen a variety of cascading strawberries that reproduces with mustache shoots, a homemade strawberry lover must prepare not just capacious containers with high sides so that the strawberry bush can lower the shoots down. Additionally, smaller containers with soil will be needed in which young shoots will take root.

The second option for choosing a strawberry variety based on the propagation method is to deal with varieties that are grown from seeds. They do not grow a mustache, that is, there is no need for thinning the bush. But even such species (most often small-fruited ones) lend themselves to vegetative propagation, which consists in crushing an adult bush that has been growing in one place for several years in a row, by dividing the root system into parts.

The best strawberry varieties for growing on the windowsill

The following varieties of strawberries have become popular with apartment gardeners:

The variety is very resistant to diseases and pests. This is a remontant cascading strawberry that tolerates frosts down to 30°C. The bush grows the largest fruits with the taste of honey weighing up to 50 g in the first three years of its life. Then the fruits shrink. The bush is planted with shoots and by dividing the mother plant into parts. To enlarge the fruits, gardeners remove all flower stalks of the earliest fruiting, preventing the first ovaries from appearing. The next wave of harvest will bear fruit up to 80 g in weight. Requires hand pollination.

"Baron Solemacher"

This is a beardless small-fruited variety with low spherical bushes, short peduncles and a taste of wild strawberries. Propagated by seeds. The seedling is doing well. Resistant to cold, but intolerant of heat. Fruiting may stop if the plantings become very dense. When grown indoors, it needs artificial pollination.

"Brighton"

Remontant large-fruited variety, has cone-shaped fruits with a hint of pineapple, pollinates itself, because the flower stalks grow flowers of both sexes. Propagated by a mustache with rosettes, characterized by abundant shoot formation and weak foliage.

How and when to plant strawberries on the windowsill: step by step instructions

If you use strawberries of remontant varieties of an indefinite length of daylight hours, then you can start planting them at any time of the year. The limitation may be the inability to control the humidity of the air, because dry air is not suitable for strawberries. But the best period autumn is considered, after the crop is harvested, the bushes have not yet had time to go into a state of rest and are ready to continue laying flower buds.

Plant strawberries after finding free space near windows, preparation of nutrient soil, sterilization of planting containers. The best place strawberry content will be window openings facing south and east. Window sills should be wide enough to prevent leaves from touching the glass.

Seeds or seedlings

To decide what to prefer, buy or pick up from garden plot adult strawberry bushes or independently grow young bushes from seeds, it must be taken into account that the germination of seeds can stretch for a whole month and not all varieties of strawberries have good seedling survival. If you do not plan to get the first harvest in 2-3 months, then you can choose the seeds of your favorite strawberry varieties and experiment with growing young seedlings.

When transplanting bushes from the garden into home pots, care must be taken to ensure that the central bud is not covered with soil.

What container to plant

For good harvest strawberry bushes are better not to replant once again, not to damage the root system. Therefore, even for young strawberry bushes, pots with drainage holes and a capacity of at least 3-5 liters are necessary. In a large pot, two or three seedlings will not be cramped. An interesting option there will be hanging planters with cascading (ampel) varieties of strawberries or a hanging vertical garden bed, based on a wide polypropylene pipe up to 1 m high.

Planting seeds

The most effective method of planting seeds for growing strawberry seedlings is the use of peat humus tablets for this purpose. Strawberry seeds begin to germinate in the central recess of the tablet. The duration of germination depends on the quality of the seeds and the characteristics of the variety.

But there is a feature common to all types of strawberries - this is that strawberry seeds, when they hit the soil substrate, must remain on top of the soil or in a very small depression. It is not difficult to keep the tablets moist because they are installed in trays, on the bottom of which water is poured. It penetrates from below to the seeds. And the long-proven method of sowing seeds on the surface of the soil, poured into glasses or other flat planting containers, in the case of small strawberry seeds, may not justify itself. You will have to water the seeds from above, there is a risk of washing them deep into the ground to an unacceptable level for germination.

and containers with peat tablets, and any other utensils for growing seedlings at the stage of seed germination should be covered with lids or film to create the effect of a mini-greenhouse. The seeds must not dry out.

Seed preparation

If you plan to use seeds taken from the berries you like, you should adhere to the following rules:

• The berry should be ripe, without rot and signs of disease.
• It is required to choose from the fruit the places with the largest seeds in size.
• Pieces of pulp with seeds are dried and rubbed in the palms.
• Before planting in the soil mixture, the seeds are stored in a closed, clean glass container.
• A month before the planned date of sowing, the seeds, in a wet state on a napkin in a closed jar, are placed in conditions of low positive temperatures, and the temperature is gradually reduced. Then also gradually increase the temperature. Periodically check the condition of the moisture level of the seeds. Once every 2 weeks, the seeds are mixed.
• Before sowing, the seeds are slightly dried.

Soil preparation

Any commercially available general purpose potting soil is best mixed with sawdust for added breathability and lightness. Strawberries will develop well in a soil mixture of sand, leafy soil and humus in a ratio of 3: 1: 1. The soil should not be too nutritious, should not retain moisture, because the root system of strawberries easily rots. In the tank, despite the presence of holes for water drainage, drainage materials are poured to ¼ of the height.

Sowing seeds

Strawberry seeds can germinate in 5 days, and hard-growing seeds will not germinate even in a month. The period of germination, and then the ease of picking the sprouts, will largely depend on how the sowing is done. Strawberry seeds will not sprout if they are buried more than 2-3 mm into the soil.

