Most of the commonly cultivated varieties of strawberry plants (Fragaria x ananassa) will produce “runners” as a means of propagating themselves. Anyone who grows strawberries is probably familiar with the term and, at some point, probably experienced at least a twinge of curiosity regarding them. You may have even asked yourself, “Exactly what are strawberry runners ?” Be curious no longer, for you are about to find out!
Background Information about Strawberry Runners
Strawberry runners are properly called “stolons.” The word “stolon” comes from the Latin word “stolō” meaning a shoot, branch, or twig springing from the root. Stolons are produced by virtually all June-bearing strawberry plants and most everbearing and day-neutral strawberry varieties. By definition, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms, and they can arise from the organism or its skeleton. Animal stolons are usually formed from exoskeletons, and are outside the scope of a post about strawberry plant runners.
Strawberry plants produce runners. These stolons are horizontal stems that run above the ground and produce new clone plants at nodes spaced at varying intervals. Since strawberry plants possess stolons, they are considered “stoloniferous.” The long, leafless stems between the mother plant, plant-growing nodes, and growing tip of the stolon are called “internodes.”
Adventitious Roots on a Strawberry Runner
Most plants have a root system that consists of a primary root or primary roots with root branches forming and growing from the primary root. Strawberry plants have this arrangement for the majority of their root system. However, they also have a special advantage: adventitious root formation at the nodes of their stolons.
Adventitious roots manifest away from the primary roots of a plant, originating instead from the stem, branches, leaves, or old and woody roots. As the name implies, this gives certain plants somewhat of an advantage over other plants. In the case of strawberry plants, they are able to propagate themselves laterally in different directions via runners to find more suitable growing locations for their clone offspring. This allows them to find better soil or areas of better sunlight.
As the strawberry plant runners are sent out, the nodes will develop the adventitious roots, sent them downward, and establish the new clone plant once contact with soil is made. Once established, the intermodal runners will dry, shrivel, turn brown, and eventually separate leaving two independent plants: the original and the clone. These special roots make it easy to start growing strawberry plants from a runner.
Benefits of Strawberry Runners
For the gardener or farmer, strawberry runners can offer significant benefits. For perennial strawberry beds, matted rows that will produce bumper crops of strawberries can be established (see the Growing Strawberries page for additional details) using only a few purchased or transplanted mother plants. This saves money as well as time (the farmer has to plant few plants!).
If planted in ideal conditions with regulated and appropriate amounts of water applied, most strawberry plants will produce abundant numbers of runner plants. Under ideal conditions it is not uncommon for a single plant to produce between 30 and 50 runners, depending on the vigor and qualities of the variety.
For nurseries or commercial operations, the constant production of new strawberry plants yields a return on the initial investment as the new clones are sold. A nursery or gardener can also make use of the adventitious roots. Since the strawberry plant runners are fairly flexible, the nodes can be positioned above pots, plug trays, or other growing medium. Once the root touches the soil, it will grow right where placed. Once established, the new clone plant can be separated from the mother plant and carried off in its new container, pot, or plug tray. This makes them easy to transport, sell, or re-plant elsewhere to establish a new strawberry patch.
Drawbacks of Strawberry Runners
All is not rosy in strawberry runner world, however. There are a few drawbacks to the production of strawberry plant stolons. The strawberry plants don’t understand the desires of a gardener. They only want to eat, grow, and reproduce. As such, they don’t stop sending out runners when you would like them to do so. Because of this, strawberry beds have to be thinned and renovated in order to maintain maximal production and vigor.
The prolific runner production of many of the different Strawberry Varieties also makes them somewhat invasive. Without having a dedicated area for growing strawberry plants, many cultivars will take over a garden and can choke out other plants. Runners facilitate this lateral, invasive spread.
Additionally, it takes productive energy for a strawberry plant to send out runners. The propagating energy used up in stolon production does not go into production of strawberries. Since most people grow strawberry plants for the strawberries and not the runners, it may be necessary to prune the runners so that more productive capacity is manifested in more and bigger fruits.
