Strawberry thread

[upnorthlady2]

I thought I's start a new thread about strawberries, so we would have a place to update progress. I planted my strawberry seeds on Jan 12, and I already have 6 seeds that just broke the soil today!! They are really tiny, but I can see 'em! Now I have hope that I will actually have berries. I bought Ferry-Morse seeds at the local farm supply place, Alpine variety, everbearing. They have been under grow lights since then, except for a few sunny days when I thought I didn't need the extra lights. How are your seeds coming along? I planted one and a half trays of seeds, putting 2 or 3 seeds per section of potting soil. If they all sprout, boy oh boy will I have plants! But I don't expect that to happen. When the plants are ready and hardy (if that happens), the plants will go into my high tunnel in a permanent location for the three years of their life.

[Granny Smith]

Awesome! I haven't planted mine yet. I always get gung-ho then let them die. I'm trying to hold off until Valentine's Day. Maybe I'll have better luck this year. I'm also planning on watering them with either rain water or tap water that I've left uncovered for 24 hours. We have city water and I think the chlorine has a lot to do with the little plants croaking.

I wish my greenhouse was done (can't find the rest of the stuff I need to finish it yet) Maybe I'd have better luck starting plants out there.

At the moment, all I have that looks good is a few tomato plants. I wish I'd made a note of what kind I planted.

[upnorthlady2]

I usually start my tomato plants in early March. Right now I have oregano coming up very nicely, and plain pansies. I ordered some double ruffled pansy seed, but they haven't arrived yet. In a couple weeks I'll start Candy sweet onions and Walla Walla sweets and red sweets. The week after that I start peppers of all kinds. Right now I have the trays on a card table in the living room by my huge bay window, with a grow light and frame over the trays. But when I get more trays started, then hubby brings in sawhorses, and three long boards (originally church pew seats from the early days of our church), and we have a different support for grow lights, and more grow lights, and I keep everything set up until early May when I start hardening things off on the screened in porch and greenhouse. It takes up most of the living room, but oh well. I can plant lettuces and spinach and bok choy in the greenhouse in early April right in the soil, but other garden plants can't go outside until Memorial Day weekend up here in the north country. It seems like we always have that last frost around May 28 or even later. We end up bringing big row covers and tarps to cover things, as well as bags and buckets over everything.

Right now I use (melted) snow water for watering. We're supposed to get another 5 or 6 inches this week. We also have our own well. I agree with you that chlorine is probably not good for your seedlings.

[upnorthlady2]

My strawberry seeds aren't doing so well. They come up, then die. I have one or two that are about 1/2 inch high and that's it. I keep the soil moist like the internet says, I "talk to them" (ha!)and they get plenty of light, including a grow light. Not sure what's wrong, but I will keep trying.

[Granny Smith]

That's how mine do when I buy plants. They start to grow, then just keel over. I don't get it. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with the seeds. I'm considering direct-sowing them, rather than starting them indoors.

[upnorthlady2]

Well all my little strawberry plants officially died. I guess this experiment was a failure for me. I had a couple left that seemed like they might make it, but they just died. I had a grow light on them, good soil, not too wet, not too dry..........I just can't figure it out. Everything else I have growing now is doing great. I have all kinds of veggies and flowers growing under grow lights and they are thriving well. I guess there must be something to growing strawberries that I don't know about. Oh well, I tried! I have a new appreciation for nursery professionals who sell strawberry plants now!

The weather is beautiful now up here in the north, and my little greenhouse is very warm. I uncovered the garlic I planted last October. I had a foot of straw on top of the soil, but since it's about 90 in there now I didn't think it needed covering. We are tapping trees and boiling maple syrup now, too. It gets to above 50 during the day and 20's at night, which is perfect for the sap to run. In my "spare time" (ha!) I would like to start digging up soil in my greenhouse and get things cleaned up for next month when I start to plant lettuces and spinach and snow peas and bok choy in there.

The only bad thing about spring is the MUD!! Out here on our country dirt roads, mud season is a nightmare. Roads are sloppy, I even hate to walk to the mailbox. The cats put dirty paw prints over everything. Walking anywhere in the yard means having to wear boots. Floors are impossible to keep clean. It'll be this way until the grass grows.

[Granny Smith]

We've had mud like that for nearly 2 years. Even the grass is muddy. I don't know why we've been getting so much rain. It never used to be like this.

I haven't had good strawberries since the tornado (9 years ago) I've tried raised beds, seeds, live plants, and nothing worked. They grow for a little while, then die. I thought it might be the lye in the soil (from the tornado), but even tried growing them in store-bought dirt and they still died. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm giving up. I'm going to try plants and seeds this year. I might start some of the seeds in pots and direct seed some of them. I might try planting some in the shade and see if that's what they want. I don't know.

I have the same luck with ginger.