First Strawberries

[Bassman]

I have six planted in a strawberry planter, they are placed on the patio with some fruit ripening, the runners are growing but dont know what to do with them?
Do I cut them off?
Do they flower and produce more strawbs?
Sorry for the newbie question.

[Cloud]

If you would like more plants then leave them on and peg them into small pots of compost leaving them attached to the mother plant and when they have rooted cut them.If you do not want any more plants cut them off as it is wasting the plants energy.

[Alison]

I always cut the runners off whilst the strawberries are fruiting so that they put their energy into the fruits. When they are finished, I'll take a single runner off each plant - I find that more than that causes the mother plant to become worn out and it performs badly the following year.

[Bassman]

Thanks for the advice.

I think Ill cut them off for now whilst they are fruiting and if they grow more runners towards the end of the season then Ill try planting those for next year.

[trebellangeminired]

I think I'm up to my 5 a day matron...

Just been out to check things over. Came back with a handful of assorted strawberries, (forgot container). Thought I'd just wash them, then try one, purely for quality control purposes you understand, then they were all gone, well it was a shame to leave the last one...

Family not home till teatime, have to go gathering later

[celticmyth]

My first ripe strawberry was DEVOURED by starlings the other day :-( That'll teach me not to net them.........I'm making sure they're not getting near the rest though!!!

[areia]

im finding it very frustrating with my strawberriw ate my one and only ripe one yesterday and low and behold one was winking at me this morning, my son said he wanted the second one but................... i couldnt resist gonna tell him the slug ate it i have plenty of green ones they just seemed to be going one at a time

[Leeder]

I have had to be a bit creative with my strawberry growing this year and try to use some height because of space restrictions.

I have created a 'strawberry wall' (see pics) and I am very pleased with the result, I just have to figure out where on earth I am going to put year 3 of my 3 year cycle plants next year

I have also bought myself 4 'Maxim' strawberry plants recently, apparantly they can grow to the size of the palm of your hand, so I couldn't resist to try them for novelty value alone. They are growing huge already as you can see in the pics, I just hope they will taste as nice.

I have the tastiest looking strawberry just daring me to eat it, everytime I enter the garden, but I promised myself that I would get to eat a bowl of strawberries this year so I am resisting, as last year they all got eaten individually whilst in the garden deadheading etc, my bad!


It hasn't been all plain sailing though, I lost around 15 plants over winter, to what I thought may be vine weevil grubs. However on closer inspection it appears they have rotted away due to being to wet with the water retaining gel crystals I used.

I have learnt from that mistake and planted all this year runners in compost alone.

[areia]

wow thats some strawberry wall good use of space, strawberries are thirsty plants spesh when in fruit hope you have a load of water butts sooo jealous

[GinaME]

Hi |I'm new to this forum and strawberry growing so would appreciate all the help I can get!!! I'm growing strawberry plants for the first time this year and they're doing really well so far, lots of fruit waiting to ripen - can't wait to get my pawa on them. I need a bit of advice about the runners - firstly when do they starting shooting out and secondly what do they look like?!?!? I think I've got a few already but I'm not sure. Sorry for all the questions but I really am a complete novice at this x

[Shadylane]

Welcome GinaME. The runners are usually longer and stand out from the rest of the shoots in that you generally know when you spot one. They'll have a leaf on the end that hasn't yet unfolded, it will be quite small. Eventually they'll produce wee roots at the tip which if allowed to touch soil will root in and give you another plant. As for when it can vary. Our wild ones are running already but the regular ones aren't. The Mara des Bois started running early summer last year so I nipped them off intending to let them run later in the season but they never did. They seem to do whatever the hell they want and don't stick to the rules.

It's generally a good idea only to take runners from a well established plant otherwise you may weaken it and not get much fruit. Also people tend to only take a couple of runners of each plant and nip the rest out. Good luck

[chris]

Wellie
Dunno about cherished - more like scoffed
Another thing - strawberries don't taste nice when they are freshly picked but hot !
On the productive front - check my journal for what is planted so far !

Not nice freshly picked? *confused* mine always taste amazing just off the plant?!

My lovely boys enjoyed the first of our strawbs a few weeks ago. I bought them really cheaply from our local Lidl when they were shutting for a refit. 6 plants for a quid fifty (so I bought four trays). As they were in flower and it was early and cold here, I kept them in the greenhouse. Don't know what type they are as it doesn't say but they are developing loads of lovely large fruit now that they are planted up in growbags. I actually ate one last weekend - first strawb I have eaten since the early '80s - t'was indeed yummy!! I will deffo be keeping runners from these for future years as they are totally gorgeous and sweet even when a little under ripe.

Are they large leafed, or small? I've some of both, will dig out the names later for you - I know they were selling two varieties everytime I went in (the same two) as I was after a particular type... I've them in beds, and just bought some alpines for hanging basket type things, and some other one that apparantly is really heavy cropping.. pegasus rings a bell ?

So far, to date my fav tasting one is honeyo.