Hi! I've tried growing strawberries from seeds without success They're so small! And as google told me later, I wasn't suppose to grow them with the tomatoes..... But now I've got some store bought strawberries and some of them are a bit "soggy" for my taste and I've wondered if you drop them in the ground as they are will the seeds have a chance of growing? Also should it be seeding soil or potting soil or just plain garden soil? I'm VERY new to gardening so any tips would be appreciated!
They self seed in our garden from the birds pinching the fruit. Sadly though the vast majority are not worth the effort. they are more often than not, small, hard and tasteless. They are so inbred and hybridised and selected that the chances of getting a decent fruit from the plants are pretty small. Sorry.
Yep, your best bet is to buy plants at a garden center and grow them. Many food plants are bred for certain 'qualities' and sadly sometimes being good tasting is not one of the qualities that is considered important....size, color, long storage life (because they have to travel so far from farm to your table) and if the fruit has a variety name they are either cultivars or hybrids. Hybrid seeds are typically sterile, if you do get some to germinate they most likely will revert to one of their parent varieties and won't taste the same.
It depends on what you have and since you bought them none of us truly can tell you for sure. I have a few that self-seeded and have regrown... and seem to be pretty similar to the parent plant. Give it a try... what are you out if they germinate and grow other than some time to see. Use a sterile seed starting mix, too. Not garden dirt. There are too many microbes competing and usually the plant succumbs to a fungal disease.
Thanks guys! I'll give it an open-minded try and let you know if I have success! It's interesting about them being bred though, I didn't know that but I guess it makes sense.
The Strawberry as we know it today is the result of a cross between the sweet, but tiny European strawberry and the American larger fruited, but insipid strawberry.
Growing strawbs from seeds is most definitely possible, as I personally know a chap over here that has a business that sells strawberry seeds in bulk to countries in the third world. Sadly not to individuals, but at least I can confirm your question about getting strawb seeds to germinate and grow into a plant. Good luck!
