Strawberry Runners

[lisa4star]

I have heard people referring to runners on strawberries - how you can take them off and grow them to get more plants.

How do you know what a runner looks like and how do you cut them and regrow them?

Not sure how to cut them, etc.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Lisa, runners are little rosettes of leaves that grow on the end of the long 'extra' stems that the strawberry plant throws out. You might have already cut these long extra stems off to keep the plant looking tidy. Anyway, when growing strawberry plants in the ground these little rosettes of leaves grow roots, then root themselves into the ground. The rosettes grow bigger into baby strawberry plants and in the autumn you simply cut through the long stem that the baby plant is growing on with a pair of scissors, to separate it from the main plant. You then have new baby plants ready for next year - for free! Either plant them in the strawberry bed or pot them up. They will die down over winter but regrow in the spring.

[lisa4star]

Thanks Lesley. I bought long planters today to repot them as they are just in large pots at the moment.

When will I repot them? Next weekend or shall I wait until next year?

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Lisa, if you are growing strawberries in containers then I would repot the original plants and the runners next year into fresh compost in your new long planters. In the meantime, just plant the runners when they are a good size into a container (or containers!) for them to overwinter.

[Sparkling 1952]

Can I just ask the question that my strawberry plant in a pot has 15 runners and they all look remarkably healthy. Do I have to wait till autumn to seperate them or would they survive now?

[Bodhisurfer]

I reckon they would survive now but what about seperating, say, just 5 of them now and the rest in autumn?