How to Grow Strawberries Indoors for Delicious Fruit All Year

The sweet flavor of freshly harvested strawberries is one of the best parts of spring. However, not everyone will have the outdoor space to grow these delicious morsels. The good news? With the right conditions and care, you can easily grow strawberries indoors.

Here, we spoke to experts about the best way to grow these sweet treats at home—from watering to propagating and everything in between. Follow these instructions, and you’ll be enjoying delicious berries in no time—even if you don’t have an outdoor garden.

arieties That Can Grow Indoors

Before you start, it’s important to know which strawberries will really thrive in a home environment. Jennifer Holston, a garden coach and home hydroponics specialist, recommends everbearing strawberries.

“The plants yield two or more harvests a year,” she says. Holston specifically recommends everbearing alpine varieties, which grow in small mounds and take up less space. “The berries are smaller, but the flavor is concentrated and bright,” she adds. “Some alpine varieties can produce fruit from seeds planted in the same year. A favorite of mine is alpine heirloom pineapple—it produces sweet, yellow strawberries with hints of pineapple.”

Holston also points to seascape and albion as great everbearing varieties. “These reliable strawberries grow larger than alpine,” she says. “The live plant route is best for these two—planting from seed takes too long.”

There are other options outside of the everbearing varieties, too. “There is a new class of strawberry called ‘day neutral,'” says Dick Zondag, a master gardener and horticulturist and the owner of Jung Seed Company.

Day-neutral varieties have the advantage of producing fruit anytime during the season, according to Zondag. So, if you’re hoping to extend the length of your harvest, it might be worth trying them.

When to Plant

Since you’re not dependent on outdoor weather conditions, you can begin planting strawberries indoors at any time of the year. However, if you’re purchasing live plants to start your indoor pursuit, you may find that the plants are only available (or shippable) during the growing season in your region.

Care Requirements

Growing strawberries indoors is not dissimilar to growing them in an outdoor setting. However, you’ll need to make some adjustments to compensate for the reduced light conditions, as well as the lack of available pollinators.

Temperature

As long as you don’t keep your home too chilly in the winter, your strawberries will probably thrive at room temperature: around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take five degrees in either direction.

Lighting

Outdoors in the garden, strawberries need full sun for maximum yield. It’s not as easy to provide these conditions indoors, but light is still extremely important. You can keep your container-grown strawberries in a south-facing, sunny window as much as possible, but it can still be tricky for the plants to get their necessary light hours.

“Most strawberries are long-day, photoperiod plants,” says Holston. “This means the plant has receptors that detect the daylight hours. For these strawberries, 12 hours is the magical amount of light per day to trigger flowering.”

She notes that indoor plants should be supplemented with grow lights to achieve the necessary 12 to 14 hours of light per day. “Insufficient lighting is probably the number one mistake,” she says. “Natural sunlight isn’t enough. Supplemental grow lights are a must.”

Water

Strawberries need plenty of water to grow. However, it’s a fine line between too much and too little—especially in an indoor setting, where airflow may be weaker, and mildew more likely. Holston stresses the importance of not overwatering, which is a common mistake.

“Strawberries thrive in well-draining soil and usually need water only once a week,” she says. She notes that the frequency of watering can vary. “Additionally, ensure the crown of the strawberry plant stays dry. A damp crown rots.”

Keep an eye on the soil’s moisture by checking it every few days with your finger, and adjusting the watering schedule in response.

Soil

Strawberries can be particular about their soil, but that makes them excellent for growing in raised beds or containers, because you can more easily control their soil needs. Well-drained soil is important—you don’t want anything too clay-like or heavy. The soil should also be rich, but loamy— almost soft.

Pollination

You’ve supplied light, soil, and water, but one critical component remains—pollinators. Outdoors, insects work as natural pollinators for your strawberry plants. Inside, though, strawberries have no way of naturally spreading their pollen from flower to flower—and thus no way to produce the berries that you’re trying so hard to grow.

You’ll need to take over this job. Use a tiny paintbrush to dab pollen from the outer stamens to the center of the blossom. This will get fruit production going.

Propagating

Healthy strawberry plants will want to spread out. In an outdoor space, they’ll rapidly establish themselves by producing runners all over the garden bed. When you have mature strawberry plants in a container, they’ll attempt to do the same thing, and you’ll soon find runners overflowing from their enclosure, dangling aimlessly as they reach for the ground.

You can still put their enthusiasm to work. Just prepare a few new containers filled with an all-purpose potting mix, and then direct the strawberry runners into the fresh pots. The opportunistic runners should take root and form new strawberry plants. Once these are thriving—about a month later—you can cut the runners if you’d like to separate the pots.

Harvesting

One big perk of growing these fruits indoors? You don’t have to worry about birds or other critters consuming your strawberries before you can harvest them. With this in mind, you can take your time and wait for the fruits to be perfectly ripe and delicious before harvesting.

You can tell that the berries are ready when they’re completely red—a nice, deep red with no pale pink or white areas left. Look at the top of the berry near the stem—this is typically the last section to ripen, so if it’s red, then the berry is probably ready.

Ripening usually occurs about a month after blossoming. Harvest your strawberries by gently plucking or cutting the stem less than half an inch above the berry.