On my strawberry plants (the Mara des Bois and the unidentified ones I put on the balcony) there are these long stiff side shoots that have grown, about 10 cm long. Are these what you call runners?
I would like to "harvest them" but maybe for the main plant it is bad to keep them? How can I take them off and get them to root by themselves? Does anyone know?
I took a pic this morning but don't have the d**n lead with me to put the photos on the compooter ::)
Yes they must be runners. If you let them root, while still attached to the plant, I think it will mean you get fewer strawberries this year, so you could pinch them out.
But they only produce fruit for 2 or 3 years, so eventually you will want to grow some new plants from runners. maybe you could let one plant give you new plants from its runners, and remove the runners from the other plants so you get their fruit?
Ah OK, that's not a bad idea. This is the first year of these plants, but I would like to grow more strawberries if I could as they are so yummy and seem fairly easy to grow (since I am fairly hopeless). I had better remove them from the ones on the balcony though, I don't think they will withstand the strain as they are in a pot.
You can take runners off strawberry plants for up to 10 years. Though as previously stated - each runner harvest fruit for 3-4 years depending upon variety.
To make the runners into plants:
1) Get one small plantpot for each runner and fill with compost.
2) Plant the end of the runner into the plantpot. Dont cut it!
3) Water both as required. From the plantpot - a new plant will eventually start to shoot.
3) When this does - then cut the runner joining the 2 plants.
Some people plant the runner straight in the ground. This is fine if your strawberries are staying all in the same bed. I would use the plant-pot method as you can then move these to a 2nd bed should you wish. Also - by having seperate beds - it is ideal when it comes to clearing the old plants as you can remove everything and cultivate the bed fully without dodging plants.
These are runners;
(http://tinyurl.com/245gng)
and you can see how to deal with them here; http://tinyurl.com/284egs
Yeah, that's them!! Little arms waving from the mother plant!! I had better fill some little pots and decide which runners I want to keep. Thanks tee gee for that photo, it is very accurate!!
Hold the runners down in their pot by using wire or something similar. You could use a paper clip by leaving one little arched bit and straightening the rest of it. Hair grips can also be used.