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Strawberries are one of the favorite fruit trees for growing in a pot or a container indoors, and most of all because we can really clearly see their progress, whether planted in a special strawberry planting pot, in a container on a window sill, or in a regular container. But let’s start with one thing. Did you know that strawberries can not be botanically classified as either fruits or vegetables (learn more about differences between fruits and vegetables)? Although nutritional and in appearance, it is similar to fruit, it is actually a thick bloom on the stem.
The biggest advantage of growing strawberries in pots is that snails are less likely to bite because they are raised from the ground. This is a great way to plant strawberries if you want to have undamaged fruits while not liking the snail poisoning agent.
Strawberries can be planted in strawberry containers with an opening that has a rim. Multiple levels can be made, for example, of three shallow terra cotta vessels of which the smallest in diameter is the highest. Compost is put into each and then stacked on top of each other, starting with the largest.
Strawberries can be planted along the edges of the lower pots and in the center of the tallest pot, thus forming a mountain of strawberries. In order to increase strawberry plantations and if you want to have many strawberries for a long time, you should carefully choose early, medium, and late varieties, keeping in mind that it is ideal to have more varieties. Strawberries grown in pots do not produce as much fruit as those grown in the garden soil.
Tips for growing strawberries on the balcony at your home
Since strawberries thrive in all regions and can grow abundantly with time, it would be a pity not to have them in every garden, and if you do not have a garden, then at least on the balcony at your home, where you can make a real small strawberry garden that you can take care of with your children too. Strawberries even thrive in the window boxes and are a perennial plant that can be successfully replanted after the first three years.
The strawberries are developing new small plants that are called stems (or crowns) and can be planted in early fall to bear fruit for the second year. When planting strawberries for the first time, it is best to get some shrubs in a good nursery and plant them at about 8 inches apart. It is important to cultivate the soil well, and even though they like moist soil, the water must not stand. Fertilizer manure and regular watering are also recommended.
Early autumn and spring are the optimum times for planting, but not later than May because by then the early varieties are ready for harvest. When strawberries are planted, care should be taken in-depth as the heart of the plant must be above the ground in order not to rot. Crawling strawberries are ideal for growing in barrels and other containers on the balcony of your home. They can also be planted in pots, plastic gutters, buckets, and casks, but also in vertical billets that you can make from old pallets.
They are an ideal fruit species because they take up little space indoors, and amateurs are advised to plant strawberries that are constantly growing to provide strawberries for food throughout the summer.
Growing strawberries in a barrel indoors
For growing strawberries on the balcony, you can use an old barrel, specially made clay pots that have openings, or a wooden bucket. Whichever dish you choose, a series of holes that are approximately 2 inches wide should be made, and the distance between them should be 6 to 8 inches. The bottom of the selected container should also be drilled and placed on 4 bricks.
A sunny spot on the balcony at your home is ideal for growing strawberries, and in order to obtain favorable air circulation, the container in which you planted strawberries needs to be at least 20 inches away from the wall. A plastic tube that is densely drilled or a cylinder of metal mesh, which, depending on the type of mesh, has a diameter of 2 to 4 inches, is vertically placed in the center of the container.
The bottom of the selected container is covered with a layer of loose loam, and the cylinder or tube which is placed in the middle is also half-filled.
After that, you start filling the container with fertile soil, and when you have filled it up to the first batch of holes, plant the strawberry seedlings, continuing in succession while watering each layer.
When growing strawberries on the terrace or balcony at your home, it is best to get seedlings called “four seasons” or “pineberry ” which, although not very rich in yield, bloom continuously and bear fruit from early summer until the fall.
It is advisable to replace the seedlings after 3 to 5 years in order to achieve greater fertility.
Growing strawberries on foil, in mini tunnels and in a pallet bowl indoors
In the garden as well as on the balcony at home, strawberries on the foil can be grown in selected containers, which have certain advantages. The benefits are faster ripening that is possible due to heat accumulation, less work is done to remove weeds, the fruits are cleaner and easier to clean. Straw mulch can play the same role, even though there is also a danger and a more complicated snail fight on the balcony.
It is also suitable to grow strawberries in mini tunnels indoors, as they produce earlier fruits, and the flowers can thus be protected from spring frosts. When flowering, the first flowers that otherwise bear the greatest fruit may be destroyed at a temperature of 28 °F.
If you have made and shaped a pallet planting bowl, you can plant them in one or more rows, depending on the dimensions of the pallet container.
Two-row and zigzag planting is recommended, and the spacing between flower beds is about 12 inches, while the row spacing is 8 to 12 inches. The distance between the two adjacent billets should be 24 to 28 inches. The distance also depends on the quality of the soil, the choice of strawberry variety, and how it is grown, and after planting, it is mandatory to water.
Much attention should also be paid to the root, how long it is and to what depth it is planted. When planting, the most important thing is to make good contact between the ground and the roots and to get the strawberries to the ideal depth. Stems that are planted too deep or on the other hand are too shallow will either be very difficult to recover or will fail, and are thus very susceptible to disease. Root length is usually 3 to 4 inches.
Planting with a dedicated planter is recommended, and these strawberry seedlings should be well-developed with a healthy root, with no signs of pest or pest damage or disease. Before planting in a pot, seedlings should be kept in a cool place for 2 to 3 days.
Make your own strawberry container on a balcony or terrace
It is well known that strawberries are ideal for beginners because they are not demanding for cultivation and will thrive in hanging baskets as well as in ordinary pots that we all have at home. It is easiest to start planting strawberries on the balcony in the spring when they are already available in the nurseries.
The trick to excellent strawberry cultivation is that they need to be watered well so that the soil never dries in the pots. Growing strawberries indoors is possible in pots of all sizes, and you can easily make your own pots from recycled material. The advantages of this design are that it is cheap and simple.
You need a 10 l plastic bottle, a plastic tube, a drill, a scalpel, and the ground to produce 5 pineberry seedlings that thrive until the fall. First, you need to separate the excess soil from the roots of the seedlings to make it easier to plant the seedlings in a plastic bottle. After that, holes are drilled lengthwise on all sides of the plastic tube, and it is best to do so with a drill. This will allow the soil to be irrigated inside the entire plastic bottle.
Determine the length of the tube by the height of the plastic bottle, and it must be so wide that you can run it through the throat of the bottle. At the top of the throat, a scalpel cuts a hole through the bottle through which the earth will be inserted. After this preparation, the plastic bottle begins to fill with soil to the desired height where you want to plant the first strawberry transplant.
The first opening is best made above ground level, or when the bottle is already filled with about 4 inches. In order to push the transplant without too much damage to the root, a small enough opening is made with a slight incision of the scalpel. After that, the next 4 inches of the bottle is filled with the soil and the same planting procedure is repeated until the last opening through which we initially filled the bottle with soil.
With the last transplant, we close the opening and finally, the bottle is well watered. We place this plastic bottle, or your new strawberry pot, in the sunniest place on the balcony and you can expect the first fruits in a few weeks.
The pleasure is that you can grow strawberries literally at the front door and enjoy, not only the fruits but also the flowers. Strawberries are very suitable and noticeable plants for growing in hanging baskets that have solid walls because such baskets are slow to dry. Since they are hanging above the ground, the fruits are not catching the soil and are much easier to harvest when ripe. They need sunlight and good air circulation indoors to help them grow and develop more easily. By planting strawberries in a hanging bowl on the balcony at your home, strawberries fulfill both of these conditions.