For the purposes of describing the life cycle of strawberry plants, a dual starting point will be considered as a sprouted strawberry seedling and a new strawberry runner. While both of these starting points require the existence of prior life, a discussion of the origins of life is outside the purview of this article. The strawberry seed, as with all seeds, contains the genetic material necessary for the continuation of the plant species see the Strawberry Seeds page for more details.
Upon sprouting, the roots are sent downward into the soil, and the transformation of nutrients into plant matter proceeds as the life cycle of the plant is perpetuated by resources obtained from the plants surroundings.
These seedlings are genetically varied from the parent plants. Alternatively, established strawberry plants multiply themselves by means of clone or daughter plants extended from themselves by means of stolons to root some distance away from the mother plant and be established as an independent, but genetically identical, strawberry plant see this page for more details: Strawberry Runners.
Once root growth commences, plant growth begins in earnest for both seedlings and runner plants. This allows all parts of the strawberry plant to grow and mature. The runner plants have a distinct advantage over seedlings. They start out larger and have a more fully formed support system providing the energy needed for development. But, by the time late summer and early fall rolls around, both seedlings and runner plants are usually established.
In the process of growing, the plants will have sent forth roots and produced a canopy of photosynthesizing tri-lobed leaflets sitting atop non-woody stems. Both roots and leaves extend from the hub of the strawberry plant, the crown. Once the plants have matured, they are ready to multiply and expand. They do this by means of the runner plants that have already been mentioned.
The runners stolons are usually between 8 and 18 inches long, depending on the strawberry variety. Most strawberry varieties are adept at multiplication in this fashion, and they are even considered an invasive weed in some situations.
Each strawberry plant devotes significant energy to genetic diversification through seed production. Strawberry seeds come from strawberry flowers which come from strawberry buds which are formed in the crowns of established strawberry plants.
There are some variances of flower bud, flower, and strawberry production depending on which type of strawberry plant is considered see the Strawberry Variety page for more details. The most common of these types is the June-bearing strawberry, and it will be considered here.
During the late summer and early fall, strawberry plants begin forming flower buds within their crowns. During this period, adequate water, light, and nutrients are critical.
The flower buds form prior to winter and then move into dormancy along with the rest of the plant as the temperature drops. When temperatures again warm in late winter or early spring, the plants revive and immediately begin the transformation of the flower buds into flowers sitting atop stalks. These flowers, like most flowers, are then pollinated by insects and other pollinators. The result of pollination is a large mass of usually red accessory tissue studded with individual seed-containing fruits there are also white strawberries , however.
These achenes are attractive to birds and other creatures including humans! They are then digested. The remains, including many viable seeds, are then deposited in different locations to sprout and begin the life cycle of strawberry plants again. The life arc of strawberries begins with the establishment of a new plant, peaks two to three years later, and then proceeds toward senescence and death two to three years following its peak.
Under ideal conditions, a strawberry plant can live up to years. After 3 productive years, however, they usually begin to lose vigor, and the production of strawberries begins to decline rapidly.
Eventually, as age progresses and the strawberry plant weakens, strawberries usually succumb to ubiquitous opportunistic fungi or other environmental pathogens.
The death process usually commences with spots, defects, and browning of previously healthy plant tissues and ends with a brown, withered, decomposing mass. Strawberry plants are perennials. They can reproduce by seed. Home gardeners find growing strawberry plants from seed notoriously difficult. Strawberry plants also grow by runners. Runners are long stems with leaves that can develop their own root system where they touch moist soil. A runner is the same plant as its parent until it is no longer connected to the crown, the central mass of roots of the strawberry plant.
But even after the runner is cut off and transplanted somewhere else, it remains a clone of the mother plant. It is just a younger version of the strawberry plant you have been growing for one, two, three, or more years. After the plant has produced strawberries with their tiny seeds and as summer days begin to wane, a strawberry plant senses it is time to put out runners. Summer-bearing strawberry plants put all of their energy into producing fruit as the days are getting longer.
