", "Hi Nandish. At this point, cut it free from the parent plant. Will", "Yes, absolutely - that would be fine. Fill pots with multi-purpose compost. If you live in a temperate region then that's it - they can now be left. The calendar below gives dates for all four methods and a full explanation of the methods can be found lower down this article in the section entitled " When and Where to Buy Strawberry Plants". I'm planning to grow them in my pollytunnel. ", "That's brilliant - glad you've got something to propagate from. How to grow new strawberry plants for FREE from runners. These types of strawberries produce more fruit if you clip off most of the runners, allowing each plant to produce no more than 3 daughter plants each summer. ", "It may just be the variety that you are growing produces smaller berries. Plant Availability. 28 August 2015, written by Benedict Vanheems. The runners are 'new' plants, so will have the vigor of young seedlings grown on. It may help to add more phosphorus to the soil as well if this is the case. In sub tropical area… ", "Hi there, I have a garden bed of strawberries- just wondering could I leave them there till next summer, or should I dig them out and put into pots for winter? Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to wait until fall or even late summer to cut strawberry runners. Otherwise it's the same advice as usual: plenty of sunshine, keep plants well watered in dry weather, and feed them with a liquid tomato feed or similar to help the berries set and swell. If this upcoming spring I start letting the runners grow and propagate as you describe above, would I do that at the beginning of spring or after they are done fruiting? To help rooting, use a soil mix of three parts compost to one part sand. In fact, the … THEN I WILL KEEP IN THE BASEMENT UNDER LIGHTS UNTIL I GET GOOD LOOKING PLANTS. Take off any netting so birds can feed on any pests. A second method of starting strawberry plants from the runners is to place the baby plants in the soil around the mother plant, or in small pots of soil near the mother plant, and weight them in place by putting a small stone on the stem near each plant. If you need help designing your vegetable garden, try our Vegetable Garden Planner. We live near Denver Colorado. Fill pots with multi-purpose compost. Could you let me know exactly what plants you are growing? ", "Hi Sandy. Strawberry plants need lots of space around them to grow and fruit well, so make sure plants are well-spaced and keep air circulating by removing any netting or covering that was protecting the fruit from the birds. I'm in Ireland. I'm not sure how long you have left of the growing season, so if you are planning on giving this a try I would get on and do it as soon as possible. Strawberry plants are low growing perennials that give a delicious supply of fruits. ", "Yes, I would pinch out flowering shoots this summer at least. (Don't want to dig them up and look! Would it make more sense to overwinter them and start the strawberry bed next year? ", "When my strawberry plant is old enough (a month to 6 weeks) instead of moving them to the ground can I just get a larger pot? I am even embarrassed to say, my one mother plant has given me 10 runners and the look good I am keeping them. straw or pine needles. Can you confirm this is true? It's so easy,all you need to do is to find a healthy plant which has grown some runners or suckers,these are the long stalks with a bit of leaf at the end. Keep the compost moist at all times. Planting. Root them into pots then overwinter them away from the bed so that they can be planted in early spring. Either way, can I then just move them to their new bed, or am I wasting that new bed space for their growing period? You could give that a go, but I doubt there would be enough room in the basket for uncongested growth. Short of space? Cheers", "Hi Megan. Place the strawberry runner on the surface and hold it in place using a u-shaped staple or a piece of wire. Fertilising Strawberries. The e-mail does not appear to be correct. I would be inclined to get the roots growing, them pot them up into fresh potting soil and grow them on in a bright but cooler place, so they have a more natural temperature and light level. Plant the strawberries in rows 2 feet apart with just 14 inches between each plant. I'm told this can come about from continually using runners, runners again etc. This tidies up the plants, ready for next spring. If you’ve grown strawberries before you’ll have noticed that plants throw out several long, leafless stalks called runners. If you don’t trim them from the mother plant once they have rooted, it’s put a lot of addition stress on that mother plant. Plants are pretty crowded in garden, as they have grown. Then as soon as things begin to warm up even slightly the plants will set into fresh growth and you can pick up the amount of water you're giving them. These runners will root nearby and produce a new plant, but they remain attached to the main plant and drain nutrients from it. Thanks in advance! ", "This is my first year of growing strawberries and I have tons of runners. I suspect the strawberries got completely frozen for a long period (or at least the ones outside) and simply died from this. I'm in planting zone 7 on the Jersey Shore, NJ. ", "Hello! But it may be fun growing them on under lights to see how far advanced they might be. ", "Hi Tammy. They are Sonata. Runners are only available from Sweets Strawberry Runners from April to September each year. ", "You could attempt to root the runners at any time, if the runners are being grown on where the plant is. Again, they did not come back. Nandina domestica or sacred bamboo is an ideal container specimen plant. And keep up with the growing - it's what's keeping you young! Runners are long stems that run off the central plant and create baby strawberry plants. As soon as the plants are strongly rooted, snip off the stem connecting it to the parent plant, and plant in into a larger pot, or out into prepared ground. Exhausted from producing fruit and offspring, strawberries typically take a second rest period during summer’s second half. Dig a hole in the new bed large enough to plant the runner—a hole 3- to 5-inches wide should do. Most varieties of strawberries produce runners, also known as stolons. So you are fine propagating from runners and assuming the mother plant is healthy (though old) you should produce some fine young plants.