How to Grow Strawberries from Seed and the Best Months for Sowing

In strawberry cultivation, most growers choose to buy live seedlings to plant, and few grow strawberries from strawberry seeds, so can strawberry seeds be sown directly? What is the method for growing strawberries from seed? Which month is suitable for sowing?

1. Can strawberry seeds be sown directly?

In fact, strawberry seeds can be sown directly, it is just more troublesome than planting live strawberry seedlings, as the strawberry seeds need the necessary pre-sowing treatment.

The specific steps are as follows:

1. Put the strawberry seeds into warm water at about 60°C, soak and stir until the water temperature drops to around 20°C, then leave them to soak for 3 hours. Take out the strawberry seeds, drain the water, rub them bright with your hands, then place them in moist gauze for germination. Once the seeds show white, they can be sown. Just scatter the seeds directly; you can cover them with a thin layer of soil.

2. To promote seed germination, you can cover the area where the strawberries are planted with a thin layer of straw, and remove it once the seedlings have emerged evenly.

2. In which month are strawberry seeds sown?

At present, many strawberries are grown in greenhouses, so basically they can be sown all year round, but you must ensure the temperature at sowing is around 25-28°C.

Since strawberry seed germination has this temperature requirement, if growing outdoors it is best to sow between early September and mid-October, so that they will bear fruit the following spring. However, the strawberries harvested in the first year are generally few in number, and it is in the second year that strawberries reach their peak production period.

3. How are strawberry seeds grown? What methods are there?

1. Management after sowing strawberries

Before planting out, no fertilizer is needed; simply give the strawberries sunlight often and water once when the soil surface becomes dry.

2. Transplanting seedlings

Strawberries grown from seed are generally planted in spring, that is, transplanted and planted out around mid-to-late March each year. The row and plant spacing should preferably be kept at 30*40 cm, and about 10,000 strawberry seedlings can be planted per mu.

3. Field management

About 2 months after transplanting, strawberries will begin to bloom and bear fruit one after another. During this period, in order to provide the strawberries with enough nutrients, weeds need to be removed promptly and additional fertilizer applied. On one hand, nitrogen fertilizer and compound fertilizer should be applied to the soil; on the other hand, foliar fertilizer should be applied to the leaves of the strawberry seedlings. Be careful not to sprinkle fertilizer onto the strawberry crowns, so as not to burn the seedlings.

4. Thinning flowers and fruits and pruning

At this time, do not be reluctant to part with them; this is a necessary measure for making strawberries high-quality and high-yielding. During the flowering period, keep about 5 large flowers per plant, and when the fruit has set, keep about 4 large fruits per plant; remove the other small fruits and deformed fruits to avoid wasting nutrients. Pruning works on the same principle: those old leaves, withered leaves and rotten leaves should be picked off in time.

5. Measures for overwintering strawberries

Strawberries are not very cold-tolerant, so in winter, warmth-retaining measures such as putting up a shed frame should be taken. Generally, around late October, you should begin covering the strawberries with plastic film.