My strawberry plants are putting out long shoots- what shall I do with them?

Question

I have some strawberries growing in a container, they're growing well and they have put out 'shoots' coming out of the top of the container- it looks like they have little leaves on the end. What shall I do with them? Can I pot them?

Answer 1

These shoots will be new young plants. If the strawberries were growing on the ground you would peg down these new shoots into the soil and let them root and grow for a while ,then you would sever the stalk between the parent plant and the young plant then you could grow the young plants where you like. Seeing as your plants are in pots it is going to be difficult to peg down the shoots as they are probably too high up. i would peg down the ones near enough to the soil and then you could always take off the higher ones and try putting them in the soil but they might not survive because they need help to grow from the parent plant.

Answer 2

Yes, let the leaves on the shoots get bigger and the root buds grow, then cut them off and pot them. Before long you can open a strawberry plant shop. They breed like rabbits :o)

Answer 3

if you can put pots around your strawberry plants and guide the shoots to them .do not separate from main plant as they will do that their self's when properly rooted

Answer 4

These are the plant`s vegetative propagation method - they are known as "runners" and left alone will produce roots and provide you with a source of new plants for future years.

Look up www.rhs.org.uk [Royal Horticultural Society] follow the links to excellent advice.

Good Luck

Answer 5

These are the babies. They will try to find a place to root. Until they root you shouldn,t cut the runner. If you don't want then just prune them off and discard them.