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Ever considered growing strawberries indoors before? Growing strawberries indoors is not only practical but also ideal. Find out how you can do it in this easy growing guide!
If you were once like me, who previously thought that strawberries are unlikely to thrive indoors, you’re definitely missing out. Yes, indoor plants such as cactus and succulents are ideal, but strawberries are definitely better. Think about the delicious recipes you can make like ice cream, other strawberry frozen desserts, strawberry shortcake, and strawberry jam all from fresh strawberries growing inside your home. Read on to learn more about growing strawberries indoors.
Among its relatives, strawberry is probably one of the most popular fruit berries. Well, I think it is well-deserved, considering strawberry’s striking aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and signature sweetness. However, as I’ve mentioned before, strawberries made it to the top of the dirty dozen–a list of produce that are heavy on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and which could potentially be unhealthy despite its wholesome health benefits. So if you ask me why I prefer my strawberries homegrown, it’s because I want pure strawberry goodness without the bad stuff.
You can actually use any pot or planter available. But if you have limited space, you can use a tiered planter that’s a decoration in itself. It also lets you grow more strawberries within the square foot space it occupies. Strawberry tiered planters are also available in less costly strawberry planter bags.
You can grow strawberries from seeds, but that process takes two seasons to bear fruit. You can grow strawberries from runners, but that wouldn’t look good indoors. Which is why growing strawberries from bare roots are the best way to grow strawberries indoors. They bear fruits as early as 10 weeks, and they grow great indoors.
For indoor planting in winter, short-day strawberries are ideal. Choose the short-day June-bearing strawberry varieties for easy care, and great flavor and fragrance. June-bearing strawberries produce one crop of large strawberries per year and normally occurs in late May to early June.
Investing in a quality soil for your indoor strawberries will save you a lot of trouble on pests and diseases present in just any soil or compost. Strawberries like loamy, slightly sandy soil that’s a bit acidic. Potting soil from the store may already have fertilizers in it, so avoid adding more.
Strawberries need six to eight hours of direct sunlight so a sunny windowsill will be perfect for your potted plants. During cloudy days, you have to go artificial to get them lighted. These easy and inexpensive DIY indoor grow lights could help you. Don’t let your plants dry out, but don’t let them sit in water too. Make sure your soil and planter drain well.
What’s great about indoor gardening is you avoid or limit pest infestation. There are 200 known pest species that can attack strawberries. So be on the lookout still, and remedy this problem with natural pests and insect repellents.
Although strawberries are self-pollinating, you might want to give them a helping hand since pollinators will also be absent indoors. Take out a small brush, and gently brush the pollen of each full blooming flower. Go through all the flowers one more time to make sure you’ve brushed the pollen into all the flowers.
Your strawberries are ready for picking when they’ve reached their signature deep red color. Make sure each strawberry is ripe since they don’t ripen further after picking. Picking ripe strawberries more often will encourage more fruits.
A minimum of 6 to 7 strawberry plants per person is advised if you want fresh strawberries year-round. You can grow strawberries near your indoor herbs, but never near vegetables of the tomato and cabbage family. Use light-colored containers to help keep the roots cooler. Good air circulation for your indoor strawberries will prevent fungus developing in your strawberries. Check out more helpful tips for growing strawberries here.
This video from ehowgarden will give you more ideas on growing strawberries indoors:
Isn’t growing strawberries indoors exciting? With fresh and clean strawberry fruits to harvest anytime soon, I’m sure you’re as excited as I am. Now you know how to grow strawberries indoors so you can have strawberries beyond and before the growing season–practically year-round. Have a great time growing strawberries indoors!
Source: https://gardenseason.com/growing-strawberries-indoors/