Last year, I planted my strawberries in the fall and let them overwinter in the bed. They were dormant until late Feb/March, came back to life, and have been producing berries all April and May. Now they’re going strong as we’re getting into June, and have started throwing out runners as well. –>
They are sweet and juicy, and I’m very happy with them. So instead of planting new strawberries each spring, I think I’ll be planting in fall and overwintering each year.
NOTE: These are an everbearing variety. I can’t remember which, either Albion or Quinault, but I prefer everbearing to June bearers, as we just grow them generally for snacks. I don’t do much in the way of canning or making jam. I only have about 10-15 plants a season.
So this year, my plan is to capture those babies in their own pots and let them get established over summer. Then, once the mother plants are done producing in fall, I’ll replace those with the new plants and let them overwinter again for next year.
Like a big, happy, strawberry merry-go-round (Strawberry-go-round?) where I can just propagate my own strawberries for the following year each summer, while still enjoying fresh strawberries from my current crop.
🍓🍓 Here are step by step instructions of how I’m doing this if you want to follow along. 🍓🍓
(Or if you prefer a 1-minute video showing the process.)
STEP 1:
Fill up small pots with soil to put your runners in.
Tip: I use no more than 2 runners per mother plant at a time, so it’s not using too much energy and will keep making strawberries in the meantime. If too many runners are trying to produce baby plants, it will affect the amount of strawberries being produced.
STEP 2:
Use landscape pins or something similar to secure the runner in the pot. This is so that it stays put and can take root.
Tip: Gently form the soil so it’s sloping down from the middle out towards the rim. It does not need to be a drastically shaped “hill” but strawberries are sensitive to rot, so sloping away from the crown will help it stay healthier in the long run.
Step 3
After planting the runner, clip any following part of the runner off. NOT the one from the mother plant to the baby, that needs to stay for now.
Sometimes a runner will have a first set of leaves, and then continue on to form another set, and another. All the energy should go into one baby plant instead of multiples. So pot the first one and cut off anything else beyond it.
Leave the main runner attached to the mother plant for 1-2 weeks until the roots have taken hold. It’s kind of like a strawberry umbilical cord. 😊
Once the roots have taken hold, it’s time to cut the cord and do the happy strawberry dance! 🍓💃
You can make sure it’s rooted by GENTLY, very gently tugging on the leaf.
If it didn’t take root, it will lift up extremely easily, so don’t pull too hard.
I currently have 3 rooted babies, 6 more in process, and I’d like to get another 3 in the next few weeks so that I have 12 plants ready for fall to start the cycle over again.
How do you plant your strawberries? What are your favorite methods? Leave it in the comments, I would love to hear from you. Happy Gardening! 🍓
-Kate