ultimate guide to growing strawberries Indoors
How do you grow indoor hydroponic strawberries from seed? It’s easy and can be a fun project for the whole family. In this guide, I will walk you through the steps involved in growing your indoor strawberries, and I will also provide tips on caring for your plants and ensuring a successful harvest.
I use hydroponics to grow my strawberries, but you can use the same tactic for potting soil. I will cover both situations in the topic
Why Grow indoor strawberries from seed?
There are several methods of starting an indoor strawberry farm, including transplanting live plants, runners (scientifically called Stolons), and dormant roots.
Disease and pests
I recommend growing strawberries from seed because of the lack of diseases and pests. Outside, there is a perfect balance between predators and pests. Aphids attack plants, but ladybugs eat aphids. If you bring in anything garden-grown, Fungal Gnats, aphids, white flies, and the like may get out of control due to a lack of predators.
Known Variety
If you pluck the fruit from a strawberry plant directly, you will know the strawberry’s variety and the parent plant’s health. Once you get your first strawberry plants up and running from seed, you can make more plants with stolons. All this work ensures you have the variety of strawberry plants you want and guarantee a good crop yield. Who doesn’t wish to succeed in their garden?
Cheaper than roots and Live plants
Strawberry seeds are an economical way to grow strawberries because they are less expensive than live plants or bare roots.
But they take longer to Germinate.
There are drawbacks to producing strawberries from seed, as there are advantages. They take two weeks or longer just to germinate. From germination to adult plants, you can expect about two to three months before you start seeing flowers. While strawberries from seed grow slowly, algae, mold, and fungus proliferate. To prevent this, you must use a sterile growing medium, container, and fresh tap water and keep them away from your other plants until germination. Keep the humidity high but open the container to vent daily to ensure your seeds have a healthy environment. You must winterize seeds, which you can easily do by putting them in the fridge for a week or 2.
Where do I get the strawberry seeds for my indoor garden?
Strawberry seeds are available from various sources. True Leaf Market is the only place to suggest where I obtained my seeds, but the seeds frequently sell out! There are several on amazon I am testing out now. If you want real-time updates, subscribe to my Email list on the right.
Most store-bought strawberries come from genetically modified plants, and you don’t know what kind they’ve been exposed to. Furthermore, most hybrid varieties produce unpredictable size, yield, taste, texture, and color.
The type of strawberry you want is either overbearing or day-neutral. These plants will produce fruit consistently if you keep their environment stable. June bearing tends to have one big quick harvest and will likely respond poorly to an indoor growing setup.
Why do I use hydroponics instead of potting soil?
No bugs
Soil harbors a host of insects, most of which attack the plant in one way or another. These pests include Fungus Gnats, Scale, Spider Mites, Aphids, Whiteflies, Mealybugs, and Thrips. Fungus Gnats larvae, for example, feed on soft, tender root hairs and other organic material. Gnats can also cause young plants to wilt and interferes with the plant’s ability to absorb nutrients because the larva eats at the roots. Funny story: I started growing indoors with soil, but I had hundreds if not thousands of gnats swarming the room before long. I could kill hundreds a day with fly paper, but it didn’t help.
Efficient use of water
Much of the water is lost through evaporation when you water potted plants. With hydroponics, the water is often in a sealed reservoir, and easy to access the plant’s roots allowing quick intake of nutrients and water, which goes to our next point.
30 – 50% growth speed
Hydroponic plants grow faster! Roots are sitting in nutrient water, so they don’t have to root around and search for it, which allows the plant to put much more energy towards the green stuff on top, and that’s the part we like best.
Control the nutrient intake
When using hydroponics, you add fertilizer directly to the water, so it’s much easier to control what the plant receives and when. Excellent tip; you can use hydroponic nutrient water mix to water your potted plants if you don’t like messing with the pellets.
After the initial learning curve Easier to care
Hydroponics differs from planting in a pot or garden but is easier to maintain. You will always know when to water your plants because you can just look directly at the reservoir and see! Overwatering plants is a big deal because the roots cannot get oxygen and drown. In hydroponics, I use an air stone to directly add oxygen to the water so the plants can breathe underwater!
Troubleshooting problems and identifying issues easier
You can quickly identify most diseases and other issues because you have free access to the plant’s roots.
How do I Plant my Strawberry seeds indoors?
Use a Sterile growing medium.
Choosing a sterile growing medium is critical to ensure that your seeds are safe, healthy, and unhindered by pathogens or contaminants. I use Rock wool for my hydroponics which already comes sterilized, but you can also sterilize potting soil by placing it in an oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Baking will kill algae, mold, bugs, or fungi that could potentially harm your strawberry plants during their long germination period.
Get a virgin container or clean a used pot.
Along with a sterile growing medium, you will need a sterile container. You can use virgin/ never used containers or clean, disinfect, and sanitize previously used containers.
Cleaning a pot takes three steps to rid the container of any contaminants entirely.
Wash the pot vigorously with soap and water to remove as much mold, fungi, and algae as possible.
Disinfect with bleach. Bleach must be mixed and used immediately; the contact time is 10 minutes to ensure adequate disinfection. Rinse thoroughly after, for bleach can harm your plants if it is still present with the seeds.
