Strawberry Help Please. Photos Attached.

[Complete Novice]

Hi,

I bought a growbag with three strawberry plants in April (don't know what kind), and I have already had a decent crop out of them in June. I was reluctant to move them while they were fruiting.

When they had stopped producing fruit and they put out runners, I trained the runners into several pots, keeping them attached to the mother plants. However, I have seen conflicting advice (I believe on this forum) about whether to allow the runners to develop or not in the first year. The runners seem to have developed in their own pots now. Can I sever them from their mothers now? Is it advisable to keep the runners in pots for now? Should they be moved indoors before the first frosts?

And now on to the mother plants I have prepared a container of soil and compost for them. Should I just remove the plastic off the growbag and put the contents of it into my container? I think I read somewhere that strawberry plants need some kind of 'mulch' on top to protect them from the frost. Correct?

I've tried to attach some photos, hope they upload properly. All help appreciated Thanks.

[rustylady]

Firstly, strawberry plants are completely hardy and don't need protection from frost. Secondly, as you have already rooted runners, it's too late to worry about weakening the parent plant. If the runners are well rooted in their pots, then cut them from the mother plant (and each other if you've allowed more than one plant per runner).

[vicky]

Rustylady's right, no frost protection needed. There is often a straw mulch applied before the fruits appear for them to sit on and keep them clean and dry.
But your mother plants look a bit crispy on some of the leaves, could be due to them drying out or is the site very exposed? If the latter they might do better somewhere more sheltered (eg against the wall of the house).
If I want more plants I allow runners, if I don't then cut them off - the mother plants will survive whichever. They look fine to seperate now, nicely rooted in their pots!

[ckfe]

mine are done for the year, didn't get much of a crop off them but it is their first year... what do i do with them now? they're quite big, i've cut off all of the runners so do i just leave them to it now until next year?

[quark1]

My El Santa's were started from recovered seed from a supermarket strawb which we both enjoyed. I didn't expect fruit the first year and was correct in this assumption. However I've 15 very vigorous looking plants in grow bags (5 per bag) with several runners having developed.

I'm certainly not going to waste the possible extras coming off the runners and will train these into smaller pots.

When the 'best' of the growing season is finished I'll divide the grow bags into the 5 sections and plant in flower buckets - which I'm hoping will make a decent amount of depth and area for the plants to grow to maturity and fruiting next season. Each bucket will have my trusty dose of a trowel-full of chicken manure pellets to give a good start - if this is wrong someone please put me right!

My theory is that supermarket fruits are picked slightly under-ripe and shipped in cold storage - at least a day and perhaps 2-3 if imported before they hit the shelves - with an expected shelf-life of 3-7 days. If the flavour of a supermarket variety is good I'm hoping that picked fresh from the plant, at the perfect moment of ripeness, will improve the flavour experience even more.

[Complete Novice]

Thanks for your help guys.

But your mother plants look a bit crispy on some of the leaves, could be due to them drying out or is the site very exposed?

Yes, some of the leaves are incredibly dry and crumble almost to the touch. But I'm not sure why. They were in an exposed place so not much shelter for them, but they were semi-regularly fed (with tomato feed) and got plenty of water. I moved them into containers today and the growbag contents underneath the plastic was quite moist. The containers are in a more sheltered spot than previously.

I didn't know what to do about those dry leaves though, so just left them on the plants. Do they need to be pruned, or should I just ignore the plants totally now until next summer?