Growing Strawberries -Propagation
How to Propagate Strawberries

Strawberries can be easily propagated from existing plants.

 

Propagating Strawberries

As strawberries do not give a good crop after three or four years it is usual to replace the plants every three to four years. This is easily done by propagating new strawberry plants from the runners that the strawberry plant naturally sends out.  However it is essential to ensure that the parent plant (the one sending out the runner) is free of all pests and diseases, especially viruses, this is because an infected parent plant will not produce a strong child plant which in turn will not give a good crop.

It is best to select healthy one year old parent plants, once you have made your selection do not let these plant bear fruit. By removing all the flowers the plant's energy goes into producing runners. A good healthy parent plant will produce numerous runners, but for best results only allow four or five to develop and then only one plant on each runner.

The runners will naturally produce a plantlet, however you can encourage this to happen by "pegging down" the runner into the soil, this is normally done in mid summer to mid autumn. If the soil has been lightly cultivated you can peg directly into the soil or you can peg them into pots (which maybe easier if you are moving the whole bed). Fill the pots with potting compost and either sink them into the ground such that their rims are just level with the soil surface, or stand them on the surface in such a way that they will not fall over.

Peg the runner down into the soil with either wire hooks or hairpins, then if you are using pots do not let the compost dry out but do not over water, once the plantlet has rooted it may start to send out another runner from the point of rooting carefully remove this so that all the energy goes into producing a strong healthy plant.

Four to five weeks after you have pegged down, the new plants should be ready for moving, to check that they are there should be good strong new leaf growth, which is a good sign of successful rooting.  At this point cut the runners from the parent plant.  If you pegged down directly into the soil use a trowel to lift your new plants ensuring that there is a good ball of soil around the roots.  No matter which methods of propagation you used the new plants should be planted into their final location immediately (see growing strawberries for details on how to do this).  To get a better crop in the second and subsequent years do not allow these new plants to flower during their first season.

If you follow these guidelines for propagating your own strawberries then you should have a good healthy supply of strawberries for many years.