Strawberry Plant Runners: Conclusion
As with most things, there are positives and negatives when it comes to the runners on a strawberry plant. Should they stay and grow, or should you prune them? There is no answer that is correct for every situation. But, hopefully, you understand strawberry plant runners well enough now to make an informed decision that will be best for your specific cultivar and your garden!
(If all you are getting from your strawberry plants is runners and no strawberries, see this post to understand the top 10 reasons why that may be happening: Strawberry Plants Producing Runners but no Strawberries?)
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In all of your excellent information on strawberries, you failed to mention or I somehow overlooked as to the best time to take the runners (stolons) and transplant them elsewhere. I also want to move the bed somewhere else and need to know the best time to transplant the rest of them.
Bud,
Hopefully, you will find the information you need in this post: Transplanting Strawberries
Thanks for visiting
I have a few strawberry plants that have sent out some runners but the new plants don’t look much like the mothers? is this normal? should I remove the new plants? will they look more “normal” later?
j fox,
Thanks for stopping by Strawberry Plants .org! It is fairly common for young runner plants to look different from the mother plants at any given age. Often, the leaves will be a lighter green and will look more “jagged” than the older, more mature leaves on the mother plant. However, the runner plants are exactly the same as the mother plants genetically. Because of this, if you let them grow, they will carry the same genetic material and manifest all the same traits as the mother plants (and will eventually look almost identical). Remember, the mother plants usually have a good bit of growing done ahead of the clone plants. Because of this, the clone plants will look like the mother plants used to look when they were that age, and the mother plants will look like the clone plants are going to look when they get to be that age. So, to be more direct: Yes, slight appearance variation is normal, and they will look more “normal” later on. As to whether or not you should transplant them, that depends. You can read the page on Transplanting Strawberries for help there!
thank you, just wanted to make sure I didn’t have some kind of hybrid plant that was going to revert back to something from it’s past.
if a person grows strawberries in a container, will they grow back the next year or do you have to replant them every year. will you get many berries if using a container? thinking about next year
thanks
Marilyn
Marilyn,
As long as you take proper care of them, they will come back. You should not have to replant them. The number of berries you get depends on the amount of nutrients the strawberry plants get. If they are tightly packed in a container, they won’t do well. If they are in good soil with appropriate water, they will produce just as well as any other planting modality.
Could you please tell me, if I plant a runner in the fall, will it produce berries the following spring?
Rena,
Yes, most runner plants that are planted in the fall (if overwintered properly), will produce a healthy harvest of strawberries the following spring. Planting your strawberry plants in the fall is generally the best approach for a first-time planting as well. If you already have established strawberry plants and just want to move the daughter plants, see the Transplanting Strawberries page for some tips. If you are planning a first-time fall planting, you can order plants from these suppliers of Fall Strawberry Plants. Hope that helps!
The deer have just eaten all the tops on my everbearing strawberries. Is this going to be a problem and will this hurt the runners.
Tom,
Forgive me for chuckling when I read that. But, to answer your question, it should not hurt your strawberry plants for the deer to eat the leaves. Unless you just bought and planted strawberry plugs or strawberry plants, the roots should be well-established on the mother plants and sufficiently established on the runner plants. So, see the information on the Growing Strawberries page about overwintering the plants, and you should have healthy plants again next spring when the warmer temperatures call them forth from dormancy.
I recently started growing strawberries (Sri Lanka), I have approx 1000 plants, I would like to know how many runners should I leave per plant so as not to affect the harvest? Also should I prune the plants if so is there a number of leaves that I should leave? or should I just remove the older leaves. I would appreciate you assistance.
SARA,
It depends on which method you used when planting. See the Growing Strawberries page for some graphical layouts for the various growing systems. Don’t worry about pruning the leaves. Just remove any dead, diseased, or dying leaves. If the leaves are healthy, let them be.
I am starting to plant Strawberries for the first time. I understand that i need to Plant them in “runners”. Should I plant more than 4 plants? How many strawberries grow on one plant? I am going to create a garden just for them. Also, do you have any tips about growing strawberries in NC red Clay?
