Strawberry plants multiply rapidly, making them one of the most prolific perennial fruits grown in gardens. A single parent plant can quickly establish a dense patch over a growing season. Understanding how they spread is helpful for managing the patch for optimal fruit production.
Asexual Reproduction Via Runners
The primary way strawberry plants multiply is through asexual reproduction involving specialized horizontal stems called stolons, or runners. These runners emerge from the mother plant’s crown and trail along the soil surface.
At various points along the runner, small nodes develop. When these nodes contact the soil, they form roots, establishing an independent “daughter plant” or plantlet that is genetically identical to the mother plant. Once established, the runner connecting the daughter plant to the parent often breaks away, creating a self-sufficient clone. A single plant can produce dozens of these runners, causing a small patch to become dense quickly.
Controlling the Spread for Healthier Plants
While multiplication is beneficial, unchecked spreading quickly harms fruit quality and overall plant health. An overly dense patch leads to overcrowding, restricting air circulation. Poor air flow increases humidity, making plants susceptible to fungal diseases like gray mold.
Overcrowding forces plants to compete for light, water, and nutrients, resulting in smaller fruit and lower yields. To maintain optimal production, gardeners must manage runner growth, especially in the first year. For June-bearing varieties, runners should be removed during the first season to direct energy into crown development for the following year’s harvest.
The easiest way to manage this growth is by snipping the runners close to the mother plant using shears. Alternatively, the matted-row system allows a limited number of runners to root in a controlled width, typically 12 to 18 inches wide. Since yield naturally declines after a few years, allowing select new runners to establish new rows every three to four years is a practical method of renewing the patch.
Propagation Through Seeds and Crown Division
Strawberry plants also multiply through sexual reproduction using seeds. Growing new plants from seeds is primarily employed by plant breeders seeking genetic variation or for propagating certain wild varieties. Seedlings from common hybrid cultivars often will not produce fruit with the same characteristics as the parent plant.
A secondary method of propagation involves crown division, often used for everbearing or day-neutral varieties that produce fewer runners. The crown is the short, thick stem from which the leaves, roots, and runners emerge. As the plant ages, the crown naturally splits into multiple sections. During early spring, a gardener can divide an older plant’s crown into smaller sections, ensuring each new section has a healthy cluster of roots. This technique rejuvenates a patch and generates new plants from varieties that do not rely on runner production.