Transplanting Strawberries

[bigredfeather]

I have my strawberries in raised beds. A few of the beds are overcrowded, and a few of them are really thin. I am wanting to remove some daughters from the overcrowded bed and transplant to the less populated ones. When is the best time of year to do this Spring or Fall? And second, can I transplant the daughters in a new bed by cutting the vine to the mother before the daughter has developed it's own root system?
Thanks.

 

[silkiechicken]

I move strawberries spring and fall... try to do it before they really start growing or flowering. But they are hardy in the PNW. If the duaghters don't have roots yet, I used to soak the stem/plant in a bucket of water till the roots form, but now I just burry the thing in the ground if it's spring or fall, because the ground is so wet and soggy that it's just about as good as a bucket of water.

As for mother plants. I save up runners and 1st year daughters, and compost the mothers every 3 years or so. Each mother makes like 4-6 runners, so the population really explodes fast. If I don't thin them out to 12 inches apart every other year or so, the strawberries tend to get pretty small.

 

[bigredfeather]

I move strawberries spring and fall... try to do it before they really start growing or flowering. But they are hardy in the PNW. If the duaghters don't have roots yet, I used to soak the stem/plant in a bucket of water till the roots form, but now I just burry the thing in the ground if it's spring or fall, because the ground is so wet and soggy that it's just about as good as a bucket of water.

As for mother plants. I save up runners and 1st year daughters, and compost the mothers every 3 years or so. Each mother makes like 4-6 runners, so the population really explodes fast. If I don't thin them out to 12 inches apart every other year or so, the strawberries tend to get pretty small.

So you can just snip the vine that connects mother to daughter when I go to move them? You're right about them exploding. I couldn't believe how many daughters they produced the first year. If I had known this before, I would have planted my intial planting much thinner.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I just snip them off, or just snap them. Thing is, I'm sure some don't make it... but I never notice because there are hundreds out there and I just till plants into the ground when they are more than I want. The safest bet if you want to save most of your daughters, would be to burry the daughter for a week or two while still attached to mom, and then snip. Roots tend to pop out quick.

 

[bigredfeather]

Thank you so much for the advise. It was very helpful.

 

[vfem]

Once the ground is workable... now would be good. I do it either season. Uncrowding them now, will give you a better harvest from the raining ones though.

 

[bigredfeather]

If I do it this Spring, I will want to pull all the blooms off the transplants when they appear, correct? They aren't the everbearing type.

 

[journey11]

Would these be everbearing strawberries? (Makes small crops throughout most of the season, except the hottest part of summer).

June bearers are handled differently and I wouldn't recommend putting them in a raised bed because they make zillions of runners and a big mess. I till my June bearers in garden rows, tilling under the old plants and starting a new row with the new runners.

You are close to my zone. I move my everbearer runners in the spring, early April. They'll have a good set of roots by then. You can move them in the fall, but it is more iffy, how long they've had to make good roots (if they will survive the winter).

Everbearers piddle out after 4 or 5 years, so be sure to put your new babies in a different row, so you can keep track of their age.

Also, don't keep runners from diseased mama plants. Better to replace them with entirely new stock into a different spot.

ETA: Looks like I was typing while you were.... Pinch new blooms off of everbearers in the spring...then let them bloom and produce for fall. You can let the blooms go on Junebearers that were established from last year (tilled row method). Since you are moving them, you will want to pinch these so they can get going strong.