How to Grow Strawberries in Pots: A Detailed Guide to the Key Growing Techniques and Methods
Strawberries are loved by everyone not only for their sweet taste but also for their high nutritional value. Nowadays many people grow strawberries not just to sell them, but also to offer a leisure activity where people pick their own strawberries, which is not only relaxing and entertaining, but also lets you choose large, fresh ones yourself, so you can eat them with peace of mind. Besides greenhouse strawberries, potted strawberries have also gradually become popular. Below, let us take a look together at a detailed guide to the growing methods and key techniques for potted strawberries.
1. Choose a Suitable Container for Planting
For potted strawberries, it is recommended to choose a wooden box or an earthenware pot. The specific size to choose depends on how much you are planting. Generally, before planting strawberries, the pot should be soaked in water, and the bottom of the pot or wooden box should have small drainage holes.
2. Choose the Soil
From the growing habits of strawberries, we can see that strawberries like to grow in fertile, well-aerated, well-drained sandy soil. However, for potting, we generally use a prepared nutrient soil, such as a mix of humus soil, nutrient soil, garden soil, and so on. If you have cake fertilizer, you can add a little appropriately to ensure that the base fertilizer provides for the strawberries' growth needs in the early stage.
3. Choosing the Variety and Seedlings
The choice of strawberry variety is very important, as it affects whether the strawberries will flower and fruit later and whether they are prone to pests and diseases, so generally we just choose a strawberry variety that is suitable for potting, has a high fruit-setting rate, and strong disease resistance.
As for strawberry seedlings, choose new seedlings from the current year. They must not carry pests or diseases, should have many roots, a relatively thick leaf base, plump buds and leaves at the top, and roughly a few leaves.
4. The Correct Potting Method
The planting method for potted strawberries is very important. When planting, face the curved back side outward, so that the stem stands upright in the pot. After filling the pot with the prepared soil, spread the roots out to all sides and then fill in the soil. The planting depth must also be scientific; generally, the crown should not be buried at the top, and the roots should not be exposed at the bottom. Be sure to secure the strawberry seedling firmly.
After planting, water thoroughly. Once the water has completely seeped down, cover the roots exposed above the soil surface tightly to prevent lodging.
5. Fertilizing
Strawberries are a fruit that loves fertilizer, so they have strict requirements for fertilizer and water, especially the everbearing strawberry variety, which must continuously sprout, flower, and fruit, so it has high fertilizer requirements and needs more frequent fertilizing to meet its growth. Therefore, potted strawberries can use compound fertilizer or slow-release flower fertilizer to supply the plant's growth. When fertilizing, do not use too much at one time; instead, fertilize frequently and lightly to avoid burning the roots and causing the whole plant to die. If chemical fertilizer needs to be used, you can apply foliar fertilizer in the morning and evening.
6. Watering
During the growing period, strawberries are prone to water shortage in early summer, especially potted ones placed outdoors. To keep the soil moist, generally water once in the morning and once in the evening, but do not water too much each time.
Summer is relatively hot, so they cannot be placed in direct sunlight. To cool them down, water once more than usual. Of course, you can also spray water around the leaves to increase air humidity.
In summary, the key points of growing techniques and methods for potted strawberries are mainly those introduced above. We hope this is helpful to you.