How to Make Strawberries Produce Runners

Plant strawberry plants in well-drained soil amended with nutrient rich humus. Runners will naturally set onto a healthy plant within four to five weeks. Allow the strawberry plant to blossom and produce fruit. Strawberry plants bear fruit from early June to July. Everbearers will produce a second crop in late summer.

Look for the green runners or vines that are shooting out from the sides of the plant. The runners may extend out into the pathway between the rows of plants. Move the end of a runner to keep it out of the area where berry pickers will walk.

Trim away any strawberry runner that is broken or has become mildewed during a rainy season with a knife. Cut the vine near the center of the plant with a sharp knife.

Trim away all but the five healthiest runners from one strawberry plant. This will allow the plant to support the crop and newly developing growth of the daughter plants.

Cut the runners away from the mother plant in late summer when the root system of the daughter plant has become well established in the soil of the strawberry bed.