Strawberry seeds come from strawberry flowers which come from strawberry buds which are formed in the crowns of established strawberry plants. Each strawberry plant devotes significant energy to genetic diversification through seed production. While strawberry plants produce runners, they don’t put all their reproductive eggs in the same basket. Most strawberry varieties are adept at multiplication in this fashion, and they are even considered an invasive weed in some situations. These extensions serve to spread a strawberry plant’s range and find areas more favorable to growth, whether through higher soil quality or increased exposure to sunlight. The runners (stolons) are usually between 8 and 18 inches long, depending on the strawberry variety.

They do this by means of the runner plants that have already been mentioned. Once the plants have matured, they are ready to multiply and expand. Growth Cycle of Strawberries: Multiplication & Expansion Both roots and leaves extend from the hub of the strawberry plant, the crown. 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. But, by the time late summer and early fall rolls around, both seedlings and runner plants are usually established. They start out larger and have a more fully formed support system providing the energy needed for development. The runner plants have a distinct advantage over seedlings. This allows all parts of the strawberry plant to grow and mature. Once root growth commences, plant growth begins in earnest for both seedlings and runner plants. Growth Cycle of Strawberry Plants: Maturation Life Cycle of Strawberry Plants: Conclusion.How Strawberry Plant Reproduce Themselves.Growth Cycle of Strawberries: Multiplication & Expansion.Growth Cycle of Strawberry Plants: Maturation.Strawberry seeds will usually sprout in the late winter or spring after a period of cold stratification during winter months (but this isn’t required for all strawberry varieties) while runner plants are generally established later in the spring through the fall during warmer temperatures. 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). These seedlings are genetically varied from the parent plants. 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. 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). 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. 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. The Growth Cycle of Strawberry PlantsĪs with any cyclical scenario, it is difficult to choose a starting point (which came first, the chicken or the egg?). This post is an overview of the life of a strawberry plant from germination until withered, brown leaves signify the passage from life unto death. The life cycle of strawberry plants begins either from seed or from runner plants, and continues until senescence. The growth cycle of strawberry plants spans the entire year and repeats annually. Their life cycle is much more complicated than the simple appearance of the humble strawberry plant implies.

Strawberry seedlings