A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Strawberries from Grandpa

My parents and I never really cared much for plants. But my Grandpa always seemed to. Every so often he'd ask me to take a picture of him with the things he's grown. He was 90 years old last summer when he passed away.

Three years ago in early spring, my Grandpa was using the hoe in our backyard to loosen the dirt as he always has in past years. The area he loosened was about 20' x 6' and for the first time he wanted to see if he could get strawberries to grow. He planted about 20 or so individual strawberry plants. I went with him to the store to get the plants and we got half Sequoia and the other half Quinalt. We had a lot of strawberries that year and they actually tasted better than what we bought from the store.

I havent been to that house since recently for spring break, and noticed 3 strawberry crowns with a few small leaves coming out of each. I dug up the crowns roots and got some dirt and brought it to my parent"s new house. I mixed the dirt with miracle grow, found a plastic cup, cut some holes on the bottom corners, and put the miracle grow and dirt mix in the cup with the crown poking out the top of the soil, and watered it.

Its only been two days since I planted it and now a new leaf is emerging out of the crown. It"s unbelievable how excited I get over seeing this plant grow. I"m not really sure where the best place to put this plant.

At the moment I"ve got a room with a window in a dorm, and that"s where it stayed the first day. Today I kept it on the back dashboard of my car while I wasn"t driving. I"ve always heard plants grow really well in a greenhouse, and was wondering if I can use my car as a greenhouse. Is there a temperature that strawberry plants best grows in? Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

don't use your car as a greenhouse. if you do, you will cook your plant. cars, especially in california, get way too hot.

the sunny windo in the dorm is your best bet for now.

thanks for the reply Jiffymouse Will the strawberry plant grow more with longer periods of light? During the day the light comes from the window from 8am-6pm then it gets light from my room lights till l0pm.

As long as strawberries get several hours of sun a day they should be O.K. Good luck growing them

What a lovely tribute to your Grandpa.
We all wish you the best with your strawberry, and please keep us posted.

I appreciate your kind comments MLN and Deborah L. Ive got my fingers crossed and hope luck is on my side with this plant. Its nice to have a place vent some emotions somewhere. I really had a connection with my Grandpa.

I was wondering about a few things with growing a strawberry plant. Currently its in a small plastic cup thats holding 1 cup of dirt w/ miracle grow. Can a strawberry plant grow fully in a pot? If it can what size pot would it have to be? Are there things I should avoid doing so I dont end up with sour strawberries?

Absolutely it will do well and fruit in a pot ! All of mine are in pots.
For a single plant, get an 8 inch pot. Clay will be best as it breathes.
Ease up on the Miracle Gro-you don't want to overdo it. Or, did you mean Miracle Gro potting soil?
As for sweetness, that's going to depend mostly on the variety of the berry you have.

I think the bag said something like Miracle Grow Potting Mix. The mix in the bag was a really fluffy soil and had small white rocks in it. Will I also need to buy manure once I do the transplant into a 8" clay pot?

What signs should I watch out for over fertilizing? I remember from a bio class that plants like nitrogen. My aquariums has nitrates in it, and I'm using that to water the plant. Is the aquarium water considered fertilizer?

Will the strawberry plant be able to grow all year long since it'll concistantly be getting warmth and light from being indoors? I think Strawberry plant is either a Sequoia or a Quinault. Can an average person tell the difference just by looking at it?

thanks so much for all your help Deborah L.

the miracle gro soil is all you need for now. it should be great. the aquarium water is all the fertilizer you need, and shouldn't be a problem with over doing it. you've got a good start, but while i can grow them, i know nothing about which kind is which

Quinalts have small leaves like Alpine strawberries, but the leaves are as thick as Sequoias.
When your plant is mature enough, if it gets fruit on the runners (without you planting the runners) you have a Quinalt-they are the only strawberry to fruit on unplanted runners.
You're welcome-glad to help and glad you're here !