Kristy,
See the Growing Strawberries reference page for help on how to plant or grow your strawberries. A good strawberry plant for poor soils is Surecrop. In general, you can expect most varieties of strawberry plants to produce about one quart of strawberries per plant (see here for more). The care given to the plants in both August and September (when the perennating buds are developing that will turn into the following spring’s strawberries) and during the strawberry growing season (late winter through spring) also has a big impact on the quantity of strawberries produced. Generally speaking, for fresh consumption only, 30 to 35 well-cared-for strawberry plants should feed a family of five. If you plan on freezing strawberries, 50 to 60 strawberry plants would be more advisable.
I have just one strawberry plant which looks like it will produce a good yield of strawberries. When should I expect runners so I can prepare pots for them, and how does one over winter them?
It is a Fragaria x ananassa or Florence variety.
Jason,
Runners will usually be sent forth throughout the season, but begin forming in earnest toward the end of the strawberry production of your plants. For overwintering, see this reference page: Growing Strawberries
after the stolon has taken root can i cut it from the mother plant and transfer it somewhere else so as to spread around to where i need them to grow
nick,
Yes, you can transplant them once they have taken root. See the post on transplanting strawberries for more information.
I planted June-bearing and everbearing strawberries this spring. I have notes from a Master Gardener class that says to cut off the granddaughters and leave the daughters, but other sources say to cut all runners the first year. I was thinking the mother plant might be stronger and produce better fruit if she doesn’t have to send nutrition to the off-spring. I’m not sure what to do this year. I really liked your method of transplanting from bed to bed in the fall, but should I plan to do that the first year of the mother plants?
Thanks for a great site.
We have mulched with grass clippings between our new plants. Will the runners be able to “put down and root” through the clippings?
Stephanie,
If you plant in the spring, it is generally best to remove the blossoms for the entire growing season. Also removing the runners will help the plant devote its full energy to becoming a strong, well-established plant. However, if you want to see the number of actual strawberry plants grow, you can allow some of the runners to root and transplant them to increase the number of plants you have that will produce the following year. The initial plants begin losing their vitality after a few years, so allowing a moderate number of runners to be established each year keeps your beds fresh for the long term. Also, I wouldn’t transplant the mother plants. Each year, the plants that should be moved to a new bed are the runners. The runners then become the established “mother” plants for the new bed, and the process can be repeated indefinitely (at least in theory!).
Alice,
Some likely will if the mulch is thin enough. It will be better, however, to clear a hole in the mulch so that the root of the runner plant will contact the dirt. That will greatly increase the probability that the new plant will be established. You can use rocks to hold the runner plant in place, if need be.
hi – I think I planted too many plants in a single bed (i.e only 4-5 inches apart). I now have a think mat of plants and runners. I read your info about transplanting runners. Can I also tranplant the mother plants so as to thin out the existing beds or just concentrate on the runners?
Dean,
You can transplant both the runners and the mother plants. Just be careful, and remember that the mother plants will likely lose their vigor a bit earlier than the daughter plants. But, if you read the transplanting info, you are already aware of all that. Good luck!
QUESTION. I have rooted a lot [about 100] runners in cups of water and they have developed
very nice root systems in the cups. If I take and bundle them up in groups of 20 – 25 plants
and wrap the roots in paper towels and keep them wet / damp and overwinter them in the crisper
drawer of my refrigerator will they last through the winter and grow when planted in the spring?
I did this to some about a month ago, keeping them wet / damp and so far they seem to be doing great, leaves still green and the roots look excellent.. [Whopper variety]
John Long Island,
If your refrigerator doesn’t get below freezing, your plants likely won’t move into their dormant phase if they are kept there. This will shorten their life span and reduce the benefit of their perennial nature. However, if the roots/soil are kept slightly moist, they just might survive in there. It is much more likely, however, that the cool and damp environment inside your refrigerator will facilitate the plants succumbing to fungal infection/mold at some point. If you go through with it, let me know how it worked out and if they survived. If it works, I’ll add it as a potential (albeit less-than-ideal) alternative the the more normal and natural ways of overwintering strawberries.