How to grow strawberry plants from runners

If you’ve ever grown strawberries, you probably know that they can spread really quickly. They accomplish this feat by sending out above-ground “runners” throughout the summer growing season.

Runners basically look like a strawberry tentacle. As the runners grow, a cluster of small leaves form on their tips, and new roots start growing from the base. Once those roots set and the leaves mature, voila!

A new strawberry plant is born. The following year, the plant will produce fruit. 

A strawberry runner looking for a place to call home in a rock wall at Tyrant Farms.

Strawberry runners take a lot of energy out of the “mother plant.” If your strawberries are in a confined bed or planter where there isn’t enough room for new strawberry plants, you don’t want these runners taking energy away from the mother plant thereby making the mother’s fruit smaller.

Nor do you want a bunch of new strawberry plants in a tight space (like a pot) because you can cause them all to become root-bound. For that reason, it’s common for gardeners to trim off and discard their strawberry runners.

Not so fast if you want or need more strawberry plants and you have the space!

A homegrown Tyrant Farms strawberry full of flavor and warm afternoon sun. Who does’t want more strawberries in their life? 

How to grow new strawberry plants for FREE from runners

If you have other garden beds where you’d like to add strawberry plants, you can easily grow all the strawberries you’ll ever want for FREE starting from a single plant. Here’s how:

Step 1: Identify the strawberry runners. 

Look for strawberry runners that are growing in places where you don’t want new strawberry plants to take root.

A strawberry runner growing out into a stone walking path at Tyrant Farms. These are ideal for turning into new strawberry plants!

Step 2: Pot & pin your strawberry runners. 

When you find a runner with a small, leafy growth tip and starter roots, put a small seedling pot underneath the growth tip and firmly set the roots into the soil. Do NOT cut the runner leading back to the mother plant… yet.

To keep the new pinned runner plant from popping out of the soil before it sets roots, use a u-shaped pin or a thin flexible stick to hold the roots down in the pot.

Potting and pinning a strawberry runner using a twig to hold it in place so it can set roots.  

Step 3: Cut the cord.

Once the new roots are well established in the pot (meaning a light pull on the tip doesn’t pull up the new plant) you can “cut the cord.”

Simply take a pair of clippers and cut the runner connecting the growth tip to the mother plant. If you’re nervous about doing this step too early, you can just wait to cut the cord until the connecting runner has turned brown, which indicates that the new plant is getting all the nutrition it needs from its own roots, not the mother plant.

Step 4: Plant & share. 

Plant your new strawberry plants in new locations throughout your yard, garden, or farm. These little potted strawberry plants also make great gifts. 

A strawberry runner taking off through some low growing dianthus.

We hope this tip helps you fill your world with new strawberry plants and feed your strawberry addiction!