Hi,

I've a few strawberry plants in hanging baskets that are starting to put out
suckers, should I chop these off so it's concentrating on the fruit or let
them go their thing?

On Thu, 9 Jun 2011 20:05:36 +0100, "Endulini"
wrote:

Hi,

I've a few strawberry plants in hanging baskets that are starting to put out
suckers, should I chop these off so it's concentrating on the fruit or let
them go their thing?

Strawberries naturally put out runners (as you call suckers) as part
of their self propagation activity. Your average strawberry plant will
fruit for 2-3 years and then needs to be replaced. The runners provide
this replacement. On the ground they will naturally root at some point
and, having rooted, can be severed from the parent plant and, in due
course, replanted to replace the parents somewhere in the strawberry
patch.

In a hanging basket, the runners have nowhere to root and they won't
be worth much by the time they've reached the ground (you'll see
plantlets developing at various points along the runner - these
plantlets occur where it wants to root and they will die fairly
quickly if there's no rooting opportunity). Now if you have some way
to suspend some, say, 3 inch pots on string below your hanging
baskets, you could encourage the runners to root into them and, once
rooted, chop them off and then use them to increase/replace your stock
next year.

If you can't do this, it's unlikely that hanging baskets would support
additional rooting plants so I would chop the runners off as close to
the parent plant as soon as you can and repeat as soon as further
runners appear; that way the runners won't take any energy from the
fruiting plants. Then in a few years you'll need to buy new plants.

Incidentally, in hanging baskets you really need to feed, feed and
feed. Use a high potash feed such as tomato feed (Tomorite for
example) or something called "Flower Power" (available from the QVC
shopping channel on the telly) at least once a week and you'll
increase your crop a fair bit.

HTH
Jake

On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:21:16 +0100, Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:

On Thu, 9 Jun 2011 20:05:36 +0100, "Endulini"
wrote:

Hi,

I've a few strawberry plants in hanging baskets that are starting to put out
suckers, should I chop these off so it's concentrating on the fruit or let
them go their thing?

Strawberries naturally put out runners (as you call suckers) as part
of their self propagation activity. Your average strawberry plant will
fruit for 2-3 years and then needs to be replaced. The runners provide
this replacement. On the ground they will naturally root at some point
and, having rooted, can be severed from the parent plant and, in due
course, replanted to replace the parents somewhere in the strawberry
patch.

In a hanging basket, the runners have nowhere to root and they won't
be worth much by the time they've reached the ground (you'll see
plantlets developing at various points along the runner - these
plantlets occur where it wants to root and they will die fairly
quickly if there's no rooting opportunity). Now if you have some way
to suspend some, say, 3 inch pots on string below your hanging
baskets, you could encourage the runners to root into them and, once
rooted, chop them off and then use them to increase/replace your stock
next year.

If you can't do this, it's unlikely that hanging baskets would support
additional rooting plants so I would chop the runners off as close to
the parent plant as soon as you can and repeat as soon as further
runners appear; that way the runners won't take any energy from the
fruiting plants. Then in a few years you'll need to buy new plants.

Incidentally, in hanging baskets you really need to feed, feed and
feed. Use a high potash feed such as tomato feed (Tomorite for
example) or something called "Flower Power" (available from the QVC
shopping channel on the telly) at least once a week and you'll
increase your crop a fair bit.

I think I'd suspend another basket below the first, exclusively for
the stolons to grow on in. If that's not practical, I'm wondering if
it would be worth cutting runners off and trying to root them in
cuttings compost, loosely covered with a plastic bag: I've never heard
of anybody doing it, so it's probably pointless, but the OP's got
nothing to lose.

--
Mike.

On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:51:37 +0100, Mike Lyle
wrote:


I think I'd suspend another basket below the first, exclusively for
the stolons to grow on in. If that's not practical, I'm wondering if
it would be worth cutting runners off and trying to root them in
cuttings compost, loosely covered with a plastic bag: I've never heard
of anybody doing it, so it's probably pointless, but the OP's got
nothing to lose.



Make a mini-bag of damp moss for them for a few days before cutting
them off?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

If you manage to do this, please can you post a pic!

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:25:35 +0100, mogga
wrote:

On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:51:37 +0100, Mike Lyle
wrote:


I think I'd suspend another basket below the first, exclusively for
the stolons to grow on in. If that's not practical, I'm wondering if
it would be worth cutting runners off and trying to root them in
cuttings compost, loosely covered with a plastic bag: I've never heard
of anybody doing it, so it's probably pointless, but the OP's got
nothing to lose.



Make a mini-bag of damp moss for them for a few days before cutting
them off?

Of course! Great thinking! That would be air layering: standard for
quite a few things. I wonder if strawberries are robust enough to take
it.

--
Mike.

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:22:01 +0000, kay
wrote:

Jake;926246 Wrote:

Now if you have some way
to suspend some, say, 3 inch pots on string below your hanging
baskets, you could encourage the runners to root into them and, once
rooted, chop them off and then use them to increase/replace your stock
next year.


If you manage to do this, please can you post a pic!

I'm growing strawberries in a tower contraption (pic at
http://tinyurl.com/697manh) and did the hanging pot trick last year by
making some pot holders/hooks out of wire coat hangers. Hooked the pot
over the edge of the "pod" the runner was growing from and then
"stapled" the runner into the pot with some bent wire. I'll try the
wet moss idea as well this year and post some pics of the results.

I suggested string for the hanging basket as I thought that something
less flexible (bent coat hanger) would be too easy to knock off when
someone walked under the basket!

On Jun 11, 1:23*pm, Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:22:01 +0000, kay

wrote:
Jake;926246 Wrote:

Now if you have some way
to suspend some, say, 3 inch pots on string below your hanging
baskets, you could encourage the runners to root into them and, once
rooted, chop them off and then use them to increase/replace your stock
next year.

If you manage to do this, please can you post a pic!

I'm growing strawberries in a tower contraption (pic athttp://tinyurl.com/697manh) and did the hanging pot trick last year by
making some pot holders/hooks out of wire coat hangers. Hooked the pot
over the edge of the "pod" the runner was growing from and then
"stapled" the runner into the pot with some bent wire. I'll try the
wet moss idea as well this year and post some pics of the results.

I suggested string for the hanging basket as I thought that something
less flexible (bent coat hanger) would be too easy to knock off when
someone walked under the basket!

Alternativly you could just use a poly bag witrh a bit of compost
fastened to the runner till you see roots then snip and pot up.