Typically, if you purchase one plant, it will yield several additional plants throughout the season.
Most strawberry plants send out runners. Each plant has a number of these runners, which spread out around it and root when they come into contact with the ground. These grow into new plants that are clones of the parent plant.
This is the most popular and straightforward method of strawberry propagation. Strawberries can also be multiplied by division and seed, but both techniques require a great deal more work and don’t produce the same results.
Question: Should I Cut Off Runner Plants from My Strawberries?
Stephanie asked:
I planted June-bearing and everbearing strawberries this spring. My Master Gardener class notes advise me to remove the granddaughters and leave the daughters, but other sources advise me to remove all runners the first year. If the mother plant doesn’t have to provide nutrition to the offspring, I reasoned, she might be stronger and produce better fruit. I’m not sure what to do this year. I loved the way you moved plants from one bed to another in the fall, but should I do that the first year the mother plants were planted?
It won’t affect fruiting if you remove the runners now or if you leave them on the plant. Plant the runners after removing them to create strawberry plants for the upcoming season.
If you plant out the runners from your existing strawberry plants, you will get a more plentiful crop the following season because if you leave the plants alone, the crop and fruit size will decrease. If your strawberry plants are still bearing fruit, make sure to feed them.
My strawberries are still making lots of fruit, but they are also making runners. When the strawberry plants are still bearing fruit, should the runners be removed? Regards, Lynn
Guiding Runners into Pots or Containers
Getting the runners to take root in pots or containers is an additional choice to think about. Simply peg down the runners to allow them to take root in the growing medium inside these pots or containers, place these close to the parent plant.
You can easily move rooted runners to another area of your garden by starting them in pots or other containers.
You could also relocate them to an area under cover so you can harvest them earlier and have an earlier strawberry crop the following spring. Additionally, if you wanted to sell some strawberry plants, this would be a smart move. Alternatively, if you’d like to give some away to loved ones, neighbors, or members of your neighborhood