Fixing strawberry runners

[PLUMPUDDING]

I find the pegs often come adrift when pegging down strawberry runners with wire, so this year I've threaded about 30 cm piece of twine through the holes in the bottom of a pot so the ends hang over the sides, fill the pot holding the twine, sit the runner in the pot and tie the ends of twine over it. This holds the runner firmly down in the pot and can't come out.

[John]

What an excellent idea, PP.
Isn't this called 'thinking outside the box'? Some of us boys find all that sort of stuff rather difficult!

John

[Johnboy]

Hi Plumpudding,
Have been using adapted pots for several moons.
I always use 1.5L pots and these have 4 holes drilled just below the watering ridge and these form two pairs across the pot. You place a wire through the side of the pot and place your runner centrally in the pot and loop down the actual runner and place the wire above the downward loop and when the runner sends out the next runner you do the same by passing the wire through the other set of holes.
I always let the second runner to run on for a bit then and when trapped nip the actual second plant off as I only ever take single runners. You get a better quality plant by taking just the one.
The reason for the large pot and the single plant is because I used to sell them and in the large pot all you had to do was take it out of one pot and put it into a new pot and it was marketable without much fuss.
Of course this means using an electric drill and you girls seem frightened to use these wonderful gadgets so perhaps its darning needles for girls and drills for the boys!
JB.

[Primrose]

Not only is this female intellectually challenged when using an electric drill, I'm even having trouble visualising your respective solutions. Perhaps one of you can offer your services on a future Kitchen Garden "How To" video. My solution is the Primrose Chop! I cut off the runner, dunk it deeply in a pot of moist compost and leave it to its own devices. More often than not it seems to root pretty quickly as soon as it senses nourishment is in sight. The runners in my strawberry bed even escape and try to take root in the lawn.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Don't be cheeky Johnboy - I've got my own electric drill and box of drill bits etc which I keep out of the way of the men in the family. They always take things and don't bring them back if they borrow them.

[Johnboy]

Hi Plumpudding,
Good for you! But owning and using are not the same thing!
And before you blow a gasket I am being cheeky again!
JB.

[alan refail]

Now for the real cheek!

I don't do anything at all to fix runners - they do it themselves I find.

I grow strawberries on a 3-year system:
Year 3 - they fruit and are then pulled up and disposed of.
Year 2 - they fruit and I remove most of the runners.
Year 1 - After fruiting I only remove runners which are spreading too far; leave the rest till late winter when they are well rooted, then dig them out and put together in a bit of earth/compost, keep lightly watered and plant in new bed in spring.

It works for me and it's minimum trouble.

[macmac]

I just use fleece pegs,the smooth variety .I fill little pots with compost and poke the peg down through the compost out through the drainage holes anchoring the runner with the hooky bit at the top. I push the peg firmly thus lodging it in the ground.They don't move and when rooted the pegs pull out of both ground and pot simples..as that meercat says
Speaking of power tools I once tried to drill a hole with a screwdriver bit and no I'm not blonde

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
This may surprise you but when my single runners have been nipped off the parent plant I then cut all the foliage off the parent plant by using my rotary mower set high which also sucks up all the detritus leaving a very clean bed. This waste is burnt immediately because it has the tendency of being full of nasties.
I have some Royal Sovereign that have been on the go for about 30 years. I also grow a dozen plants on the bench in one of the tunnels in ex-fish boxes, the expanded polystyrene ones, these plants are amazingly prolific. Two plants per box. We all probably have our favourites and Royal Sovereign are mine followed by Cambridge Favourite.
JB.

[Primrose]

I do love reading Johnboy's posts because his sometimes unexpected advice really appeals to me. For example, general advice about strawberry plants seems to be only to keep them for 3 years, yet he's talking about some Cambridge Favourites which have been on the go for 30 years! I presume these are not the original plants but their ancestors? I would love to know how long original plants can last and still be productive. Does anybody have any really geriatric plants. (Most of mine are on their fourth year now because I don't have any space for a new bed, and we had such a prolific crop in June it was an embarrassment). His practice of whipping the lawnmower over his plants also appeal. I will try this next time as it seems a very easy way of getting rid of the junk and dying leaves. I spent a long time on my hands and knees a couple of weeks ago doing this by hand, and with back problems, it's quite hard work.

[Elaine]

Hi Johnboy. I don't like power drills but I do have a really nifty hand drill! My husband smiles indulgently when I use it but he can grin and shake his head as much as he likes...it's a wonderful bit of kit! Cheers!

[PLUMPUDDING]

I like Johnboy's idea of going over the strawberry bed with the mower, but all the baby frogs seem to have taken a liking to the strawberry bed and I'd hate to mow them.

By the way, I was using the drill yesterday to rejuvenate the bird table after an obese cat had demolished it trying to catch the birds.

[glallotments]

I use shears to go over my plants once fruited but I also just take off the runners and plunger them into pots of compost - no pinning down and so far have had 100% success.

My alpine strawberries started the year looking sad and shabby so I decided on a make or break and sheared them too - gave them a feed and they are now looking refreshed and ready to take over the fruit production line once the big boys have finished fruiting!

[Tigger]

Plumpudding - I thought it was just us! When I dug up our strawberry plants this year to move them to my new table height bixes, they were home to hundreds of frogs. Those beds are now full of salads and root veg and the frogs have moved elsewhere. I just hope they like their new home 'cos I haven't found where it is yet.

[Primrose]

Yes, I've found several baby frogs in my strawberry bed too when I was cleaning it up. I had lots of woodlice lurking amongst the dried out leaves. I don't think frogs eat woodlice, especially the froglets, but perhaps they do and it's the amphibian version of some tasty crisps. But certainly other insects lurk there so it's probably a good environment for them.