Starting Strawberry Seeds

About 8 weeks ago (16 weeks from our last expected frost) I started our strawberry seeds. It was rainy and cold and I needed a touch of spring. I had my heart set on starting the first seeds of the summer crop before I went into the garage to search for some seed starting mix I had left over from last year. I searched high and low and couldn’t find that bag of seed starting mix but with my heart still set on starting those tiny strawberry seeds, I grabbed some general potting mix, against my better judgment, and got to work.

I filled some peat pots with the potting mix I scrounged up while trying to continue to convince myself that my seeds would grow just fine in this less than ideal mix. Once the pots were filled and popped into the new seed starting trays with humidity domes, the soil was moistened thoroughly and the seeds were added.
The seeds were at home in the planter window where they got plenty of natural light. At night and when the days were cold, the seed heating mats were turned on to keep the temperature around 60 degrees. A few seeds sprouted quickly but many didnt emerge for 2-3 weeks.
Initially, I had about 10 sprouts out of the 20 seeds I planted. Of those 10, a few more slowly disappeared. Now, 6 remain. I blame the poor quality soil. With only 6 strawberry plants, I’ll be buying some additional plants at the nursery come spring to fill out the strawberry patch.