New strawberry and kiwi pics

This is one of my kiwi which has it's first true leaf.

These 2 are of my biggest strawberry plant:
 

Kiwi Sprouts and Strawberry Updates

I planted the kiwi seeds on 1/26/12 and I looked at the pots today and I have 3 sprouts that just popped up.  I have no idea what variety they are, just store bought fruit.  These seeds were not stratified.  I will see if the other 3 seeds germinate.  

My strawberries are doing well too.  Their leaves are beginning to look like mature strawberry leaves.  Hopefully soon they will be big enough to transplant.  

Strawberries

Strawberry Close-up

Kiwi

So my husband likes to get precut fruit.  The packages he's been buying has kiwi in it and I thought, of course, can I grow kiwi from seeds?  I looked it up and it seems possible.  I pulled out seeds and planted 6 and put the rest in the freezer in case they need stratification.  


On another note, the weakest strawberry sprouts are beginning to die off.  I have about 13 still living.  

Pineapple 1st attempt

I tried growing a pineapple from its top.  I followed directions from this site. I only let mine dry out 2 days.  After a week or so in water it began to smell really bad and had white mold growing on its leaves.  I think it may need to dry out longer.  It was definitely rotting.  


Here are pictures from my pineapple attempt.  

This is the top after I twisted it from the pineapple.

This is after I removed leaves around the roots.

I removed more leaves and got rid of the fruit flesh to help prevent rot.

Strawberry Sprout Pictures

I'm up to 17 strawberry sprouts.  Here are some pictures:

This is a close-up of my first sprout.  It's still small but has 1 true leaf on it.

Strawberry Sprouts

As of today, Jan. 5th, I have 4 sprouts.  All of them are from the extracted seeds.  The strawberries I planted whole have not produced a sprout yet.   My camera is not good enough to get a picture of them yet because they are so tiny.  Each sprout starts with 2 very round leaves.  All of mine currently only have 2 leaves.  I'm excited to see how many more pop up within the next week :)

A single sprout

It's been 5 weeks and about 3 or 4 days and I have a single, tiny sprout from my strawberry seeds.  Hopefully more will sprout too.  If it survives I'll post some pictures.   It is too small to get a non-blurry picture right now.  

Another Update

My strawberries still have not sprouted. :(  I am definitely going to buy some seeds/starter plant from a nursery in the spring.  


Also, my pineapple didn't make it either.  It began to rot.  Two days of drying out must not have been enough.  Not to mention that Smyrna tap water is horrible and what I put the pineapple in to start rooting.  I never buy distilled or spring water.  I do good to filter my own drinking water.  

Updates

It's been 3 weeks and 3 days since I planted my strawberry seeds.  So far, nothing.   I'm giving it up to 8 weeks which will be January 12th.  I found sites that listed 3 different germination times.  1-2 weeks, 2-3 weeks, and 2-8 weeks.  


In the mean time, I obtained a pineapple top and have it growing some roots.  I'll put a blog post about that when I put it in a pot of dirt.  I got my pole connectors for my greenhouse, now I need another set of shelves and another grow light.  

Planting Strawberry Seeds

I planted my strawberry seeds on 11/17/2011.  The seeds I used came from store-bought strawberries (fruit, not a growing plant).  The strawberries have been frozen in my freezer for a few weeks now.  

The method I used was found at http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070606083415AAIuOMQ 

1. collect the seeds by placing 4-5 whole berries in a blender filled with water. 2 Frape the berries. Seeds that float are not good discard. 3. Strain out the sinkers. 4 Take seeds and scatter them over a something like a baking plan filled with a comercial potting mix. 5 Scatter a light dusting of potting mix over the seed (1/8 - 1/4 inch). 6. place pan in the sunlight somewhere in your home. 7. Seed will germinate over 2-8 weeks. 8. As you see the small plant emerge, carefully pluck them out and move to Dixie cups or some such container and allow them grow to a transplantable size.

For step 2, my blender did not have a frappe setting, so I used the puree setting.  I had to strain the mixture with a wire hand held strainer because coffee filters are too thick.  

On the left is stuff that was at the top. On the right is stuff from the bottom. A close-up of the stuff from the bottom of the blender.

The make-shift greenhouse.

My watering "door."

View through the "door."

What to grow in my greenhouse....

So progression on my greenhouse is a bit slower than I planned.  I had hoped to have it functional and ready Saturday Nov. 5th.  Finances are not as available as I'd thought they'd be; they ended up fixing vehicles and buying food lol. (I do get paid tomorrow though.. so we'll see where we are at with $$.  I may cheat and make a greenhouse using only the bottom shelf since I can get that grow light from my dad.  That way I can at least get stuff started in dirt.)


The cool thing about this is that I don't have to use all the space but if I need to or want to I can.  I thought the dip in our ceiling would prevent me from having anything too tall, but where it sits is just a few inches away from the dip.  :)


To get the greenhouse completed I need to order another set of poles to make the shelving unit taller and thus give more space between each shelf.  I also need to pick up grow lights for the shelves I plan to use right now and pick up a shallow plastic tub to catch any condensation, just in case.  I don't want to ruin my dinner table.  My step-dad has one grow light and a few timers he is not using so I'll get those from him too.  The final thing I will do is cut the plastic and velcro it to the unit.


What will I be growing, you ask??  Well, I want to start some fruit since it will take more than a season to be able to produce edible fruit.  I'm thinking of strawberries and pineapple.  When local nurseries open for spring I'll also try to pick up some blueberries.


I've done quite a bit of research about growing pineapple and strawberries.  Everyone says it can be done various ways.  My plan is to try a few of them and document the process and any success I have and then share the info with you guys.  Well that is all for tonight.  Cross your fingers for extra money in the bank tomorrow!!