Kitchen Garden Forum

Most of my 4 year old strawberry plants died in the heatwave and I,ve been in the process of digging them all out today with the intention of buying new ones next year. However I,ve come across some healthy baby runners which have perked up with the recent rain.

Are they worth saving?. I,m planning to refertilise the border this autumn as I have no alternative position where I can grow them and I hate throwing viable plants away. I,m wondering if the babies of elderly plants turn out to be less healthy or whether they all start off from a zero level playing field. The plants which died were healthy and producing. They just died through lack of watering.

I would not hesitate in planting them ,seems a perfect solution

I would certainly plant them, Primrose, but probably in potting compost in pots until spring and only then transfer them to the border when it has settled down after your winter maintenance. I think these runners from elderly plants will be perfectly ok.

You are taking a risk growing them in the same place though, you should move strawbs every 4 or 5 years and replace the plants with new ones. Can you not grow them in containers if you have no other place to grow them?

I agree with Monika about growing them in pots. I'm using the prodigy from plants purchased in 2008. I root the runners in 9cm square pots and normally plant them out about now but this year I was late pinning the runners into the pots so they'll have to wait a bit. The three year old plants go to the bonfire and I swap the soil with some from a veg plot, usually where I've cleared potatoes or peas. I force some in the greenhouse then polytunnel by transferring them into bigger pots and leaving them outside until January.

Like primrose we have a strawberry bed I've never moved them but its only four years old last year I bought some new strawberries the year before I planted sixty runners this year I will.probably buy some new ones as our originals have been in the family for years swapping between my wife her mother and our eldest but I think the ones we have are the last remaining ones , they are the old fashioned ones that fruit once but are really sweet