Effect of Removal of Runners from Strawberry Plants

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 2, 15 August 1950, Page 126

Effect of Removal of Runners from Strawberry Plants

THE benefits to be derived from the elimination of runners from a strawberry bed intended for fruit production have often been stressed. This article bv

A. H. Eddie,

11113 uy Orchard Instruc-

— 7 - - tor, Department of Agriculture, Motueka, and the accompanying illustrations offer a striking example which should emphasise to growers the value of this practice.

IF runner production is required from strawberries, fruiting should be suppressed so that the energies of the plants will not be divided. For the same reason if fruit is the objective, the elimination of runners is most important, especially in the first season, when maximum crown development of the plants is necessary to ensure the production of berries in quantity in the following season. - An example of this latter point occurred on the property of Mr. B. Mcßrydie, of Lower Moutere, where a trial plot of virus-free plants was established. The soil type is Moutere clay loam and the strawberry variety is Huxley, the plants having been

raised at the Department of Agriculture’s Horticultural Research Station, Levin. Two rows of 50 plants were set out in. July, which is rather late for best results in this district. Manurial treatment was similar for both rows, but one row was deblossomed and left to produce runners without restriction, while the other was allowed to flower and fruit, but runners were periodically eliminated as they appeared. Eight months after planting the accompanying photographs were taken. They illustrate clearly the considerable

difference between the two rows. The marked advantage in crown development and the consequent promise of fruiting capability for the next season gained by the de-runnered row over that allowed to produce runners are most significant. The photograph of a single plant typical of the de-runnered row further emphasises this.