propagating strawberries

[shushkin!]

I have some rather tasty strawberries on my allotment and want to propagate them. They are throwing out runners left, right and centre.
Do I push the shoots on end into the ground and then they just root or is there
anything else I should do?. How long does it take for them to root and how long should I wait before separate them from the parent plant?. It must be a bit draining for the parent plant.
I would appreciate any advice from all the knowledgeable growers out there

Thanks

[djhs196]

I would take a U shaped bit of wire, a inch and a half long, and use that to hold down the runner on the shoot for soil contact on a separate pot. I'd give it a month at least before separating the runner plant from the mother plant.

Happy propagating!

[polomint]

A roller hair grip is another good one to hold the runner in place

[gojiberry]

You may find that they will send another runner on from the first potential new plant if they do cut it off. I also do not take off more than one or two runners per plant cut all others off. Some people take the little plantlet off before it roots and get it to root in a pot of water, that way there is very little drain on the mother plant.

Ian

[shushkin!]

Thanks for the great info.
I will follow all your tips. Especially thanks "gojiberry" for the tip about rooting the plantlets in water. I'm going to give that propagation tip a go this weekend.
I was worried about wearing the poor old parent plants.