Hi, Everybody,

Yes, I tried a Google search, but a couple of things
weren't clear.

Right now, it is mid-summer in this part of the world.
I have seven strawberry plants, with good pollination,
plenty of green fruits at the moment, and a small but
steady supply of yummy fruits.

I looked up the idea of harvesting strawberry seeds,
and it seems that people prefer to put the fruit in a
blender(?) This was a surprise for me. I had
*thought* that the seeds were those small green bits
all over the outside of the fruit(?) So I had thought
about using tweezers to pull those off. But maybe that
was mistaken?

The other option is to use runners. I have some
hanging stems (coming out from the middle), with a few
leaves plus flowers and fruits. But I don't see any
starting of roots on these.

Do the runners need to slouch down and get in contact
with some soil before they put out roots?

Also, could anybody explain how to deal with new plants
(from runners) over the winter? Keep them inside
maybe?

Thanks for all of your advice...


--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
http://www.cardreport.com/
Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum

Hi All,
what you need to do is to peg down the runner with a length of stout wire
shaped like a inverted U . then the runner will form roots, and you can then
sever it from the main plant. if you need to move the new plant you can peg
it down in to a pot of soil, then when you sever it from the main plant you
can replant it in to a new place. hope this helps you.

Richard M. Watkin.

"Antipodean Bucket Farmer" wrote in message
...
Hi, Everybody,

Yes, I tried a Google search, but a couple of things
weren't clear.

Right now, it is mid-summer in this part of the world.
I have seven strawberry plants, with good pollination,
plenty of green fruits at the moment, and a small but
steady supply of yummy fruits.

I looked up the idea of harvesting strawberry seeds,
and it seems that people prefer to put the fruit in a
blender(?) This was a surprise for me. I had
*thought* that the seeds were those small green bits
all over the outside of the fruit(?) So I had thought
about using tweezers to pull those off. But maybe that
was mistaken?

The other option is to use runners. I have some
hanging stems (coming out from the middle), with a few
leaves plus flowers and fruits. But I don't see any
starting of roots on these.

Do the runners need to slouch down and get in contact
with some soil before they put out roots?

Also, could anybody explain how to deal with new plants
(from runners) over the winter? Keep them inside
maybe?

Thanks for all of your advice...


--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
http://www.cardreport.com/
Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum

il Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:30:42 -0000, "r m watkin" ha scritto:

Hi All,
what you need to do is to peg down the runner with a length of stout wire
shaped like a inverted U . then the runner will form roots, and you can then
sever it from the main plant. if you need to move the new plant you can peg
it down in to a pot of soil, then when you sever it from the main plant you
can replant it in to a new place. hope this helps you.

Not only that, I've heard that strawberry plants aren't so good the
next year, so it's recommended to replace them with the runner
plants. possibly someone knows more about that.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

Let me say I am not an authority on Strawberries or any thing else,
for that matter. But I have spent most of my 70 years on a farm. I
have posted several time to this forum the last several days, partly
because few people (in this part of the world) are interested in
gardening at this time.

First off, from your posting, I assume you are from Australia and
raising berries in a bucket. If so, I doubt this will help you, but
it is an experience I had.

Many years ago I bought some very large California Strawberries, and I
though how clever it would be to plant some of the seeds. I laid a
few of the berries in an Aluminum pie pan and put them in the window
of my shop. After several days, they had dried and you could easily
rake the seeds from the berry.

To make this story shorter, I planted the seeds,then set out the
plants and they produced a very small inferior berry(not at all like
the berries from which the seed came.). This should answer your
question why they propagate by using the runners.

Another example of this is you can plant the seed of a Red Delicious
Apple and the tree will not bear Red Delicious Apples, but an inferior
fruit.

Now about the runners. If you are raising your fruit in a bucket, I
can't help you, for I have never tried that.

Basically, there are two types of Strawberries, what we call June
berries(which bear in early spring) and ever-bearing. The
ever-bearing, "flush" or put on several crops during a growing season.

Now the action of these berries as I recall is this. First they will
bloom, then set fruit, and then and only then start putting on
runners. Just let these runners go (if they are June berries) and
they will find the ground and set root. In the fall, go in and cut
and dig the ones you want for replacement sets(replace any berry vine
over 3 years old).

Ever-bearing, you have to keep these runners cut back, or they won't
produce very many berries on subsequent crops. But if you need more
plants just let some of your field set runners, and treat them the
same as June berries. I had a small patch of ever-bearing and I used
a small lawn mower to keep the runners cutback out of the middles of
the row.

Didn't mean to write a book
Have a good day, Rogerx.




