Current Projects is the theme of Day 6 of the #homesteadersofigchallenge Farmer John and I are still enjoying our much needed time out on the coast but the work at the farm never really ends.
.
.
Early this Spring we planted over 2,500 strawberry plants! We are letting a portion of them grow runners so we can complete the last 100 foot row in the field. We had run out of plants but an established mother plant can produce up to 120 daughter plants a year. 
.
.
Most varieties of strawberries produce runners, also known as stolons. They will eventually develop their own roots, resulting in a clone plant. They have to be potted up or root in the ground while attached to the mother plant. Once these adventitious roots establish in the soil, the runners begin to dry up and shrivel away. Then they can be cut from the mother plant and they will survive on their own. We use 4” pots and landscape staples to pot them up by stapling the plants into pots along side the mother plant in the field. I love propagating new plants but strawberries sure make it extra easy 