Hi, I read all about planting new strawberry plants. What about my existing ones. Should I lift them, dig in my strawberry mix, sheep pellets etc then replant along with my runners I will use, or do I side dress existing plants.

Hi Wendal, clean up your existing plants, remove all browned off and dead foliage, remove any fruit that has set as it is likely to be deformed due to incomplete pollination, the fruit is unlikely to come to anything at this time of year. You don’t need to lift and replant the established plants, side dress the plants with sheep pellets now, you can put strawberry mix around the plants as a mulch as well. Side dress with Strawberry Food closer to spring when plants start flowering. Your runners can be removed and planted now using strawberry mix and sheep pellets. 

Strawberry plants are usually good for 2-3 seasons and then should be replaced as each season they fruit less and the fruit size gets smaller, there are exceptions, just see how the established plants perform each season. By planting runners you are replenishing your plants to keep a continuous supply of berries each season.