Growing Strawberries at Home in Pots and Hanging Baskets

Enjoy the sweet strawberries the entire summer by growing them in pots and hanging baskets.

Why baskets and pots?

Because planting strawberries in baskets, pots and hanging containers is easy than growing them in the garden.

Moreover, strawberry plants are less prone to insect and bacterial attacks when they are growing in pots and baskets. Fungal diseases are more common in garden growing strawberries.

Growing strawberries in pots is also a good way to check for the pests that attack the plants when the strawberry is in the sweeter stage (get natural sugar in it).

In this post, you will learn about the best varieties of strawberries to grow them in pots, best soil to use, Strawberry fertilizers, watering strawberries, what type containers are best, and many more about growing strawberries.

Let’s start

Types of strawberry plants that are easy to grow in pots

The good news is you can grow any type of strawberry plant in pots and hanging baskets. Some strawberry plants yield over months and some only once in 375 days. When we grow strawberries at home we want more and frequent harvests just one after another.

So, below are the best options to start.

June Strawberry plants

These produce a good amount of big size strawberries for several weeks in the early days of the summer season. Many varieties of June strawberries are available to choose from. To get more from a plant you need to extend the season by planting early, middle of the season, and late season June strawberry plant varieties. This way you will have a long strawberry season.

Day Neutral Strawberry plants

This is your second-best option after June strawberry. You get less harvest as compared to the June ones and also the size is fairly small then June strawberries. But these are equally sweet and delicious. The season goes from late spring to autumn.

Ever Bearing strawberries

I personally like to grow these strawberries at home in pots and baskets. Because this type produces more fruits than the other two strawberry types. Everbearing produces many small to medium harvests in the growing season.  The only problem is these plants cannot tolerate cold weather and you need to protect them in cold weather conditions.

Therefore, the best way of growing everbearing strawberries is growing them indoors under grow lights.

600 watts LED grow lights is enough for growing strawberries at home.

Best containers for growing strawberries

Containers play a very important role in plant development. We have many choices in the market but for strawberries, you need to choose carefully. Wrong use of pots can destroy your hard work and you will get nothing at the time of harvest.

For example, Strawberry pots should have one or more drainage holes at the bottom. This hole protects your strawberry plants from excess water.

It is best if you choose such pots that have medium size 4 holes at the bottom.

The second thing you need to keep in mind is the material of the container. I don’t recommend the plastic pots for growing fruits and vegetables. You can grow flowers and other houseplant in plastic containers. But plastic is not good for growing plants that produce food for humans.

Terra cotta pots look good and also are good to grow strawberries. The only drawback is these pots get dry quickly than plastic pots.

But,

The benefits are terra Cotta pots have tiny pores in them this allows fresh air to get in and roots get fresh oxygen. The supply of fresh oxygen is required to grow healthy plants. This also prevents the growth of fungus and unhealthy bacteria.

Some clever growers put the plastic pot inside the terra cotta pot and grow strawberries in the plastic pot. But the plant is growing in a plastic container, don’t go for looks always use the best containers for your plants.

If you don’t want to use terra cotta and plastic pots then use fabric pots or other specially made stackable strawberry pots and hanging baskets.

Healthy Soil for growing strawberry plants

When you grow plants in containers remember you need a soil that has good draining properties. Use a multi-purpose organic potting mix that also has a good amount of fertilizer in it. These types of potting soils are pre-fertilized means you do not need to supply extra nutrients to your growing plants. The soil has everything that a plant needs to grow from seedling to harvest.

Mix 60 percent of organic potting soil with 40% of compost.

Or

You can make your potting soil at home by using my proves recipes.

Remember you need such potting soil that releases slow nutrients into the soil. This way growing strawberries have a continuous supply of essential nutrients.

Regular nutrients are important for growing Everbearing strawberry plants.

Planting strawberry plants in Containers

Now you have strawberry plants, a pot, a good potting mix, a slow-release fertilizer. The next step is to plant the strawberries in the pots.

Go to your local nursery and purchase strawberry plants, they usually sell plants that are just a few inches long and are already planted in smaller pots.

The benefits of growing strawberries plants from small seedlings is this is the best and fastest method of growing strawberry plants. You don’t need to germinate plants because germination is a complex process and it will extend your harvesting time.

Moreover, when you germinate seeds 60 % of them do not germinate (it happens to every grower). Take a container that is 12 to 14 inches in diameter.

These types of pots can hold up to 3 to 4 seedlings. Take out the seedlings from the pot and plant them into the new container.

Dig the hole first then put the strawberry seedlings in it with roots under the ground and crown at the dirt level.

Now give some water and move the container to the place where it can get 6 hours of sunlight. Do not hang your strawberry pots to such a place where they get direct sunlight for more than 6 hours this can damage the plants.

Why choosing containers to grow strawberries?

Growing strawberries in the container are the best choice than growing them in the garden due to the following reasons.

Less Space: Strawberries are small plants they don’t need much space to grow. So, growing them container is a wise choice. Moreover, managing container plants is easier than garden plants.

Pest and Diseases: Container strawberries do not get infected by many pests and other plant problems as compare to the garden-grown strawberry.

Convenient: You can easily pick the strawberries that are grown in the containers. Also, can grow them inside your home with the help of grow lights.

Watering your little strawberry plants

Water your strawberry daily when you grow them in pots because garden plants get water from the ground. Whereas plants in pots are dependent upon the grower. Before giving water just stick your finger and check if the soil is still moist. If it is damp no need to water if it is dry add some water.

Do not overwater your plants but if you accidentally add extra water once or twice do not worry the darning hole will take care of everything. Excess water will come out of the pot through it.

Feed your strawberries

Slow-release liquid fertilizer will work excellent for strawberries. Feed them twice a month or if you are buying special strawberry fertilizer than follow the instructions written on the fertilizer bottle. Always use organic fertilizers when you grow plants for yourself.

Synthetic fertilizers give heavy harvest but they are not good for humans.

Pruning strawberry runners or planting them

Strawberry runners look nice but they limit the fruit production power of the plant. remove them from the by cutting them to encourage the plant to produce more fruit

Or plant them for more plants