Alpine strawberries

Has anyone here tried to grow alpine strawberries from seed? If so, do you have any tips for me?
Thanks!
Deb

Start them very early, they take a long time to get to size and you want to get the plants as big as possible before planting out. I had huge plants by the end of the first year but most of them died along the way since they were so small when I transplanted them.

Scott

Thanks Scott! Did you start them in a dark cool place or indoors under lights? This is the first time I've tried to start strawberries from seed and I haven't actually received the seeds or the growing directions yet. I thought I'd try to get a little advance learning.
:)
Deb

Got my Italian alpine strawberry seeds today... tiny tiny tiny! Hopefully they will sprout soon!

It doesn't matter much where you start them. Only once they are growing do they need light. I don't have indoor lights; I just put them in a south-facing window until my greenhouse was warm enough and then into there. If you had lights available that would work better. I would start them now so they will be big enough come May for transplanting.

Scott

My experience was the same as Scott's. No problems starting the seed, but slow growth and tiny size - they a take a long time. I kept losing a few every time I tried to do anything with them, so ended up with only a couple of plants in the end. Start early, watch carefully, harden off slowly for any environment changes, transplants, etc.

The strawberry seeds sprouted after only 8 days. They are under a grow light. It looks like nearly 100% germination. Now I just have to keep miss Kitty from noshing on them until they are big enough (probably sometime in July???) to transplant.
:)
If anyone is interested, these were purchased from www.thestrawberrystore.com. They are "the Italian collection".
Deb