Strawberry babies

[thesunflowergal]

We lost all of our Strawberry plants to the frost and this spring we had to replace them all. I want to prevent this from happening again, as I just do not have the money to keep buying more. My current plants have babies on them. So if I pot them up how do I overwinter them? I do not have a greenhouse nor do I have space in the ground? So do I put them back into my strawberry pot (multi layered terraccota thing)? Or put them into little pots and bring them into the house later in the year?

Thanks Nikki

[Odsox]

I assume you are talking about runners, long shoots from the main plant with rosette type growths at intervals along it ?

Best way to do that is to fill some small pots with compost and sink them into the ground where the first "rosette" is and then peg the new plant with a loop of wire or lay a small stone on the runner stem to keep the new plantlet in place until it grows roots.
It's probably best to cut the runner on the far side of the plantlet but DON'T cut the link back to the mother plant.
In a few weeks time when the new plants are growing away strongly, then you can sever the link with it's mother, but probably best to leave the pots half buried in the ground until autumn ... that way you don't have to worry so much about watering them.

When all the leaves die back in early winter and maybe had a slight frost on them, you can dig up the pots, trim the roots that will be dangling out of the pot drain hole, and store them in a shed/garage or anywhere that's relatively frost free, but cold. If you bring them indoors they will start to grow again.

It's a very good way to increase your stock of plants but be aware that if you have any disease in the mother plants it will be passed to it's babies, so make sure the mothers are healthy.

[Annpan]

Are you sure you lost them to frost??? only reason I ask is that my 2 stawberry plants were in plant pots, we had -10ºC for a full week.... day and night.... we had 14" of snow too... and my strawberry plants survived fine.

The traditional crops around here (Lanark) is strawberries, the old folks remember when all the fields round here were strawberries... we are in a pretty cold area of Scotland, high up and very exposed... and I never heard of the strawberry crops being wiped out by frost. and they wouldn't have been protected by anything around here over the winter either.... (we are talking 60-100 years ago BTW)

Are you sure it wasn't a disease? Or maybe they just died right back but didn't die? Just seems strange to me that strwberries would be killed by low temperatures.


of course... I am probably wrong....

[thesunflowergal]

Ann I must be wrong then, I just assumed that that was the cause. We lost lots of stuff to the weather this year, so i just thought that these where another castualty. I will have another go with my strawberry plot then. Thanks for the info.

Tony thanks for all the help. My "Mother" strawberrys are in hanging baskets, so I am off to fine somewhere flat for them to live for a bit.

Nikki

[Millymollymandy]

I thought that a bit strange too and thought you were far more likely to lose a terracotta strawberry planter to the frost (we have) than the strawberry plants themselves. Maybe it was waterlogged or something? Anyway plants in pots are always more at risk of freezing than those planted in the soil.

[thesunflowergal]

Anyway plants in pots are always more at risk of freezing than those planted in the soil.

Thats why i wrongly assumed it was the frost.

[Odsox]

You're right, strawberries can take a lot of frost, but if the crown gets waterlogged and then freezes it's unlikely to put up with that sort of treatment for too long.
If they are planted in the ground with the crown above soil level it's unlikely to happen, but in a container, possibly planted too deep, possibly using moisture retaining compost, alternating wet and frosty weather will be the death knell for young plants, which will just give up and rot.

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox's advice is as usual extremely good, but I would query one point. He suggests putting the 'baby' in a pot sunk into the ground. Perhaps in the West of Ireland this may be ideal, but in Southern England you might find that the plant will dry out, unless watered regularly. I would suggest pinning the runner down and letting the baby grow direct in the soil and then put a good mulch around it. In the autumn it will be easy enough to dig up and transplant to its final position.

[thesunflowergal]

Graham - thanks for your input but as I said I do not have any ground space for the "babies". The "mother" is in a hanging basket. Thats why Tony suggested that I put the babies in pots.

Tony - can't really comment, as the strawberry planter and plants where already potted up and given as a gift to my eldest daughter.

[Odsox]

Odsox's advice is as usual extremely good, but I would query one point. He suggests putting the 'baby' in a pot sunk into the ground. Perhaps in the West of Ireland this may be ideal, but in Southern England you might find that the plant will dry out, unless watered regularly. I would suggest pinning the runner down and letting the baby grow direct in the soil and then put a good mulch around it. In the autumn it will be easy enough to dig up and transplant to its final position.

Umm .... what is the difference between sinking a pot in the soil and letting them root into the soil ?
They both have access to the soil moisture which the pot will get through capillary action through the drain hole(s), plus in the autumn you have a ready potted plant. But, rooting direct in the soil will work just as well.

Horses for courses ...

[grahamhobbs]

Sorry Odsox, my experience in a drier part of the world is that pots, with only small holes, don't allow enough water in and plants in the soil, perhaps because their roots spread further/deeper, do far better.

[marshlander]

Graham - thanks for your input but as I said I do not have any ground space for the "babies". The "mother" is in a hanging basket.

How about hanging another basket from the underside of the first and rooting into that?

[Millymollymandy]

Sorry Odsox, my experience in a drier part of the world is that pots, with only small holes, don't allow enough water in and plants in the soil, perhaps because their roots spread further/deeper, do far better.

Moi aussi. I'm constantly amazed how my strawb runners manage to root into the surface dust (currently 2 inches of dust then moisture under that) but they have no probs whatsoever! However pots in soil is a no-no in these dry parts as even big tubs of mint droop if they aren't watered regularly.

Course none of this is helping Sunflowergal!

[KathyLauren]

Ordinarily, a little bit of frost won't kill strawberries. We had a cold snap last winter that lasted for two weeks and froze the lakes with six inches of solid ice, but we have the best strawberries ever this year. However, those are plants in the ground. In a hanging basket, the plants would be a lot more vulnerable to frost, since they will get it from all sides instead of just from above.

Rooting the runners in more pots is a great way to propagate the plants and provide insurance against damage from whatever cause. Any of the techniques described above will work. More important is to plan for over-wintering them. Protecting them against frost by bringing them into some kind of shelter would be a good idea.