3 EASY steps to germinate strawberry seeds in Singapore :
I) Bright morning sun room in normal SG temperature (NO air-conditioning)
Cool breeze ventilated the germinating trays which were recycled from fruit packaging.
2) Don’t bury the seeds! Seeds sowed on the soil surface as shown:
3. Water from bottom-up rather than top-down.
Once the seeds are buried in soil, it may not germinate or germinate at a slower pace (more than 10 days).
Watering from the bottom lets the soil takes only the amount of water it needs and the excess water is drained away through the holes we cut at the bottom.
If you have time for only top-down watering, just make sure that the seeds are not dragged into the soil. 🙂
I have germinated different varieties of strawberries with these 3 easy steps, and they work the best.
OBSERVATIONS ON STRAWBERRIES GERMINATION
- Types of pots used – Cylinder shaped versus flat surface seeds germination “pots”.
Cylinder or cone-shaped pot yields different results.
For example, white strawberry varieties did not germinate in this pot but red strawberries did.
Flat surface container germination work for all strawberry seeds I tried.
I can only reason that its the uneven absorption of water as the cause.
The moisture needs to be relatively even for the soil, and thus, a flat surface container works best for germination.
2. TEMPERATURE OF MEDIUM
Some seeds instructions recommended a certain range of temperatures to germinate seeds.
For example, most white strawberry varieties instructed 16C – 21C be maintained for successful germination.
But it did not work for me.
I had a lot of difficulties germinating Heirloom Pineapple strawberry seeds with the chilled soil in my self-watering pot above.
Finally, I gave up and returned to my 3 easy steps method, and the seeds germinated …finally!
Sometimes what works for gardeners abroad may not work for us!
We just have to try our own way and don’t give up.
3. SG SUPERMARKETS STRAWBERRIES (NOT A GOOD IDEA)
Well, the foreign experts’ consensus is in, extracting seeds from fresh supermarkets’ fruits is not a good idea.
Supermarkets’ strawberries are hybrids and they do not produce true to the parent plants because of their genetic make-up.
They did not start from seeds.
In laymen’s terms, this means it’s unlikely to fruit from hybrid seeds.
Read more on hybrid and other observations in our Tropical Strawberries post.
Correction (data from 2017)
Gardeners have managed to harvest from fresh Korean strawberries’ seedlings, harvest day from seeds was about 1 year.
The seedlings were frail, about 90% will not grow until maturity.
Our experience from USA strawberries had been all seedlings did not survive more than three months.
FROM OWN GROWN SEED BORNE FRUITS
In spite of this, the method on how to extract the best seeds is still valid for own grown heirloom plants.
We successfully grew second-generation strawberries from our Heirloom Pineapple Strawberries plants in September 2016.
Our fresh seeds germinate the fastest, sometimes overnight to the second day to see something sprouting.
MORE TIPS
For better germination rate, FREEZE bought strawberry seeds overnight first, before sowing.
I prefer directly on moist soil rather than tissues or cotton because its easier to transplant them later.
Place some seeds in bowl and ziplocked in a bag to freeze.
This prevents seeds from spilling accidentally in the freezer and moisture from seeping in.
My recommendation is to try with some seeds at the first try instead of the whole pack!
That way, if they did not germinate the first round, at least there are seeds left to try again.
Regarding freezing, I have frozen seeds in various time frames before I sowed (trials: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, overnight, 2 nights, and NO Freezing).
Those seeds that were frozen, germination time is 5 -6 days, regardless of how long they have been frozen.
Thus, I think overnight freezing in ziplock or airtight pack is enough in Singapore conditions. 5 – 6 days is still faster than most seeds packaging predictive gauge of 2 – 4 weeks.
If the seeds are not frozen, germination time can be more than 10 days or they don’t germinate.
Leftover seeds or new seeds should be ziplocked in bags and kept in the fridge or freezer as well.
Being chilled, they last longer and would be ready for sowing the next time you felt like growing fresh strawberries at home again! 🙂
Please leave a comment if you find this content useful 🙂
New methods for faster germination and steps to growing and fruiting taught in workshops.
WORKSHOPS with systematic guidance to grow from seeds in 3 hours!
FOR SALE – SEEDS, SEEDLING (HYDRO, SOIL), KITS
New 2018 RED Alpine seeds were tested and showed excellent germination of over 90% within 8 days.
Transplanting Tips at this link.
Bulk delivery to schools 🙂 – Encouraging discoveries for young keen minds!
thank you for this information, I’m from the Philippines and would like to try growing strawberries for our own consumption as we are too far away from Baguion where strawberries here are grown.
I will let you know what happen in trying your method of germinating seeds.
Hello there! Very informative indeed!
I have been trying to germinate strawberry seeds right heee in sg but to no avail. Previously tried chilling them in the fridge for 3 weeks or not chilling at all, all have failed.
Guess i will take your cue to freeze the seeds overnight and pray for the best!
PS: too many seeds have went to heaven haha
apply some hydrogen peroxide on the seeds. It will boost the germination.
What should be ratio of hydrogen peroxide to water?
I just want to say that I love how descriptive you are. This was incredibly informative. Thank-you so much!(:
It?s hard to find well-informed people for this subject, but you sound like
you know what you?re talking about! Thanks
Thanks for the workshop. First time I grow a plant well. Yeah, and the strawberry is now pregnant! Woohoo!
Amazing workshop! Enjoyed it very much, especially the transplanting steps and insights on how to grow strawberries. Will recommend to my friends. Money well worth it. Thank you for the seedlings, they are doing well.
Hi, I’m interested to purchase some ice plant seeds and strawberries seeds…how do we deal?
Easy. 1) Fill contact form so we can liaise privately. Local normal postage is 30 cents or $3.20 extra for tracking number. All correspondence where payment mode or address is shared via email thereafter.
Hello! may I purchase heirloom strawberry seeds from you? or may I purchase some strawberry seedlings ? contact me 85117248! nice blog you have!
Hi, 3 varieties of alpine strawberries seeds are available in our e-Shop in the blog – red, yellow or white. The red being the easiest. Re seedlings, they are mostly reserved for our workshops practical work, thus not available for sale.
Learning and attending the Strawberries + Herbs + Lavender workshop yesterday has been an eyeopener for me. I had never imagined there are so much more to learn as I have been actively reading agricultural books and watching videos and had successfully planted vegetables for a year. The workshop not only taught how to grow and care for strawberries and herbs, there are also so many insights which were never found on the books and videos I have came across and made me rethink my growing habits. Though I had aimed to learn strawberries and herbs as the main most important objective, it had turned out to be the sharing of insights by Ms Victoria that I find most valuable.
I am very grateful to learn from Ms Victoria who gladly shared her years of experience. Thank you Ms Victoria