When To Start Strawberries Indoors

Transplanting Strawberry Seedlings – Once the young strawberry seedlings are 2-3″ tall, and the last spring frosts have passed, it’s time to think about planting them in the garden. Strawberry seedlings are delicate, and they’re accustomed to the consistent light and temperatures in their indoor growing area.

Do strawberries need to be started indoors?

To plant: – Although bareroot strawberries can be planted at any time, strawberry seeds must be started indoors to ensure they are ready to go when it comes to their normal growing season. To ensure strawberry seeds will grow when you plant them, you must first stratify them.

To do this, place the strawberry seeds in an envelope or sealed plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator for a month. Since strawberry seeds must be planted by February to be ready for harvest, begin the stratification process in January. Once the month has passed, remove the seeds but leave them sealed overnight.

Open them the next day. Cold stratification is required for certain seeds to sprout properly. Cold stratification is a process in which seed dormancy is broken by mimicking the natural conditions a seed might go through. After you have gone through the stratification process, plant the seeds 1/2 inch deep in a container filled with sterile seed-starting mix.

Do strawberries stay fresher with stems on?

The Best Way to Store Strawberries According to Food Network Experts Natasha Breen / Getty Images By Amanda Neal for Food Network Kitchen Amanda Neal is a recipe developer at Food Network. Those first fresh, vibrant strawberries of the season are like little edible gems telling us that winter is over.

1. Though hardier than some other berries, soft and sweet strawberries do require some special care and safe keeping to help them last.
2. If you’re planning to eat your strawberries right away, storing strawberries at room temperature on your kitchen counter is the best option — they’ll lose a bit of luster and flavor in the fridge.

However, if you want to prolong their lifespan for use in baked goods and other recipes, the refrigerator will become your best bet. Here are some tips for storing strawberries in your refrigerator to keep them fresh throughout the season. When stored properly, strawberries will stay firm and fresh for about a week.

• It’s important to keep strawberries very dry and cold.
• To do this, line a plate, baking sheet or shallow glass bowl with a couple paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
• Place your unwashed strawberries on top in a single layer, then cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, ideally within seven days.

If you notice one of the strawberries going bad or turning moldy, immediately remove it and discard. Mold spreads easily and quickly, so it’s crucial to keep an eye on your strawberries for any spoilage. You don’t want one bad berry to ruin the whole bunch! Here are a few important tips for how to store strawberries in the refrigerator: Strawberries will stay their freshest when dry and cold, and any added moisture will soften the strawberries and encourage mold growth.

1. So instead of washing all of your berries right when you get home from the store, wash them as you plan to eat or prepare them.
2. Eep those little, frilly green stems on your fresh strawberries when storing in the refrigerator.
3. Having the stems intact will protect the interior of your berries and prolong their shelf life.

Your strawberries will stay best when not crushed by layers of berries on top of them. If you’re planning to keep your strawberries for a longer period of time, your best bet is to freeze them. Remove the stems, then quarter or thinly slice the berries.

Place the strawberries on a parchment paper-lined plate or baking sheet, then freeze until solid, at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a resealable freezer bag, and store for up to 3 months. This method will allow you to easily thaw and snack on your in-season strawberries, or simply throw frozen berries into smoothies and frozen beverages.

Kate Mathis, © 2016, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved Baked with a golden biscuit topping, this dessert makes the most of sweet strawberries. To ensure the filling sets correctly, let the cobbler cool completely before serving. Kate Mathis, © 2016, Television Food Network, G.P.

All Rights Reserved This light and springy dessert satisfies the cheesecake lover, but is a bit easier to make. It’s a great way to use up your strawberries. Sweet strawberry and tart rhubarb are a match made in heaven. Serve this cake with a dollop of whipped cream. Presenting the ultimate summer dessert.

We promise you’ll want to be saving this recipe. This buckle screams summer, thanks to the generous helping of fresh blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. We boosted the flavors by adding a good amount of lemon zest to the tender cake and a pinch of nutmeg and ginger to the sweet crumb topping.

Should I cut the tops off strawberries?

1. Grab the Stem – Photo by Laura Murray Normally you’d probably lie the strawberry down on a cutting board and slice off the greens and whatever comes with it. You don’t need to remove the whole top —you just want to remove the stem and the hull.

Why strawberry seeds are on the outside?

Why Do Strawberries Have Their Seeds on the Outside? “Why do strawberries have their seeds on the outside, instead of on the inside?” That was the question one of my daughters asked recently. I had no idea, so I reached out to, an associate professor of horticultural science at NC State.

And the answer surprised me. First off, strawberries don’t keep their seeds outside their fruit. Those things we think of as strawberry seeds aren’t seeds – and the big, red strawberry “fruit” isn’t technically a fruit. In “true” fruits, like peaches *, a flower is pollinated and then the flower’s ovary swells and becomes the fruit, with the seed or seeds in the middle.

