I am also sowing some alpine strawberries. From what I gather they need about a month of cold. So if I was you I would sow them now. I would surface sow them. I didn't even press mine in the soil.

There was a few others that grew them last year that had really good success so maybe they will key in also.

I've been debating on whether or not to place an order with Pinetree, as they have them there. I love the fact that birds aren't attracted to them.

I wintersowed them last year and was so late in planting them out that I actually "harvested" quite a few strawberries from the plants while still in the 2L bottle! I did not get them in the ground until the fall, hopefully they had a chance to root well and won't get heaved out of the ground. I believe I got the seed from Pinetree too and there were only like 10 seeds in the packet. I think I ended up with about three plants from that.

I believe I ordered mine from cherrygal. Which I do not recommend her at all, she said she had 25 seeds in the pack. I didn't count but it didn't look like 25 to me. She is one I will never go back to along with summer hill.

I believe tradewinds also sells the seed of alpine strawberry both the white and the red and italian. They are pretty good, fast shipment and everything I have ordered from them I am extremely pleased with all of the seeds I received. They have 100-150 seeds in a pack for 1.75 for the white and 2.25 for the red and 2.00 for the italian. Also they have free shipping on orders of 7.50 or more.

Here is a link that might be useful: trade winds fruit store

25 alpine strawberry seeds are pretty small Carolyn. Please don't give up on your retailers there. Both Cherry Gal and Summer Hill are two I've never had an issue with, so think about trying them again sometime if the occasion arises. I ordered here last year: http://www.fraisesdesbois.com/ and I was not disappointed at all! The seeds arrived a little late but the store owner was very communicative, once the seeds arrived they wanted make sure I understood they needed to be chilled and how to do it. I did not order plants from them.

There was one thing that cherry gal had that is so rare she is the first one I have ever seen carry it. So that was the main reason I purchased from her in the first place. Though it took like 2 weeks to get my order and I ordered in a time where it was off season. I can not say one way or another if it was 25 or not, I didn't even attempt to count them.

Summer hill I ordered something that I had only seen at a few places. Well it wasn't cheap, I think I got like 10 seeds for almost 5 bucks. Then I found tradewinds after both of those purchases and tradewinds had the seeds that I ordered from summer hill for half the price and for 5 times the amount of seeds. Summer hills and cherry gals shipping rates are unreal. I won't be back to either!!

I did a lot of fragaria vesca last year, and they did very poorly for me. I put them out in feb in zone 5, so they got plenty of cold... and they sprouted almost last, and those that did sprout, were weak and perished soon after. out of an entire packet of probably a thousand seeds... i got probably 20 specks of a sprout, and not one survivor.

HOWEVER... I have a pot of established alpines already, and when the fruit gets too ripe and falls off, i just push them down into the soil- they take a while, but there are tons of sprouts in the pot. Maybe the seeds need to be fresh? And PS they were germinating through the course of one season, so i do not think they NEED cold.

I am either going to try one more time this year if i can get inexpensive seed, or i will just buy some small starts of the varieties i want- and propagate them from fresh seeds.

I ordered mine from Swallotail Seeds. I got 200 for $2.95. The seeds were very tiny.

shmooey - Thanks for sharing that tip about the overripe berries. I see them ready to eat & will save it for hubby then I forget to tell him. Overripe berries can be a good thing now. :o)

I've tried strawberries from seed a couple times with mixed results. The first time, I tried strawberry 'Temptation' from Pinetree. I ended up with 3 healthy, productive plants out of ~ 20 seeds. Then this year, I tried the Alpine strawberry 'Yellow Wonder' (also from Pinetree) and though I got a few sprouts, they withered away before I could get them planted out. Maybe if I had planted them out sooner, they would have survived ...

Bonnie

Thanks for all the input. I too bought by seeds from pinetree last year, but will check out some of the other sellers suggested as well. Molanic, that gives me hope that if I do get some plants going I might even get some berries on them this year too; my toddler would be thrilled (and so would I)!

Before i forget- I wanted to share the website: www.thestrawberrystore.com

The owner is really passionate and knowledgeable, and a nice guy :) Tons of varieties too.

Here is a link that might be useful: strawberry store

Shmooey, I think you may be right that the alpine doesn't HAVE to have the cold period. I couldn't find the link but somewhere I read that it helps to break the dormancy. Alpine are one of those seeds that can lie dormant for years in the ground that sprout sporadically. Either way it doesn't hurt sowing the alpine here in my zone cause it reseeds readily.

I think the currant is the same way, it doesn't HAVE to have the cold period but it also helps break the dormancy also. Though for both the currant and the alpine you will get some sprouts without a cold period.

I sure wish I could find that link. Oh well!!

This is a lot of great information! Thanks to all of you that contributed sources and experiences. It always helps in making a decision about what to buy and who to buy from.

Thanks!
Wendy / sassyb