Strawberry runners - how many per plant (and using from year 1 plants)?

Hi folks

I bought some strawberry plants in the spring. They've grown into big healthy looking plants. Only had a small handful of fruit this year, but there are now LOADS of very healthy looking runners from which I would like to propagate new plants ready for next year.

All in pots.

I've read up and have a good idea of what needs doing, but a couple of questions remain:

1. How many runners can I propagate per plant? Wasn't sure if doing too many in one go would take too much energy from the mother plant? Or doesn't it work like that?

2. Is it ok to propagate from plants that are in year 1? I've read mixed opinions on this.

Many thanks

 

Strawberries are good for about 3 years before they start to lose vigour.
So I grow them for 2 years, then get more plants by rooting runners in little pots whilst they're still attached to the parent plant in year 2.
I plant the rooted runners in a new bed - It's best to move them every 3ish years to avoid build-up of pathogens in the soil.
The following year I harvest from the original plants, then dig them all up and dispose of them as the babies in a separate bed will fruit well the following year.
So I swap them between the 2 beds every 3 years.

If you need more plants now, then you could root a few runners from your year 1 plants, but they will take some vigour from the parent plant.
Bearing in mind the huge number of runners that they put out you won't need 90% of them, so cut off the ones you don't need.

 

I've always been told that you take the first runner closest to the mother plant and cutoff the rest in the string. It's advice that is probably correct to maximise the quality of the new plants and the mother but tbh I just let them do their thing and move the biggest plants (mine are in the ground).
I don't see why potting up all the runners would be a bad thing if you have the space as long as you make sure they have fertile soil and are kept watered well. We sell the excess plants for charity and have never had any complaints.

 

Many thanks for the replies.

@Pete8 - first and foremost, what a lovely dog! But onto business... That sounds like a great plan and set up, and I think I will do similar when I'm a few years in. But being year one, I think I'll go ahead and propagate some from these new plants. In your opinion, is it a case of the more runners I propagate from a single plant the more "vigour" I steal, potentially reducing yields from that parent plant in years 2 and 3? And if so, what would you consider as a maximum per plant? I will cut off the unneeded runners as suggested, something I should have done much sooner but like an idiot didn't get round to!

@Thevictorian - thanks for that tip, I'll stick to just using the baby plant on the runner closest to the mother plant and discard any further down the line, as suggested. As per my question to Pete above, you don't think that the more runners you propagate from a single plant the more you energy and vitality you take from the mother? I guess if you've not had complaints then that's good. But - presuming you kept the mother plants for further harvests the next year - how did you find yields after having propagated so may runners the year before? That's presuming you keep the umbilical cords in place while the babies develop, something not everyone seems to do (but I will be doing).

Thanks again

 

Each runner is fed and watered by the parent until it gets its own root system going then it can feed and water itself and can be cut free from the parent plant.
So yes, each runner will take some vigour from the parent plant and a young parent plant will have to put a lot more effort into looking after its offspring than a plant that is 2 or 3 years old and much bigger - hence the recommendation not to take runners in the first year.
But it's not going to hurt if you just take a few - the bigger the plant the more runners you could take, just don't overdo it.

 

A generous shower of rich organic material will more than make up for any depletion by propagation. This will produce more foliage and give a protection against harsh frost (if we are so blessed !) A 'tidy-up' in early spring, a refirming of crowns after frost and sufficient water to correct any drought will give results.

 

Great, that's good to hear

Would comfrey tea be suitable or would you suggest something more balanced?

And once separated from the mother, is a feed a good idea for the baby plant or would I leave that until the spring?

Many thanks

 

I tend to prepare a bed concurrently with taking runners. The bed is prepared by removing other plants, application of composted organic matter and allowed time to settle/worms to work.
The runners are pinned down in to 5" pots filled with compost and a little sharp sand mixed and watered. Once they are visibly self supporting they can be severed from the parent and spaced out across the prepared bed. Probably by October you can plant them out, once they have filled the pot with roots.
Top dress with more compost in Spring. No artificial fertilisers or solutions are used., always feed the soil not the plant.....
By the way, if you have the space, you can leave the old plants for further years, as an insurance. They do lose vigour but its not usually catastrophic. Personally allow fruit on new plants in their first full season, just be careful how you pick them lest you pull them up.

 

It will also depend on the age of the plants you bought @Engelbert .
If they were runners from last year, ie first year plants, then it might pay to only take a few runners from them, and allow those to mature, treating them next year as one year old plants. As you've said they're big and healthy, it's likely they're older than that though, so it wouldn't be aproblem to take all the runners off.
I tend to leave any runners I take off to grow on, and then follow that approximate three year cycle -as near as possible anyway. I often forget though, and I don't grow them to any extent now because I don't really like strawbs, and the slugs/birds often get to them before I do. I also remove them when pale and ripen in the house if I see them, because of that.
It's easier if you have dedicated beds, but I don't have room for that, and I also grow mostly in containers as that's also easier because of the slug population here.

Comfrey tea will be fine, and it also depends on how good the soil mix is that you have them in to start with. Again, with pots, they need more attention than in the ground in terms of food, because those nutrients are used up more quickly, so you need to amend it each year by removing some old soil/compost and adding new. In the ground you'd just add some organic matter each year and then the odd feed later if the soil's poorer/lighter.
I never add anything to the new runners, as they have enough nutrition until the following year, and then they'd be put into bigger pots or troughs where they'd have enough nutrition for that season

 

Personally I don't allow any runners in the first year, I let the plants build up to a good size and get more and bigger fruit as a result. Only you can judge if your plants are big enough to take runners now. I aim to replace every five years. Works for me.

 

Hi

Many thanks for the additional replies and info, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I've been side tracked with other things and work and so not been able to do anything with them, but tomorrow is a day off so I'll get down to it!

The plants were really quite small when bought in the spring, so I presume they were first year but can't be sure. They are much, much bigger now. I'll add some photos below...

I may also have some questions on the back of some of the great advice above, but need to take the dog out now so will return with those later if that's ok.

Thanks again

 

I personally wouldn't take runners from first year plants, wait until the second year. Let the plants build up their strength first.

In fact, I bought some bare root strawberry plants at the beginning of the year and they are producing runners. I've cut the runners off so they can put all their energy into establishing themselves. Next year, I still use one runner per plant and cut off the remaining runners.

I actually wrote a small blog post about strawberry runners a few months ago.