Strawberrrrrrry !!!

'Yummmm’ is probably the first thing that hits everyone’s mind whenever any discussion, post or picture of strawberries comes up in the FB OTG group. Common responses/questions are ...

• Does it grow in Bangalore ?
• Can I have seeds ?
• and ofcourse ... Awesome !

On an average, a box of strawberries in the market costs around Rs.50 and above. And of course, the top layered ones look juicy, scrumptious and mouth watering. But once you get back home and open the pack, voila; the bottom layered berries are usually small, pale, dull and squished.

Don’t you wish you could pluck a fresh strawberry right off your very own garden, give it a quick wash, pop it into your mouth and experience heaven for a few seconds?

Here are some tips 

- Take a close look at a SB and you see the small teenie-weenie brownish things on the outer red layer; yes, those are the seeds. But, dont even think or attempt to grow SBs from seeds. They wont grow. Period !

- SB plants produce runners. Refer Pic1 and Pic2 from the internet to get an idea about runners.

- You can source a runner from a friend or a nursery. SBs are not very commonly grown and are quite rare to find in a garden.

- Make sure the runner is not growing in the same pot as the mother plant.

- Prepare a small container, about 4-6 inch in size, enough to hold about 3 handfuls of cocopeat and 3 handfuls of compost.

- While the runners are connected to the mother plant and they have about 5+ leaves, you can gently push it (this is called rooting) into the small container.

- Once the runner is established in the temporary pot and it’s growing its own leaves and looks like it can live without the mother plant, its time to cut off the runner. Similar to cutting off the umbilical cord. Many folks are scared to do it ! But it has to be done. So don't worry and just go ahead cutting off. You can cut off anywhere. (I am saying this as I have been asked about it :-) )

- As long as the runner is connected to the mother plant, it will get its nutrition from the mother plant and the soil as well. The more the runners on a single mother plant, the more resource/nutrition will drain off from the mother plant. 

- During this time, you might see the mother plant is kind of dying or the leaves may turn reddish – brownish. So do provide more nutrition in the form of compost or panchgavya or compost tea. The runner can be connected to the mother plant for 2-3 weeks after rooting.

- Transplant the runner from the small container to a permanent larger container of size 6-8 inches. Potting mix should be drainy, meaning less soil, more of cocopeat and vermicompost. Add a handful of filtered river/construction sand, if available.

- After transplant, place the new container in a shady spot for a week or 2. And then move to a sunnier spot. 1-2 hours of direct sunlight is good enough. Do not expose to sunlight for long durations especially in summers. Do not over water.

- The variety of SB plant that I have flowers and fruits during the cooler months, around November to February.

- During the remaining months, they will be idle and produce runners. That’s a good time to just keep them healthy.

- As with most other veggie plants, provide nutrition in the form of compost, panchgavya, compost tea etc., to the plant. Once a week, adding a fistful of used left over coffee grounds (just coffee, there should be no sugar in it) from the filter coffee machine at home or at your office, will help too. I have seen excellent growth, especially during fruiting/flowering time) when I use compost tea on these plants.

- The flowers are tiny and white in color, which will later turn into strawberries.