I grew mignonette alpine strawberries in a microgreens tray and there are dozens of little seedlings now. I didn't really expect a tenth of this many to germinate (I cold stratified for all of 6 days). Plus, I grew another variety, tresca, which are about 3 days behind the mignonettes and on their way to coming up in abundance as well. My plan is to plant these in several 18-inch by 5-foot long planters that will primarily be used to grow vines (cucumber, bitter gourd and small winter squashes) on trellises, which themselves serve dual-use for privacy on my deck. The strawberries will just fill the extra area in the planters.
Question is, I have about 7-8 weeks until I can transplant these outside, so how should I treat potting them up in the meantime? I'm guessing that they grow pretty slow and have minimal needs for root space, being such small seedlings. MY thought is that once they get 1-2 sets of true leaves, I'll dig them out of the microgreens tray and pot them up into 72-cell flats with potting soil. Any thoughts or critiques would be welcome.
by L-Pseon
2 Comments
Congrats! im still waiting for my alpine seeds to come in the mail.
wait until 3 sets of leaves before potting up. If sapce is an issue, just take the strongest looking ones. if grow light space is not an issue, pot them all up and then sell/gift them to your neighbours. Alpine berrues do not produce runners, so what you plant is what you get until the clumps are big enough to divide.
Alpine strawberries are tiny at first but they actually get crowded faster than people expect.
I’d wait until they have their first real set of true leaves, then gently tease them apart and pot them up. 72-cell trays will prob work short term, but if you’ve got that many you might find they fill those cells quicker than you think. They don’t need huge space, just enough that roots aren’t tangling nonstop.
They grow slow up top but they’re steady. Good light is more important than a ton of soil right now. Keep them evenly moist, not soaked. They hate sitting wet.
7–8 weeks is plenty of time. I wouldn’t leave them packed together in the microgreens tray too long though, that’s when they start competing and getting leggy.
Also just a heads up… once they’re established they spread and fill space pretty well. Might want to thin more than you think unless you want a strawberry jungle under your vines.
You’re in good shape though. Way better problem than low germination.
– Tim