Hi Tui, se planted our strawberries directly into the strawberry mix bag. We have been watering it and had strawberry's growing well. Now it is full of big leaves and the runners are running right down the big table it sits on and with hardly any berries growing. Do we cut the runners off to help berries grow? Thanks.

Hi Sharron, the runners are your plants for next season and so the plants energies are going into producing new plants. Remove the runners and you should still get another berry crop from your plants. Because strawberries grow rapidly over a short period of time you can feed them regularly, every 4-6 weeks using a fertiliser rich in potassium to encourage flowering and fruiting. Use Tui Novatec Premium or Tui Enrich Fruit, Citrus, Tree & Shrub, both are rich in potassium or use Tui Performance Naturals Citrus and Fruit liquid fertiliser that is a concentrate that is mixed with water and can be applied every 2-4 weeks. To remove the runners, cut them leaving part of the stem as this helps to anchor them into the soil when you replant them. The Tui Team.