"Spider" wrote in message
...

"mark" wrote in message
news
Last year I planted up about 50 strawberry plants.
Now it's an unruly mess. I assume I just trim off all the runners.
Is now the time of year to do it or doesn't it matter when?


mark


You can use those runners to make new plants. They will do the job for
you if left in situ, or you can sink pots of compost in the ground where
the runners are producing new plantlets, pin the baby plants down in the
compost and, when they've rooted, separate them from the parent plants.
Either way, you'll get new plants. Strawberry plants are generally
discarded after 3 yrs when they begin to deteriorate and become prone to
disease. If you make new plants now, you could start another strawberry
patch elsewhere so you're not cultivating the same crop on the same soil.

If you really don't want new plants yet, then you can certainly trim away
the runners. Now would be fine if you need to clear up.

Spider


Thanks for that. I didn't know about the 3yr life span so I'd best get
another patch on the go.

mark