The soil, placed in transparent plastic containers with an attached lid, is lightly compacted. Seeds can be sown in rows or scattered. To mark the rows with the edge of the ruler, grooves are made up to 3 mm deep at a distance of up to 3 cm from each other. Seeds are picked up with the wet end of a wooden toothpick and placed in grooves 5 cm apart. Sprinkle a thin layer of dry pre-roasted sand on top.

It is possible to sow hardened seeds on a layer of snow. 1-2 cm of compacted snow is poured onto the soil and seeds are laid out on it. Melted snow, if it pulls the seeds into the soil, then no more than 1-2 mm. Mini-greenhouses are stored in a warm, lit place, the soil moisture is monitored daily, airing is arranged for a few minutes, preventing condensation from accumulating on the inside of the container lid. Seedlings are illuminated so that the length of the day reaches 14 hours.

Picking strawberry seedlings

Seedlings with 2 toothed leaves dive into small cups filled with 2/3 of moist soil. A deep narrow hole is made in the cups. The soil in containers with seedlings is also well moistened. With a pointed wooden stick, a clod of earth with a strawberry bush is lifted and transferred to a place where it will be possible to free the root of the seedling from the ground. It is necessary to pay attention to the length of the root, if its ends are wrapped when placed in a cup, then it will have to be shortened. The minimum root length is 3-4 cm.

For better survival of seedlings, the root is immersed in finely crushed charcoal. The roots of the plant are lowered into the recess in the cup to the level of the growth point, it should remain on the surface. Using a stick, gently press the soil around the root. The soil must be moistened again, but the water should not fall on the growing point.

The grown seedlings at the stage of 4-5 trifoliate leaves are transplanted into more fertile soil, in containers for constant growth. An increase in fertility gives impetus to the intensive growth of the plant. When transplanting, it is again necessary to shorten the roots to a length of no more than 10 cm and dip them into a clay mash, evenly distributing the roots over the entire volume of the seat.

seedling care

Care about strawberry plantings on the windowsill consists in sufficient lighting of the bushes, timely watering and feeding, trimming the mustache and leaves if necessary, pollination, disease prevention and protection from pests, maintaining air humidity near the bushes of at least 70%.

Without additional lighting in an apartment, it will not be possible to achieve fruiting. The longer the artificial day, the faster the strawberries will bloom. In addition to fluorescent lamps, lamps with a yellow tint of luminosity are used. On the wall in front of the window sill, a mirror, white paper, aluminum foil, acting as a reflector of light penetrating through the windows.

Watering

Strawberries love to keep the roots moist and the stems and soil under the leaves dry. Best Option- drip root watering. If there is no room irrigation system, proceed as follows: once every 5-7 days, the container with the plant is lowered 2/3 of the height of the pot into a bucket of water and the water is allowed to drain through the drainage holes. Water is used at room temperature, settled tap or spring.

top dressing

You need to fertilize strawberries in an apartment complex fertilizers according to the manufacturer's instructions. The older and larger the bush, the more often it needs top dressing.

pruning

If there is no need to propagate the cultivated variety, then regular pruning of the shoots will help increase the yield of strawberries. Instead of directing forces to the formation of rosettes, the bush will begin to increase the berries.

Pollination

It is carried out with a soft brush or feather every time a new flower opens. Hairs touch alternately the middles of all flowers growing nearby. You can direct a stream of air from a hair dryer or fan towards the bushes and thus spread the pollen through the flowers.

Diseases and pests

In the conditions of an apartment, when the first signs of rot appear, the bushes are treated with phytosporin or other biofungicides. If there are berries on the bushes, then you need to use them only after the expiration date of the drugs has passed. Very often, strawberries are damaged by a spider mite. It settles on the underside of strawberry leaves and feeds on their juice. The leaves turn yellow and dry up. Effective way mite control will be spraying the leaves with an aqueous solution laundry soap. Leaves can be wiped with a swab dipped in 96% alcohol.

Even if you are not a summer gardener, but a simple lover of indoor plants, then you will probably also be interested in the article "Strawberries on the windowsill in 60 days."

What is remontant strawberry

To grow strawberries at home, you need special repair varieties. The remontant strawberry differs from the usual one in that it bears fruit not once a year, but during the season it can bring 2 or more crops. But she also makes demands that correspond to her need for high-quality fertile soil and frequent watering.

In addition, it is divided into two groups:

1. One group remontant strawberries lays flower buds only with a long daylight hours, such a group is abbreviated as DSD.
2. The second group is able to lay the kidneys with a neutral light day, it is abbreviated as NSD.

DSD varieties produce 2 harvests per year in July and August-September. At the same time, the second harvest almost doubled more than the first its share is 60-90% of the total weight. Unfortunately, not all bushes can endure such a load, many die after harvesting.

NSD varieties bear fruit almost continuously for most of the year up to 10 months. Moreover, their fruiting is not particularly affected by weather conditions, time of year and day, which is why they are called neutral-day varieties.

It is these NSD strawberry varieties that are most suitable for growing at home. Therefore, when buying, ask the seller which group this or that variety belongs to.

Varieties of remontant strawberries

To date, breeders, both here and abroad, have bred a huge number of varieties of this berry. I will list you a few, perhaps the most popular.

Types of DSD:

• autumn fun
• Garland
• Crimean remontant
• Inexhaustible, etc.

Types of NSD:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Roman F1
• Tristar
• Brighton etc.

Each of these varieties has its own advantages and disadvantages, and any of them can bring a good harvest. But "Queen Elizabeth II" surpasses all others in terms of yield and size of berries.

It is better to buy strawberry seedlings (and they can also be called strawberries) in a specialized store, and not from people in the market. It will cost a little more, but you can be sure of the name of the variety and the quality of planting material.

Pay attention to the "development" of the seedlings, the bushes should have 3-5 healthy green leaves and preferably a large bud (heart).