Strawberry Runner

 

 

 

2015 October 22

Our first experience with runners occurred after our plants began their fruiting journey.

We had fruits on many flowering stems but also noticed odd little joints on some other stems.

Members of our gardening groups who lived abroad and had strawberries in their gardens told us these were runners and also how to root them.

 

 

 

 

Runners, when pinned on soil, will grow new roots.

They become new plantlets and can be separated from the parent.

 

 

We decided to try rooting some runners and see what happened next.

A strawberry vertical “tower” was brought down to allow runners to be pinned for rooting.

 

 

 

As the weeks passed, it slowly gained strength to stand upright.

 

 

After the strawberry runner developed more established roots, we can separate it from the parent plant by cutting the attached stem.

 

 

 

 

The above plant died soon after separation.

In hindsight, it might have been better to root this runner without the extra burden of carrying fruits as well.

Most of these developing fruits dried up and did not grow more.

 

2016 – 2017 Observations

Rooting runner’s experiments continued after 2015 in spite of countless failures.

 

 

 

Rooted runners were donated to other gardeners to explore. Seedlings did not survive as well.

A chance discovery – Stressed Alpine plants trigger runners

This runner was caused by a near break in a stem.

The more pronounced the stress, the bigger (more aggressive) the runner.

 

 

Experiment 2 – What happened if we do not root or remove runners?

 

 

 

 

After a while, the red stems became browner and all the runners died.

The parent plant also lost energy.

To save the parent plant, these runners were cut.

Flowers did not show for another 5 months and most did not turn into fruits.

 

 

2017 October 08

The tale of two plants, grown from the same pack of seeds.

No runner plants grew fruits faster.

The other plant (with runners)  had no fruits but nonetheless, remained healthy.

After the runners were cut, it still survived in 2018, in my outdoor pot.

 

 

 

 

2018 Update 

In the pot, this plant with runner was on the lower right corner.

It was observed to be a slightly larger plant compared with the rest of the plants which remained true to their heirloom characteristics.

Its leaves were also darker green and thicker.

 

 

 

In September 2018, this plant showed flowering buds and runners (not rooted) at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Runner Plant Characteristics

Thinner Lighter Green Leaves

Very red stems during the flowering stage

More fruits but smaller in size

 

Plants with runners

We explored how did these plants from the same pack of seeds displayed hybrid and heirloom characteristics.

Hybrid plants showed runners and regressed flowers while most others remained true to their heirloom properties.

Looking back, the reason was likely how they began their journey.

Hybrid seedlings with runners started their journey outdoor in our compost pots by accident.

They germinated when we recycled the seeds soil.

From the start of life, these seedlings suffered stress.

There were 3 days of torrential storms in the week of  May 21 2017.

 

 

From a very young stage, outdoor seedlings were different from those that were germinated indoor with no stress.

 

 

Comparison of indoor (red stems) and outdoor stressed seedlings.

 

 

As they grew, the red stems returned to our hybrid plants.

However, there were differences, such as thicker stems and larger leaves.

 

 

 

The above seedling matured into the runner plant illustrated in this post.

 

 

Runner Plants Characteristics

Bigger Plant

Thick stems and leaves

Regressed flowers, 2 years to reach this stage

Bigger but few fruits (once runners are removed)

Red stems do not show until the third month

 

Observations on our runner’s plants, seeds grew parents – 

 

They don’t last even with established roots mass once cut from the parent plants

When they survived, fruiting was delayed

In colder countries, when strawberry parent plants returned in the Spring, their energy is renewed and they fruit better every season.

Their plants are able to propagate from runners.

In contrast, in the tropics, runners seem to deplete energy from parent plants even more.

Rooting Runners = Delayed fruiting or worst case, keep sending out runners

DISCLAIMER – These observations are based on my own plants (from seeds) and may not apply to every strawberry plant (types, varieties)

 

 

2018 HYDRO Plants

We learned from experience not to keep runners on plants or root them since 2016.

On our hydro plants, flowers showed within 10 days once runners were removed.

 

 

 

On our plants, we discouraged runners.

Flowers showed after runners were cut on June 11, 2018.

 

 

We rather have flowers and fruit.