Strawberries are coated with tiny seeds that can reproduce the plant, and, in nature, red, sweet strawberries encourage animals to spread strawberry seeds far and wide. After producing fruit, the plant devotes its energy into producing runners. Long days trigger the production of a hormone called gibberellin that causes stems to grow longer. Scientists have discovered that the strawberry plant has to finish producing its runners before temperatures average about 10 degrees Celsius 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cool and cold weather cause the plant to go dormant. Dormant strawberry plants have to survive on stored energy through the winter until next spring. Throughout their life, strawberry plants provide many times their own weight in harvested strawberries. They are one of the most productive plants when what is produced from the weight of the plant is considered.
Strawberries begin to ripen four to five weeks after the first flowers open and continue to ripen for about three weeks. Have you considered growing strawberries yourself this year? If so, there are a host of suppliers from which you can find multiple strawberry varieties for sale.
Simply see this directory: Strawberry Plants for Sale. Understanding the growth cycle of strawberry plants can help you in your strawberry growing endeavors. Good luck! I planted ever bearing strawberry plants last Spring in a raised bed. They grew very well and I removed all blossoms during the season. Did something go wrong? Hello, i am currently planting 2 varieties in my hydroponics system San Andreas and Portola , the plants have been planted no more that 3 weeks ago.
The Portola variety started producing flowers about 1 week after planting with a lot of vigour while the San Andreas variety is growing quite well with leaves reaching 15 cm of height and some have flowers. After planting by a couple of the weather got cold reaching 20 degrees Celsius by day and 12 degrees at night. I am currently removing flowers from all the plants just kept a few plants with some flowers to see what will happen to them.
Some of the plants have calcium deficiency which we fixed by increasing calcium to the tanks. Day-neutral strawberries bloom several times a season. Everbearers have a spring and a fall crop. Some strawberry species don't have runners and grow from seed. Most hybrids produce runners, but some varieties, especially everbearing ones, don't have many runners per season. The method used most for strawberry plant reproduction is rooting from runners. Runners -- or stolons -- are long stems that grow sideways from the plants, with occasional nodes that each grow a daughter plant.
To make a new plant, bring the bottom of the node where the daughter plant has formed in contact with the soil. You can either root the plant in the strawberry bed to increase the thickness of the planting or you can bring in a 3-inch pot filled with potting mix and place the daughter plant in the pot. Hold the runner down on both sides of the node with bent wire, crossed sticks, hairpins, or other means that will hold it firmly in contact with the soil.
New roots will form at the bottom of the stem under the daughter plant. Once it is well-rooted, you can cut the runner between the new plant and the mother plant.
In instances where the particular strawberry variety doesn't produce a lot of runners or where you want to renovate plantings by dividing older plants, use division. When an individual strawberry plant grows bigger, it does so by producing lateral crowns -- the part of the plant above the roots that grow the leaves -- at the sides of the main crown.
To divide the plant, dig it up and separate the soil from the roots along the sides of the plant. Use clean pruning shears and cut off the side shoots and their roots. Because of this, most strawberry plants began to be commercially produced by allowing stolons to root, then transplanting the daughter plants. Today, new plants for commercial use are instead grown primarily from "clippings" of specific parts of strawberry plants.
Nevertheless, the basic idea of maintaining plant predictability by producing and using clone daughter plants still applies. Strawberry plants are also able to reproduce by sexual reproduction. Depending on the particular species involved and perhaps a number of environmental factors , strawberry plants may be hermaphroditic i. Species can also have a mix of gendered and hermaphoditic plants.
Strawberry species with distinct genders are "cross-pollinating" , that is, each plant requires another plant of the opposite gender in order for the plants to reproduce. Hermaphroditic strawberry species may also be cross-pollinating, but are commonly "self-pollinating" , that is, each plant's flowers have both male and female parts, thus allowing the plant to reproduce in isolation from other strawberry plants.
Note that "self-pollinating" does not mean the plant can pollinate itself: the plant still requires a bee or a human to move pollen from the male to the female parts. Once the flowers of a strawberry plant are pollinated, the "berries" of a strawberry plant form and ripen.
Actually, botanists plant scientists refer to strawberries as "pseudocarps", rather than "berries" , because it is the "receptacle" of a strawberry plant, rather than the plant's ovaries, that ripens.
The purpose of the ripened strawberries is to tempt animals into eating them , along with the attached seeds. As the animals move, these seeds pass through their digestive systems and are eliminated.
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