On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:56:37 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer
wrote:

Hi, Everybody,

Yes, I tried a Google search, but a couple of things
weren't clear.

Right now, it is mid-summer in this part of the world.
I have seven strawberry plants, with good pollination,
plenty of green fruits at the moment, and a small but
steady supply of yummy fruits.

I looked up the idea of harvesting strawberry seeds,
and it seems that people prefer to put the fruit in a
blender(?) This was a surprise for me. I had
*thought* that the seeds were those small green bits
all over the outside of the fruit(?) So I had thought
about using tweezers to pull those off. But maybe that
was mistaken?

The other option is to use runners. I have some
hanging stems (coming out from the middle), with a few
leaves plus flowers and fruits. But I don't see any
starting of roots on these.

Do the runners need to slouch down and get in contact
with some soil before they put out roots?

Also, could anybody explain how to deal with new plants
(from runners) over the winter? Keep them inside
maybe?

Thanks for all of your advice...

"Antipodean Bucket Farmer" wrote in message
...

The other option is to use runners. I have some
hanging stems (coming out from the middle), with a few
leaves plus flowers and fruits. But I don't see any
starting of roots on these.

Do the runners need to slouch down and get in contact
with some soil before they put out roots?

Also, could anybody explain how to deal with new plants
(from runners) over the winter? Keep them inside
maybe?

I don't know that much about strawberries. What I do know is that somehow I
got a volunteer in the sunniest plot in the garden, so I figured, why not
see what happens. The first year I had already planted squash there when the
volunteer showed up, so mostly it hid under the squash leaves and hung out,
and didn't do much.

After I cleared out the squash at the end of the season, it sent out a bunch
of runners, which started more strawberry plants. I did absolutely nothing
other than weed around the plot. I got a nice crop of strawberries early
that summer. All of those plants sent out more runners, and made more
plants.

Now I have a strawberry patch. I've done zero except weed it occasionally.
This is my kind of gardening.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/

I'm doing the Big Climb for my friend Dena! See:
http://www.active.com/donations/camp...?key=cpetersky

"Antipodean Bucket Farmer" wrote in message
The other option is to use runners. I have some
hanging stems (coming out from the middle), with a few
leaves plus flowers and fruits. But I don't see any
starting of roots on these.

Do the runners need to slouch down and get in contact
with some soil before they put out roots?

Also, could anybody explain how to deal with new plants
(from runners) over the winter? Keep them inside
maybe?

Let the runners touch the ground and they will root. Removing early fruit is
supposed to encourage runner development. The new plants should overwinter
fine. As plants get older, fruit production decreases, so removing older
plants(3 yrs - look for long "trunks") can help maintain the bed.

Hi All,
you should replace your strawberry plants after 3 years, as they will not
bear enough fruit to make them worth while keeping. hope this helps you.

Richard M. Watkin.

"Loki" wrote in message
...
il Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:30:42 -0000, "r m watkin" ha scritto:

Hi All,
what you need to do is to peg down the runner with a length of stout
wire
shaped like a inverted U . then the runner will form roots, and you can
then
sever it from the main plant. if you need to move the new plant you can
peg
it down in to a pot of soil, then when you sever it from the main plant
you
can replant it in to a new place. hope this helps you.

Not only that, I've heard that strawberry plants aren't so good the
next year, so it's recommended to replace them with the runner
plants. possibly someone knows more about that.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

"r m watkin" writes:
you should replace your strawberry plants after 3 years, as they will not
bear enough fruit to make them worth while keeping. hope this helps you.

While this may be advisable in some instances, or for some species of
berry plants, it is by no means universally true. My Mum has had a very
productive bed of strawberry plants growing for almost 30 years! They are
about as productive today as they were a year after they were planted.
Annual fertilising, good mulching, pruning off the runners, and choosing
the right plants for the soil and climate would seem to be the key.
Perhaps a disease-resistant species is crucial for long-term cropping?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

"John Savage" wrote in message
news:050202000091114.02Feb05
While this may be advisable in some instances, or for some species of
berry plants, it is by no means universally true. My Mum has had a very
productive bed of strawberry plants growing for almost 30 years! They are
about as productive today as they were a year after they were planted.
Annual fertilising, good mulching, pruning off the runners, and choosing
the right plants for the soil and climate would seem to be the key.
Perhaps a disease-resistant species is crucial for long-term cropping?

Are you sure she hasn't been removing the older plants when you weren't
looking?

Bob

I've been runners for a few years now, they are all intermixed. How can
you know which is an older plant?

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've been runners for a few years now, they are all intermixed. How can
you know which is an older plant?

Look at the base of the plant, below where the leaves branch out. The older
plants have a longer base.

Bob