[bigben]

I ordered and planted some strawberry plants last year. This is their first year so the harvest has been modest, a few have died while others have produced runners which hopefully will replace those that died.

I have decided to try and plant up a bed on my allotment as well as those in my garden but wanted to do it from seed because it is going to be cheaper than buying a load of new plants. I wondered if I could start them off in pots and once established plant them onto my allotment later in the year. I know they will not do anything this year fruit wise but wondered if doing it this way would mean I get some fruit next year rather than leaving it until next spring to start them from seed and probably not getting any fruit next year either. Do I risk them all dying over the winter if they have not fully established?

[DD.]

You may find you have more runners than you expect and can use those to make another bed.

I've got 30 plants.

I gave away about 80 runners and had 100 for myself. That's after cutting them off before they went too mad.

Each plant can produce several runners, capable of 3 or more plants per runner, they soon mulitply at no cost whatsoever.

[bigben]

Thanks for the suggestion DD but I had read that it is best to chop off runners in the first year  to help the plants build up strength. So most of the runners  produced I have snipped, only when I noticed a few of the original plants had died did I think it might be good to get some replacements so I have started to encourage any new runners. I planted T&M Irrisistable after hearing some good comments from people (including yourself) and the fruit is great but I think the soil is not brill - close to a hedge and partly shaded so I decided to plant another bed on my allotment in better sun with hopefully richer soil. My kids keep complaining that I am eating the limited fruit produced so I thought another bed should help.

[DD.]

I left them all on last year - doesn't seem to have affected this year's crop much!

[thecakebaker]

I’ve grown over 600 this year from seed. You will get no fruit and very few if any runners on them this year you will get a better yield from seed grown plants than you will from runners.

[thecakebaker]

I ordered and planted some strawberry plants last year. This is their first year so the harvest has been modest, a few have died while others have produced runners which hopefully will replace those that died.

I have decided to try and plant up a bed on my allotment as well as those in my garden but wanted to do it from seed because it is going to be cheaper than buying a load of new plants. I wondered if I could start them off in pots and once established plant them onto my allotment later in the year. I know they will not do anything this year fruit wise but wondered if doing it this way would mean I get some fruit next year rather than leaving it until next spring to start them from seed and probably not getting any fruit next year either. Do I risk them all dying over the winter if they have not fully established?

you will need to keep them in a greenhouse or tunnel over winter

[SnooziSuzi]

you will get a better yield from seed grown plants than you will from runners.

better tell that to my strawbs then - I'm sick of the sight of huge, red juicy strawberry's and this is just their first year from runners last year and there are hundreds more massive fruits swelling up now

I'll deffinately be giving a load of potted on runners away this autumn

[Gandan57]

I have 200 seeds of wild strawberry Red Wonder to sow tomorrow. They`ve spent the last three weeks in the freezer as per instructions.

[Trillium]

That's interesting that the instructions say to freeze first. I've never done that and the seeds always germinate. Either way, they're easy to start.