Propagating strawberry plants from runners – 
How to grow strawberries – pegging a strawberry runner in place Step 1 Choose a healthy runner which has produced one or more leaves, and remove any stems emerging from the new leaves, while keeping it still attached to the parent plant. Fill pots with multi-purpose compost. Place the strawberry runner on the surface and hold it in place using a u-shaped staple or a piece of wire. 
Step 2 Don’t snip off the stem linking the new plant to its parent – keep this until the new plant has developed strong roots. Keep the compost moist at all times. 
Step 3 As soon as the plants are strongly rooted, snip off the stem connecting it to the parent plant, and plant in into a larger pot, or out into prepared ground.
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When can I propagate strawberry runners?
Propagating strawberry runners – Strawberry runners are modified stems called stolons, which are horizontal stems that create new plant clones at their nodes. Therefore, one of the easiest ways to propagate your strawberry plants is through the clones found on the runners.
Since you are cloning your existing plants, make sure you are propagating your best by marking or labelling the ones that have the best taste, or the most abundant yields. Propagating strawberry runners is quite easy, as the plant will naturally grow adventitious roots from the nodes of the runners. Summer is the best time to propagate strawberry runners; however, make sure you have them well-rooted and planted by early autumn.
This gives the plants enough time to establish themselves before winter. Following the steps below will help you succeed in growing strawberries from runners.
Select your runners from the healthiest, the best tasting, and/or the most prolific producers.Use a nutrient-rich and well-draining soil, like our Plantura Organic Tomato & Vegetable Compost, It contains sufficient nutrients to give your new plants the support they require.Gently dig up already-rooted runners, cut their connection from the main plant, and pot them in small containers, 10-15cm in diameter.If the runners haven’t rooted on their own yet, you can bury your small pots partially in the soil, fill them with media and lay the runners across them. Use tent stakes, or wire bent into a “U” shape to hold the nodes in place on the soil while they root.After they are sufficiently rooted, sever these new plants from the main plant.Your new plants can be planted in the ground throughout August. To avoid any damage from cold weather, make sure they are in the ground by early September.Protect your new plants from early autumn frosts by covering them with horticultural fleece. This is only necessary for the first few weeks once planted in the ground.
Once your runners are well rooted they can then be separated from the main plant
Is it best to remove strawberry runners?
Strawberry Runners – Established strawberry plants will send out multiple runners over the soil surface. Each runner has a tiny plant at its end and these can be rooted and grown on to produce new plants. Runners take a lot of the plant’s energy to produce, so in the first two years of life they should be cut off from where they emerge to concentrate the plant’s efforts on fruit production.
Can runner be propagated using deep water culture technique?
Challenges and Recommendations – Runner length can become unruly if mother plants are located too close to the ground. Our mother plants were located one meter off the ground and runners had to be bundled so they wouldn’t touch the ground (Figure 9). According to the Kubota Lab’s Controlled Environment Berry Production Information page at Ohio State University (https://u.osu.edu/indoorberry/planting-materials/), Japanese growers produce runners from mother plants located 2 meters off the ground (Figure 10).
This elevation would reduce tangling and clutter in the production system. Powdery mildew (Figure 11) is a common pathogen of greenhouse strawberries and reduces plant vigor. It likely infected plants in the runner propagation bench because of their high density (Figure 9). To control powdery mildew, plant leaves were sprayed once weekly with Cease and Milstop SP.
Both are listed by the Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) as suitable for organic production and both are allowed on edible crops in greenhouses. Cease is a beneficial bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) based biofungicide that colonizes the leaves of plants and secretes antibiotics to prevent infection before a pathogen like powdery mildew can take hold.
- Milstop SP is potassium bicarbonate and can kill powdery mildew on contact.
- Note: always check pesticide labels to ensure they are labeled for use in your location and for your specific crop.
- High densities of tangled strawberry plants prevent the effective application of these products.
- Leaves that do not get sprayed, especially new growth like runners, cannot be colonized with beneficial bacillus and powdery mildew can infect these susceptible tissues and spread.
Locating mother plants at two meters high off the ground, like that seen in Figure 10, would reduce the need to bundle runners and therefore reduce the density of the new, susceptible plants. We recommend that runners be grown this way for one to two months before lowering down the mother plants and securing the bottoms of the runners in deep water culture foam boards to initiate root growth.
Growers should have a proactive spray regime in place, making sure to remove dead leaves and debris regularly. Algae becomes a concern when the DWC tubs are in continuous operation. Without regular cleaning, algae begins to build up wherever there is light and moisture. Inadequately sized foam boards with too many unoccupied holes or splashing from air stones can accelerate this problem.
We recommend precisely measuring your foam board and cutting it with a new, sharp box-cutter knife to fit inside your deep water tubs without any gaps. Dial in your air stones and air pumps, ensuring they are completely submerged, to prevent excessive splashing. 
Figure 9: Production of ‘Albion’ and ‘Cabrillo’ runners between December 2019 and February 2020 before training them into DWC tubs to initiate root development. 
Figure 10: Runner production in a greenhouse in Japan (a photo by Endo Strawberryfields Co.) 
Figure 11: Powdery mildew observed as white powdery spots on the top surface of the leaf.
Can I put strawberries in my water?
🔪 How to make strawberry infused water? – You can prepare a batch of strawberry infused water easily at home. Even with plain water! The amount of strawberries you want to use in your strawberry water is up to you. The more you add, the more flavor the water will have and the more often you will be able to refill the bottle.