Found this monster strawberry at the grocery store, weird shaped too. The seeds still look reddish instead of brown. Do I keep it on a windowsill to ripen, and how do I seperate the tiny seeds from the skin without a huge mess?

Keith, if you can find a strawberry with light beige to golden brown seeds that are standing out from the skin of the berry, those seeds might be viable.

The one in your picture, I think was picked too early for the seeds to have matured. Leaving it on the windowsill won't really "ripen" the fruit much more than it already is, because it needs to stay attached to the plant to gain more sugar from the leaves and to help mature the seeds, too. Better eat it up!

I did it once (inadvertently) years ago with a strawberry that was hidden on a plant in my garden. By the time I found it the berry was drying out but the seeds were roughly 4 times the size of those on your strawberry, and as I said, sort of a golden brown color. I was able to scrape them off the berry quite easily, and they did germinate for me.

One thing to remember is that the strawberries sold at the grocery stores may be hybrids and the seeds will either not be viable or will not produce the same type of plant/fruit. Better to buy heirloom strawberry seeds, saving seeds from your own plants after that.

greene said:One thing to remember is that the strawberries sold at the grocery stores may be hybrids and the seeds will either not be viable or will not produce the same type of plant/fruit. Better to buy heirloom strawberry seeds, saving seeds from your own plants after that.

If you know me, I love hybrids and freaky plants, I'm all about experimenting 😄

Yep, I know. Wouldn't it be nice if you could start with two different heirloom strawberries and create your own hybrid?

Guess what, the seeds were ripe and all sprouted! I have lots of seedlings from this special strawberry!

Photos?

Oh, how fun! Yes, photos, please!

Yes, please take photos to document the seeds as they sprout, as they grow, as they flower and as they make fruit.

Glad they germinated. I was going to suggest feeding the strawberry to a bird. Then you would have little strawberry plants all over your yard.

Daisy

A bit blurry but here you go!