Homegrown organic strawberries from your garden can be just as big and delicious as commercially grown ones, and sometimes even better. While strawberry plants benefit from being fertilised, gardeners shouldn’t just focus on that. One thing that experts at Epic Gardening say to focus on is pruning off runner plants if you’re after better quality of fruit. 

Pruning off runners is not crucial for every strawberry patch, but it makes a “huge difference for gardeners who dream of giant berries”, according to the experts. These vigorous plants will grow and fruit regardless of pruning. However, regular pruning is a “key secret used by commercial growers” to maintain consistently “huge, juicy strawberries”.

Runners are also called stolons or suckers. These long stems come from the centre of a mother plant and ramble out in every direction to try to produce new baby plants. 

Runners are evolutionarily advantageous for plants trying to spread over the ground in the wild. But in our gardens, they suck away energy from fruit production. 

Removing them is like a signal to the plant saying you want it to focus its attention on growing berries instead of foliage.

So, how do you prune these sweet plants? Pruning runners is as simple as snapping off the excess stems once every few days. 

The pros explained: “It takes just five minutes or less and dramatically improves fruit production.”

Some varieties, particularly day-neutrals, produce more runners than others. Cutting them off will funnel energy toward flowers and fruits. 

At the same time, it keeps your garden properly spaced to prevent overcrowding and disease. 

If every runner is left to grow into a new plant, the patch quickly becomes a tangled mess.

Use pruners to cut runners off of younger plants. This will prevent them from yanking out of the ground.

Once plants are firmly rooted, you can snap the suckers off from the base. During harvest season, it is good to snap runners off every time you pick berries. The result is “big, bushy individual strawberry plants that are loaded with giant juicy berries”.