Can Strawberries Be Started Inside?

Types of Seeds

• Growing seeds from a supermarket strawberry often fails to produce viable plants. To ensure tasty, high-quality berries, use seeds specifically designed for planting. Gardening stores and online websites offer several different strawberry species. A common variety to start from seed is the alpine strawberry, a small, sweet version of a wild mountain strawberry plant.

Timing and Cold-Treating

• Perennial strawberry plants produce berries in the mid to late summer. To ensure a harvest in the first season, start strawberry plants in the early spring. Keep plants indoors until any risk of frost has passed.

  Some species, including the alpine strawberry, must be cold-treated before planting. To cold-treat strawberry seeds, place them in a sealed container in the freezer for several weeks. The frigid temperatures mimic the frozen winter which precedes the strawberries' growing season in the wild.

Inside Planting

• Plant seeds in individual or divided containers, such as egg cartons or plastic seed-starting containers. Barely cover the seeds with a thin layer of moist soil or seed-starting mix. Using a mix reduces the chance of fungus or weed growth while providing the light, loamy texture that strawberries prefer.

  Strawberry seeds germinate well when kept at a constant temperature of 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Although a windowsill may provide light, it will also expose the plant to nighttime drafts and daytime heat. Choose a warm, bright spot indoors without much temperature variation. Keep soil consistently moist.

Repotting and Outside Planting

• Young strawberry plants will soon outgrow tiny germination containers. Repot the plants into larger individual containers until they have grown several sets of leaves and are large enough for replanting.

  Indoor plants must be carefully acclimated to outside conditions before being planted outdoors. Move the pots outside each day for a few hours, increasing the amount of time and direct sunshine over the space of weeks. By gently conditioning the plants for outdoor living, you decrease the risk of temperature shock and death.