Grow Your Own Magazine

Three of our strawberry plants, which have not fruited for a long time, have put out long runners. Never having grown strawberries before, we don't know what to do with the runners. Do you just leave them to do their own thing, or something else? They have put down roots and because I didn't know that they did put roots down When I was weeding I moved a couple of the runners and pulled them out by their roots...how stupid was that?! Does this mean that they will die now?

You can approach it two ways: (1) You allow runners to root where they fall and then as soon as they root cut the 'umblical' from the parent plant. Then you can repot or move the plant with plenty of soil around it. (2) When the runners show, peg them into pots and once rooted you have strawberry plant to pot on next year in any area you choose.

Strawberries are tougher then they look, so if you did accidently pull up a runner, I would suggest just replanting it - it should take unless you stomped on it first.

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Andrewo
www.andrewoldham.co.uk

Thanks for the advice Andrewo!

I read somewhere that you should cut back the plants when they've fruited, litereally chop the leaves off - does anyone agree? and if the strawbs are in a pot, should I pot them into fresh compost in individual pots (going to use a proper strawb tower next year, the one we've got was too small to ever produce more than about 5 fruit at once). I've done about 10 runners (used straightened paper clips for the pegs) and they've all taken.

yes cut them back and give them a feed. i cut my earlys back and they have grown fresh leaves already. repot them if the compost is old

This is also my 1st year. Not to take over the post but I also wondered about what I do with the plants over winter.

I have 3 plants in a large round pot at the moment. Do I let them die off and leave the pot outside until next year, do I have to cover it? Do I have to put the pot in a frost free place (like the shed).

I know it is early to ask this question as my plants are still going well but I like to be prepared.

Silverfox,

I'm not sure what 'proper protocol' is, but I just left mine as they were for the winter. I had already cut some of the leaves off during the summer as the fruit was being shaded.

My strawberries were surrounded by straw and I left that there over the winter and did nothing more than that. In the spring as they were beginning to flower, I had a tidy up of the plants and put fresh straw down.

Not sure if that's right or not, but I got a bumper crop this year, and nice healthy plants from my 2 year olds...

Just as a side point... my plants are producing runners, and one of them is even flowering! It hasn't got enough roots to pot up yet (it's still attached to the main plant on the runner), but I found it quite funny to think it was flowering but had no roots!

You can leave strawberries were they are, they are hardy - however, boggy ground can result in the crown rotting - if they are in the ground you can leave them were they are for 3 years (some advise that you move your strawberry bed after this period to prevent any diseases built up in the soil attacking new plants). However, if you want to get ahead of the game like Victorians did, plant some up in pots and bring them into a greenhouse or even a covered hot bed and you will be eating strawberries up 6-12 weeks before anyone else.

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Andrewo
www.andrewoldham.co.uk