STRAWBERRY SEEDLINGS HOW TO

You should see new leaves in a few months and flowers and fruit next year. Protect each crown with a 2-inch (5-centimeter) layer of loose mulch to protect it from fluctuations in temperature and humidity. You will need to keep your new strawberry plants well-watered during their first season as they are putting out new roots. Loosely cover the crown with soil, leaving stems and foliage exposed. Put the roots into the hole you dug and press soil around them. Make the hole just a little deeper than the root ball so the crown is at least one-quarter inch (a little less than a centimeter) to one-half inch (a little less than 1.5 centimeters) below the level of the soil. Don’t divide small crowns, because they may not survive long enough to put out their own roots.ĭig a hole from planting each part you divide from the original strawberry plant. Subdivide each half of the root ball into smaller plants, each with 6 to 12 healthy roots and its own crown of at least half an inch (a little over a centimeter) diameters. Gently brush enough soil off each half of the root ball to expose the roots. Cut down through the center of the root ball to create two strawberry plants of approximately equal size. Lift out the strawberry plant and fill in the hole left in your strawberry bed. Use the blade of the trowel to work underneath the root ball of the strawberry plant. You will use this as a guide for digging.ĭig down to a six-inch (15 cm) depth with a clean, sharp garden trowel. Scratch a circle in the soil around the plant 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) away from the crown. Tie the stems together with a piece of string to keep them out of the way when you cut the crown. The base of the plant should be clearly visible above the soil. You need to water the soil to a depth of about six inches (15 cm). Water the plant you intend to divide the night before to soften the soil and hydrate its roots. The only time of year to divide strawberry crowns is early spring, when the weather is cool and moist. Step-by-step procedure for dividing strawberry crowns However, for well-funded or commercial operations, this division can be used to propagate cloned plants quickly and extensively. Also, it tends to be more labor-intensive and technical as the division or cutting takes both precision and a bit of expertise. Thus, the net increase of strawberry plants is diminished. Often, the mother plant will be compromised (if not done correctly) and will die. There are, however, several drawbacks to this type of strawberry propagation. Additionally, the genetically generative rhizomes of strawberry plants can, under the right circumstances, be divided into multiple pieces with each piece being sufficient to grow a new plant. These lateral crowns can be divided and replanted to propagate strawberry plants. The crown of the strawberry plant is a short, thick stem that has a growing point slightly (maybe one-quarter of an inch, less than a centimeter) above the surface of the ground and a thick mass of roots growing down into the soil. Many types of strawberry plants will, either by nature or if encouraged by pruning runners, put out lateral crowns at the base of the strawberry plant. Strawberry Plant Propagation: Conclusion.

STRAWBERRY SEEDLINGS HOW TO

How to Transplant Rooted Runners for New Production.Strawberry Propagation by Planting Strawberry Seeds.Step-by-step procedure for dividing strawberry crowns.Strawberry Propagation by Plant Division.However, to offer the bottom line up front, most gardeners will find that the easiest way is to propagate strawberry plants by runner. There are positives and negatives about propagating strawberries with each method, all of which will be briefly discussed. The plants can be divided and transplanted once multiple crowns have been grown (or division of rhizomes), new plants can be grown from strawberry seeds, or the runners that strawberry plants put out can be controlled, guided, and caused to root where clone plants can be utilized most efficiently.

There are three main ways to propagate strawberry plants.

Strawberry seedlings