On Tuesday, June 3, 2014 12:05:01 PM UTC-4, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Thursday, May 29, 2014 12:18:39 PM UTC-7, Higgs Boson wrote:

On Wednesday, May 28, 2014 10:59:05 PM UTC-7, David Hare-Scott wrote:



Higgs Boson wrote:







Late with everything this year, so bought some strawberry plants.















2 Sequoia ever-bearing (I think) - standard here in So. Calif.





2 .June bearing. Nursery guy said not limited to June in this



climate.

The Junies have runners galore. I was taught that one should cut off

the runners for plant to retain "strength", and that runners could be

planted to get new plant.Or should I plant them far apart so runners can root themselves?



Nursery guy thought don't cut off runners. Does he know what he's

talking about?



Yes. Allow space for them to expand, spread the runners outwards from the



crowns and after a year or two you will have 3-4 times as many plants.



Makes sense. Ta'



In the interests of saving time, here's a (possibly naive) question:



I spread small bark ground cover between plants. Usual reason: conserve water.

With the drought that CA is facing, and with our horrendous water prices, this become even more important.



BUT: Will that stop runners from rooting? Or will they find their way through the ground cover? I don't want to find out months later that they can't root.

Should I "engineer" bare ground patches where runner is heading? Anybody dealt with this dilemma?



TIA



HB

Why don't you "catch " the runners? Simply fill a small pot with soil, place it under the runner and pin the runner in place. Within a month or so it should be well rooted and can be clipped and planted where ever you want.
Steve