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Growing Strawberries in the Winter

MalcolmHowesMalcolmHowes Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
Hi,
Is it possible to grow strawberries in a greenhouse in the winter (in Scotland) by adding some artificial heat in my greenhouse?  If so, which varieties respond best to this and what is the best heating method?
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Posts

  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Possible yes. You would need a day neutral variety (ever-bearing) and you will need to add light to the greenhouse as well as heat. so your neighbours may not be to happy with you (if you have any)
    Sensible if you are not a millionaire? Probably not. heating a 4mx3m standard glass greenhouse up to 20C or so is going to cost a fortune, it will need the equivalent of a 2000W electric heater on all day every day. assuming the temperature never drops below -5C even at 0C it will take 1500 watts these figures assume no drafts.
    Day neutral strawberries like temperatures between 20 and 29C they can go as low as 10 but fruiting in impaired lower than 10 and they will not set fruit.
    Using a greenhouse to bring forward fruiting in the spring and get they to keep going longer in the autumn would work as it's done all over Scotland
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    You will notice that the commercial growers don't bother. If it was worth the cost, they would.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    As with a lot of plants, it’s not just the temperature but the length of daylight that is important. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295
    Agree with what others have said.
    Also, you would need to give some thought to pollination.

    We have 8 beehives .... and our bees don't come out at this time of year unless the temperature is above 6C ... and even then it's just to defecate (apologies to anyone having a late breakfast).
    They don't go too far from the hive, and they certainly are going foraging for pollen/nectar.

    Bee x
    image
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    Another option would be to plant some alpine strawberries, mine still produce fruit as we speak...not as large and plentiful but they add so much cheer this time of year. And they provide some lovely ground cover with minimal fuss. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    One gardener's ground cover is another gardener's PITA. It gets in and under and through everywhere. I've heard that some taste good. Mine taste of nothing.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    A cheaper way of providing heat would be a hotbed, but that would only bring them forward by a few weeks.  As others have said light is also a factor. 
    AB Still learning

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    You would also have to give them an artificial cold period for a few weeks first as strawberry plants require this to trigger flowering and are not a plant that can be grown all-year round at a constant temperature:

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    We get them here very early on in the NY, grown in Spain where there's more light but not necessarily enough heat without help.   OH bought some once when I wasn't looking.  Utterly flavourless.

    Better to wait till temperatures and daylight hours are better suited to the plant's natural growing conditions and just hasten them a week or two if you must.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    BobTheGardener said:
    You would also have to give them an artificial cold period for a few weeks first as strawberry plants require this to trigger flowering and are not a plant that can be grown all-year round at a constant temperature:

    Yes I had forgotten that bit, in fact commercial growers sometimes plant frozen plugs, into large growbags on raised tables, under protection.  They crop very quickly apparently. But not in winter!
    AB Still learning

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