Free Strawberry Plants: Easy Propagation Methods
Except for the wild ones, strawberries do not come true from seed; that
is, strawberry seed will yield plants unlike the plant it came from,
plants with characteristics of the hybrid plant's ancestors. But it
isn't
necessary to grow strawberries from seed. As noted, strawberries take care
of propagating themselves admirably by sending out runners or daughter
plants that root nearby. These can be used to renew the strawberry patch
(see Strawberry Spacing Systems) by holding them in place with a stone,
hairpin, clothespin, or small handful of dirt until they root. Or they can
be allowed to root and then be transplanted to a new strawberry bed.
Propagating by Rooting
The strawberry runner plants grow in a pot sun
in the ground, the plants held in place with a clothespin or hairpin.
The best way to do this is to fill peat pots, cut down milk containers, or
small flowerpots with good strawberry soil, sink them in the earth near
the runners, and let the runners root one in a pot. Hold each runner in
place with a hairpin, clothespin, or stone. When the runners are firmly
rooted, sever them from the mother plants and transplant elsewhere. Peat
pots can, of course, then be transplanted without lifting the plants from
them.
New Life for an Old Strawberry Bed
If you don't want to start a new bed when production begins to fall off in
the old strawberry patch, there is an alternative that works at least
passably - although you should remember that commercial growers almost
always plow under a bed after 2 years and usually do so after the first
year's crop is picked. Nevertheless, up to one half production from an old
bed (and sometimes more) can be maintained for 2 to 3 years or longer if
the following method is used. Begin the renewal at the end of the harvest
season in early summer - don't wait 2 or 3 weeks but get to work as soon
as the berries have been picked. At this time run your hand or power
mower, set on high (2 to 3 inches), through the strawberry patch, cutting
off the tops of the plants (a scythe or hoe will do just as well). The
plants will then put all their strength into producing new leaves and
fruit buds for the next year (the more new leaves a plant has, the more
berries it will produce). Help them along by weeding the patch thoroughly
and fertilizing the remaining plants. Also turn under every other row in
the patch, including all plants and any mulch that may be present. Runners
from the alternate rows will soon fill up these now empty rows and you
will get fruit from both the topped plants and their runners the following
season more from the topped ones. If the plants don't send out many
runners, encourage them to do so by digging in a little cottonseed meal
around each plant. This method works best where very productive varieties
like Pocahontas have been planted. When you use the hill system or spaced
row system, no thinning of plants is necessary. With the matted row
system, thin plants (that is, pull out excess ones) when weeding until the
plants are 6 to 8 inches apart. Sprinkling an inch or so of compost
through the bed after renewing is also a good idea. Within 2 to 3 weeks
new foliage will appear on the plants, which will look so bad at first
that you'll think you made a mistake following my advice, but in another 3
to 4 weeks they will be thriving.