How to raise new Strawberry Plants from Runners

As you know my Strawberry plants came from Strawberry runners that I bought, in May of this year. As the plants have grown, matured and started to produce fruit, I've noticed one has sent out a new runner stem from its parent plant.

Now I'm not really sure when new plants should be created, I found one site that suggested September - October time, but as we're half way through July and I already have runners coming through, I'm already trying to raise new plants. As instructed by many garden advice websites, I've put well watered multi-purpose compost into some small pots and have placed the Strawberry runner stem on top of this, making sure its touching the soil, so roots are able to grow downwards. Sometimes a U-shaped staple or piece of wire can be used to hold this in place.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

Currently my Strawberry plants are in hanging baskets, so I've come up with an inventive way of attaching the pots with sting to the basket. The string has been wrapped around the edge of the top of the pot, tired off and then looped over the top, making sure that the string is also looped through the hanging basket, before being tired off again to the string around the pot. With the help of the protective netting and/or wire, the stem has stayed in place and enabled the roots to grow into the pots.

Once these have established and have become a lot stronger, I will cut of the stem to the parent and leave them to grow into new health plants.