Oops! Got the strawbs wrong

[Cutecumber]

It turns out that I have erred in my duty to cut back strawberry plants after fruiting.

It's their first year, they are in containers, and they are quite substantial plants. I now have several runners in pots thanks to their efforts - I probably shouldn't have done that, either, I suspect.

So, I've done a few things wrong here, but what can I do now to prepare the original plants, and their babies, for the winter?

[pigletwillie]

Once your runners have rooted well, cut them from the mother plant and over winter somewhere sheltered but outside as they need a bit of chilling to fruit well. The mother plants can then be trimmed of their old leaves being careful not to damage the crown or any new leaves growing from it. T

Dress then with a bit of growmore or the like and wait until next summer for some more fruit. Feed with potash in late May time to help with fruit production.

[Charlie Farley]

Mine are still fruiting. They were grown from seed. Can i transplant them out of their pot as they are a little overcrouded??

[Sue]

Charlie
I don't know if this was the right thing to do but the strawberries I grew from seed last year, got left until they'd finished fruiting then replanted then, seem to have been fine this year.
best wishes
Sue

[Cutecumber]

Good, so things are not too far wrong!

I shall wait a week or so, detach the runners, cut back and top dress the parents, and find a sheltered spot for them all.

Thanks for your help.

Charlie, I would wait until they stop fruiting, then cut them back and transplant them. I guess they may be hard to separate, though.

[Charlie Farley]

I think they might be, they got left in a 30cm pot for the summer and theres loads of em!!
I nipped out all the runners so they would fruit (duh) will they run again next year??

[rustylady]

You should see my strawberry bed on the lottie! Everything was going OK till a few weeks ago, but since then we've had rain and sun and I seem to have been working 24/7. I went over a couple of days ago and it's a matted mess. I need to cut off the runners and new plants I don't want, pull up the weeds (which seem to be the only things the slugs don't eat) and generally space the plants out. Good thing is strawberry plants can take a bit (or a lot) of neglect and still produce well.

[Cutecumber]

Well I've now separated 14 little plants and cut back most of their parents' foliage. The new plants are growing so vigorously (roots out of the bottom of 3" pots) that I'm going to have to find them a permanent/ bigger home for the winter. And give some away!!

Charlie - I am sure they will run again next year. They are pretty unstoppable.