Hi all, :D
I planted last August some new strawberry plants that are looking very healthy with flowers forming, so hopefully I will get a crop this year, my question is should I remove the runners that are starting to form or should I keep them to make new plants ???
Adrian.
I am planning on propagating any runners I get off mine - I have soe bog standard non f1 plants and some wild strawberries (yum)
Last year I took a load of runners off my strawberry tub (something I've now abandoned) straight into pots with garden soil (the weeds, the weeds!!!) in September when the plants had stopped flowering/fruiting. I kept 14 of them in 6-inch pots the end and they have been sitting in a cool greenhouse all winter. They have been flowering profusely since early April, and now have many well-formed (but still green) fruits on them.Â
I think I'll keep them inside until I get my annual aphid invasion, then I'll put them out & see what happens. Eventually they'll go back in the greenhouse again for next winter.
What I do is remove any runners that form whilst the strawbs are fruiting. That way the plants put all their energy into producing more yummy berries. Then once they've finished, I allow the runners to develop and root.
I usually take 3 runners from the best looking plants and pin them down into pots filled with compost. (I bury the pot to match the runner) I do that for as many new plants as I need as soon as I see the runners. All the others I cut off. Strawberries are prone to diseases so after flowering it's best to cut the plants right down or dig-up and burn them, so hanging on to a plant after fruiting for the sake of the runners isn't too good.
I grow mine through black plastic on a mound about 8 inches high. The runners take root just off the edge in the soil. Every year i pull out the mother plants and compost them, rejuvinate the soil with home grow compost or manure replanting the best runners through the plastic( about 30 plants) This method seems to produce far more than the other lotties round me.
fruits are about the size of a penny at the moment. :D :D