[davesellars]

I need to move my strawberries (quite a few plants) as part of a re-design of the allotment and more importantly to clear the patch of mares tail and other nasties growing and then to put down green manure in that patch.    Will they be OK to move now and put directly into plastic pots until next year?

[Kleftiwallah]

I should hold down a few runners onto the surface of soil/compost in a few pots with wire staples untill they root, then if your mature stawb' plants don't like being moved and croak - you're covered.
 
Cheers,     Tony.

[Kirpi]

It's difficult to kill strawberry plants off. I have taken rooted runners off friends, forgotten about them and planted the dried dead-looking plants and they have taken off ok.

[peapod]

As said, it is hard to kill strawbs off!

First of all, if they are 2 years old and you particularly love this variety then the pot runner advice is spot on.

 If younger then I would sacrifice the runners and lift now as you still have the next two years to root more plants (strawbs have a decent 'shelf life' of 3 years).  I would rather do this than let the weeds further establish.  Unless they are a heritage variety they are pretty cheap to replace and there is always someone who will offer you freebies.

I would lift and gently rinse the roots (ensuring that there are no weed fragments to re-establish) and replant in the pots.  You will get a reduced yield, but to dampen down Marestail ( I have it too and didnt deal with the strawb bed for this exact reason) its worth it 

[davesellars]

Thanks for the responses.   90% of the plants at least are less than 2 years old (at least 50% are from last year's runners that self rooted).   In that case they'll be all coming up over the next few days and i'll cutt back all the runners so the plant retains energy for next year.   Then it'll be a nuclear bomb style attack on the mares tail !!! 

[gavinjconway]

The mares tail will be the first to come up again... you will never rid the land of it.. just keep on top of it with pulling and hoeing!!..

[peapod]

The mares tail will be the first to come up again... you will never rid the land of it.. just keep on top of it with pulling and hoeing!!..

I hear ya!