Question about strawberries

[verde]

I'm thrilled to be getting a second batch of strawberries now from our everbearing strawb plants. They keep putting out babies and I'm pulling them out. But should I be? How many years does a strawberry plant last? Do they have one season and then that's it or are they a type of perennial? Are the babies the next generation and I should keep them? TIA.

[Buzzer Beater]

We're in our third full summer of strawberries- they're producing like crazy. Most of the plants are still the mother plants, and they have filled in quite a bit with babies. Just this last few days tho they look a little peaked, and our neighbors said strwbs usually only last a few years. Commercial growers only do one year from a crown in order to avoid disease. We're taking ours into the ag extension to see what they say.

[verde]

Thanks for the reply! Well, I guess I'll try and see if the strawbs do well for at least another year.

[cristeen]

Most hybrid strawberry breeds have an effective (producing) life span of 2-3 years, IIRC. Those little babies are how they reproduce. Definitely do not pull them. In the spring, before they start growing again, dig them up and divide them and you'll more than double your plants. I went from 2 strawberry plants to over 6 dozen (surviving) in a matter of 5 years or so. I thought I had lost all of them last year, but I actually have about a dozen of them re-volunteering that will need transplanting.

[verde]

Thanks Cristeen!