Hi Dennis,
You are right that all of the second year berries came from the mother
plants. I can't remember for sure, but I believe that I started with either 100 or 120
plants.
I let all the runners develop the second year and tried to keep them "on the row" before they had a chance to take root. After they took root, I clipped them from the mother
plant so that neither one would be a strain on the other. That fall, and well before the first heavy frost, I transplanted the "new"
plants where I wanted them in the spaces between the mother
plants. I even used several to give to my father, brothers, and friends. When I dug them, I made sure to get enough soil as to not disturb the roots. Strawberry
plants don't have deep roots, so it was easy to do. But the roots are somewhat wide, so be careful. I figured that the less that I disturbed the roots, the quicker they would become established in their new home.
The following year I let the new
plants develop berries and runners, and boy did I ever have strawberries!!!!! We put up gallons of them, I sold them, I gave them away, birds and squirrels got lots, and there were still some that went to waste in the garden!
Knowing that younger
plants do better than old
plants (info from my agricultural extention agent), I decided to start a new patch in the garden. That fall, I took about 100 babies from the mother
plants, and started them in another spot in the garden. The following year, I pinched the blooms and runners from the "new"
plants, but had scads and scads of berries from the old patch. That year, I also took new
plants from the old patch to fill in the gaps in the new patch.
Late that fall, I tilled all of the old patch under. The following year, my new patch already had 100 two year old
plants plus all of the babies that I had transplanted the previous fall. Again, I had more berries than you could shake a stick at!!
This was not a plan that I developed on my own. My agricultural extention agent suggested it. If we had continued living there, the next year I would have started a new patch where the original patch was and the process would have started all over again.
I know that the way I did it seems like a lot of trouble, but the quality and quantity of berries made it worth it. If you don't have enough space to rotate them, you might try something different. Each year, you could cull all of the 4 year old or older
plants. By that age, their production has usually dropped off quite a bit. But, also remember that the strawberry
plants put a strain on the soil when they are left in the same place year after year after year. Or, at least that's what my ag. ext. agent says. He says that is the reason why the local berry farms are constantly rotating their berry patches from one place to the other.
Again, good luck with your berries. And if you have plenty of berries, don't forget to make some strawberry freezer jam.... extrememly easy to make, delicious, and it's not just good on toast or biscuits.... it's about the best topping for vanilla ice cream that I've ever found!!!
Robert