If you were to grow a strawberry plant from from seed you might not see fruit for 2 years. While there are a lot of great things about strawberry plants, they are not fast growers, unfortunately. While you may get some fruit in your first year, most people say they don’t produce well until at least the second.
However, strawberries are a great fruit for growing in hydroponics or aquaponics systems. And, they are even a great choice for indoor apartment gardening due to their smaller size compared to other fruit bushes or trees.
They will also continue to fruit year after year if they are well cared for and protected from the cold.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Strawberries From Seed?
If you still want to try growing your strawberry plants from seed, expect your strawberry plants to germinate in 1-6 weeks. In another 6 weeks or so, your plants will be ready to move to their own pots. However, it could be 210 days before you actually see any fruit on a plant grown from seed.
Though many gardeners recommend NOT allowing your strawberry plants to produce fruit the first year. This allows them to focus on growth an producing additional runner plants, improving the next year’s harvest. You can do this by pinching off the flowers and not allowing the plant to pollinate.
Can I Grow A Strawberry Plant From A Grocery Store Strawberry?
While this “may” work, many grocery store varieties are actually sterile hybrids which will not sprout. Plus, even if they do, strawberries are one of those plants that aren’t always true to form when reproduced from seed (with the exception of alpine and heirloom varieties). The solution to that problem though is in the next section!
How Can You Grow Strawberries Faster?
Since it takes so long to produce fruit from seed, most people actually recommend that you instead buy seedlings or “runners”. This approach is quicker, and you can pick up strawberry plants from nearly anywhere. Though if you want a particular type you can’t find locally, try eBay or Etsy for niche plant sellers.
The benefit of growing your strawberry plants from runners or starter plants rather than seed is tremendous. It’s not only faster, but more established plants will be hardier and easier for beginners to manage. Strawberries are also rather tricky to grow from seed due to needing ‘cold stratification’ to sprout properly.
There’s no need to buy a ton of strawberry plants either! That’s because you’ll quickly be able to propagate as many strawberry plants as you need from runners which will come off your own plants.
You can use any number of growing systems for strawberries, but a system which allows you to transfer your plants indoors during the winter months will make it easier to preserve your plants. So, keep that in mind.
Bob learned about farming from his grand dad. So, the decision to leave the city and start homesteading was not a difficult transition. He now lives with his wife and two kids on their 30 acre property in Ohio.
