Wednesday 22 August 2012

Propagating Strawberries

I can't claim much expertise in the Strawberry-growing department, so I'm glad that I can refer to the advice which Sue recently posted on her blog Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments. A few days ago Sue posted about how she had propagated her Strawberries, and this reminded me that I ought to do the same.

Earlier this year I bought four little Strawberry plants from my local Garden Centre, just for amusement really, but in fact they went on to produce a small but very tasty crop of berries, which has inspired me to make this fruit a regular feature of my plot. Well, the first thing I need to do is get MORE plants. Sorry, Mr.Garden Centre Owner, but I'm not going to buy any more from you (reasonable as they were - 4 for £5), because I am going to get mine for free...

My "Strawberry bed" currently consists of a plastic storage-crate containing the original four plants, housed in the big wooden planter outside our kitchen window:


Following Sue's advice, I have trimmed off most of the big old leaves, to allow light to reach the crowns of the plants and promote the formation of new growth for next year.


Having finished flowering for this year, the plants have put out some runners. Each runner has one or more nodes, where new leaves appear and tiny roots begin to form, and make a new plant. These roots will grow for a time simply in the air, but in due course will want to have some soil or compost of their own.


I have given each of these nodes a plastic pot full of compost as a home in which to put down its roots. To keep things in place I have pegged-down the runner with a U-shaped "staple" made from wire cut from an old coat-hanger.


Some of the runners have more than one node:


This is what the whole ensemble looks like now:


So, hopefully next year I will have at least twice as many plants as I started with...

9 comments:

  1. I am also busy propagating strawberries. They will be in pots again for next year or I may invest in a strawberry table.

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  2. Mine just do it on their own (but I have them in beds not pots). I have to keep their runners from smothering each other. My job is to trim those runners out about every couple of weeks. Usually I rip about half the old plants out each year and let the runners fill in the empty spots.

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  3. Propigating strawberries is a) easy and b) fun.

    It's great to get plants for free, especially when they give you strawberries!

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  4. Growing strawberries is on my to do list but haven't quite got around to it. Your trip to Vienna looks fantastic!

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  5. Much more methodical than us, we tend to cut the runners off, throw the little plants into pots of compost and let them take their chances - they always romp away. Our strawberries are advancing into the lawn under their own devices too! S

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  7. Hate to tell you this but you are supposed to only use the plantlets nearest to the plant as they weaken down the line. However, I don't always stick to the rules so who knows?

    PS Removed last comment as I wanted to add that you are being more careful than I am too as like Hillwards I usually snip mine off and pop them in a pot and they have to take their chances without mum!

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    1. Sue - "Nothing venture, nothing gain" I say. Sure, the strongest plantlet is obviously going to be the one nearest to the parent, but when you only have FOUR to choose from, you can't afford to be too picky!

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  8. That's really nice but I read that you should cut the runners out if your plant is still under two years old. This is to make your plants strong and these plants will supposedly give you fruits for at lest 8 years which will otherwise give you fruits only for 4 years.

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