Not so with strawberries. When a strawberry flower is pollinated, the fruit doesn’t swell. The fertilized ovaries in the flower form separate, small, dry fruits. Those “seeds” on the outside of a strawberry are actually the fruits, each of which contains a single seed.

1. The ripe, red, fleshy part that we think of as the strawberry “fruit” is actually swollen receptacle tissue – the part of the plant that connected the flower to the stem.
2. When a strawberry flower is pollinated, it triggers the receptacle tissue to grow and change.
3. But that still doesn’t answer the question, it just changes it a little.

Why are the small, dry fruits located on the outside of the red, sweet thing that we all like to eat? The short answer is that we don’t really know which evolutionary forces caused the strawberry to develop the way that it did. However, Gunter notes, “there are a few fundamental reasons why plants have evolved different kinds of fruits.

• One reason is to attract something that spreads seeds.” A good example is,
• Scientists believe the avocado, with its enormous wood-like seed, evolved to be eaten that lived thousands of years ago.
• One of these animals would chow down on some avocados and either leave partially-eaten fruit (and its seed) nearby, or the seed would pass all the way through the animal and be left behind in its waste.

Since those giant beasts are no longer with us, avocados are now dependent on human intervention to spread their seeds. “A second evolutionary approach is for plants to find ways for their fruit to disperse on their own,” Gunter says. “For example, they may fly in the wind, like a dandelion, or be moved by the water, like a coconut.” The third option is for a plant to find ways for a fruit to deter animals from eating it.

1. For example, the gingko fruit smells putrid,” Gunter says.
2. The goal there is for the fruit to not get eaten, so that the seed can rely on the fruit’s nutrients to support its growth.” Presumably, the strawberry went for evolutionary option number one – attract something to spread the seeds.
3. But we don’t know the specifics.

*Note: The example for a true fruit was originally an apple. And then someone told me that apples are not true fruits either. In fact, they belong to a group called pseudo-carps, or false fruits. That’s because the part we think of as the fruit is made from plant parts other than the ovary.

Do strawberries need air circulation?

How to Store Fresh Strawberries I grow a few strawberry plants every year, and the best berries of the season are usually those picked in the yard and eaten as I survey the garden, anticipating a summer of luscious, homegrown crops. Growing strawberries at home is a pleasure I wouldn’t give up, but with “U-Pick-‘Em” fields and the farmers’ market offering the succulent, crimson berry for the next few weeks, the select strawberries from my yard will be overshadowed by gallons and gallons of sourced berries to be cooked into jam, churned into ice cream, served in smoothies and desserts or, best of all, eaten fresh by the fistful.

• Fresh strawberries are an unparalleled spring delight, but all too fleeting.
• Picking more than you can eat this season? Whether you intend to eat them today or six months from now, knowing how to store strawberries will ensure you get the best flavor without losing a single berry to a notoriously short shelf life.

Fresh strawberries can go directly into the refrigerator, but will do just fine on the counter for a couple of days. Remove any bruised or otherwise marred berries and place the rest in a colander or open-weave basket to allow good airflow. Stems should be left intact until the berry is ready to be eaten to protect the mold-prone, wet flesh inside from exposure.

While it is tempting to wash strawberries as soon as you get them home, resist the urge. Strawberries will soak up the water, making them more susceptible to spoilage. Even with careful handling, strawberries won’t last longer than a few days without refrigeration. Moisture is an enemy of the fresh strawberry.

The inclination may be to store them in airtight containers, but strawberries will rot more quickly when the moisture is trapped inside. Even the plastic containers in which many grocery store strawberries are packed are a bad choice for refrigerator storage.

1. Instead, immediately pack strawberries loosely in an open container or wide pan lined with paper towels to help wick water away from the delicate berries.
2. Colanders are perfect for strawberry storage, allowing air to circulate freely.
3. Unlike whole berries, once strawberries have been cut or hulled, they should be stored in an airtight container to protect the exposed flesh from mold and bacterial development, significantly reducing shelf life.

Strawberry season only lasts a few weeks, and there’s a reason it’s so hotly anticipated. Fresh strawberries picked just a week ago are already past their prime, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to enjoy this year’s haul well beyond the expiration date.

1. Dry-freezing strawberries will retain much of the flavor and some texture for up to six months and can be stored for as long as a year (with some loss of quality).
2. Strawberries canned or frozen in syrup keep some flavor, but will be soft and are best used in baking or stirred into yogurt or oatmeal.
3. Then, of course, there’s strawberry jam.

Freezing comes closest to retaining the qualities of fresh-picked strawberries. Other tactics for long-term storage have their appeal as well, but no preservation method can truly retain the vibrant flavor and firm texture of freshly harvested strawberries.