Sterilize with Hydrogen Peroxide. 3% store-bought works ok, but for serious cleaning, you will need food grade 35%, which you can buy online (here). To kill everything, manually dilute the solution to a higher concentration of 10-15%. Be careful not to get it on you because it will cause light burns. Use gloves, and obviously, don’t drink.
Water, plant, and Tamp
Next, you will need to water your medium with water directly from the tap. Don’t do all this cleaning by using a watering can that’s been left outside full of everything you just cleaned and killed. In addition, fertilizers or nutrients are not necessary until a few days after germination. All seeds come packed with everything the seedling needs to grow for the first week. When you plant the seeds, bury less than 1/4 of an inch down and lightly tamp the dirt or other growing medium down to ensure soil contact and promote good root growth.
Humidity and air circulation
To assist with germination success rates, place a humidity dome over the top in a warm place like a windowsill or grow light. The humidity amount is where things can go wrong. Too humid, too much stagnant air, too long, and you may get mold and fungi. Mold spores are airborne, so it’s almost impossible to prevent any spores from getting on your seeds unless you are in a lab! You should have a few holes in the dome for circulation, and make sure you open the dome daily to allow full air exchange. You’re doing humidity right if you see dew on the dome, even with the holes.
Now let’s talk about seedlings and juvenile care.
How do I take care of my seedling strawberry plants?
It’s been a few weeks, and you are finally seeing strawberry plants rise from slumber. First, take the dome off partially for a day or 2. The slower you do this, the less shock your plants will receive. I recommend tilting the dome off for 1 or 2 days before removing completely. We will want to add nutrients.
I recommend watering the same way with hydroponics and with potting soil. Add nutrients to the water! This way, you won’t over-fertilize the plants and possibly harm them. Here’s a video I made on how to mix nutrients if you’re curious. When I used to fertilize plants with pellets, the result was devastating. I put too much in and killed plants before, so I prefer nutrient water.
Don’t be alarmed if your plants aren’t growing quickly. They stay seedlings for a long time before becoming adult plants, but they take off very quickly once they do.
Flowering, fruiting, and adult plant care of indoor strawberry plants.
Once you notice your first set of flowers, you will want to switch your nutrients to the flowering stage. (picture of flowering nutrients)
You will also have to hand-pollinate flowers. This process involves transferring pollen from the flower’s male parts to the female parts by hand. Luckily strawberries are self-fertile or hermaphrodite flowers, meaning male Stamen and Female Stigma parts are on the same flower. I use a soft makeup brush to lightly dust over each flower, making sure you cover the entire stigma. Each little dot of the stigma is a seed and must be pollinated for good-looking fruit. Partial pollination causes disfigured fruit but is still edible. You’ll want to pollinate flowers daily or every other day, and it’s okay if you do the same more than once. Also, don’t clean your brush unless it gets soiled so that the pollen can spread to many plants.
It is vital to pick your strawberries often once they are red. The more you pollinate and pick strawberries, the more flowers the plant will send out in response!
Runners or duplicates of the plant will shoot out from the plant either right before flowers appear or after flowering. It’s best to pluck them if you don’t want to add more plants to your system to encourage more focus on fruiting.
Conclusion
With patience, you can grow your strawberries from seed indoors! Once the plants start producing fruit, pick them often to encourage more fruiting. Enjoy your homegrown strawberries!
FAQ
How long does it take for strawberries to germinate?
It typically takes about 14 days for strawberry seeds to germinate.
What do I need to grow strawberries indoors?
To grow strawberries indoors, you will need a humidity dome, potting soil, and a light source. You may also consider adding a fan for circulation and a heating mat to keep the soil warm.
Can I grow strawberries in a pot?
Yes, you can grow strawberries in a pot! Be sure to use a pot at least 12 inches wide, so the roots have enough room to spread out. You will also want to ensure that the pot has drainage holes to allow excess water to escape.
What is the best way to pollinate strawberry flowers?
The best way to pollinate strawberry flowers is by hand. You can use a soft brush to transfer pollen from the flower’s male parts to the female parts. Be sure to pollinate flowers daily or every other day for the best results.
How often should I pick strawberries?
You should pick strawberries as soon as they are red. The more you harvest, the more flowers the plant will produce, and picking strawberries encourages the plant to produce more fruit.
What is a runner on a strawberry plant?
A runner is a duplicate of the plant that shoots out from the main plant. Runners typically appear before flowers start to bloom or early on after flowering. You can pluck runners if you don’t want to add more plants to your system.
What kind of grow light should I use for my indoor strawberries?
I recommend using a professional grow light and grow tent to grow strawberries indoors. Along with trapping light in the grow tent, it collects all the dead stuff the plants make, like flower petals, dead leaves, and so on. You can check out my indoor grow setup and the most common materials I use.
How much room do strawberry plants need when grown indoors?
I plant adult plants 12 inches away from each other. It will be challenging to find your fruit once it grows if spaced any closer.
Can I keep strawberry plants indoors year-round?
Absolutely! I have had my strawberries inside for over a year, and they are still growing!
