It is good practice not to keep the old strawberry plants for many years as the yield goes down. The runners halp start new plants in the field. A good practice is to plant the strawberry plants in rows. Keep empty space between two adjoining rows for a new row to be started with the runners in line. These new rows from the runners become production plants and the old plants are dug out after their production goes down because older plants become less productive.

Rick: What is your strategy for dealing with weeds? I would give that some thought before expanding your patch to four 40' rows. Keeping the plants thinned to 8-10 inches apart is easy, but the weeds can be nearly impossible. I will try to respond to your specific questions, but keep in mind that all these issues are insignificant in a strawberry planting when compared with weeds. 1. Runners may be transplanted any time from late fall, right through winter and into spring. 2. The ground never really freezes in N. Virginia. That is why no insulating mulch is required in winter. If left around the plants in spring, mulch can harbor hatcheries for slugs, pillbugs, and the black strawberry-eating beetle. In most N. Virginia locations, strawberry plants remain green throughout the entire winter. Deer eat them, often pulling them out by the roots. You can reduce deer damage by covering the patch with the cheap, black plastic fencing material sold at bigbox stores, but it must be pinned down or the deer will simply move it out of the way. 3. You can place your runners wherever you like, maintaining a rough distance of 8-10 inches between the plants. Any closer than that and they will start to crowd, sunlight to the berries will be reduced, berry size will decrease, and fungal problems like gray mold will increase. If a runner has rooted in an acceptable location, leave it where it is. 4. If you planted bareroot, bundled plants only this past March, they are still young and should be good for another year. I am a little surprised that you harvested an acceptable crop from spring planted berries. That testifies to the vigor and productivity of the Jewel variety. When I renew a strawberry patch, I remove all plants two years or older in favor of vigorous new runners. Older plants will have longer crowns and are easy to identify. Berry size and productivity fall off rapidly with older plants. After years of fighting weeds in my strawberry plantings, both annual and perennial, deep-rooted types that are nearly impossible to remove, I planted my most recent patch on 10' wide, 6 mil. black plastic from Lowes. Sometimes they have 6 mil. plastic that is 20' wide. That would be even better for a wider patch. The plastic was one of the better ideas I have had. I just cut an "X" in the plastic for each plant; when runners formed I cut slits and made sure the new crown of leaves was in contact with the soil so it could root. Of course you can't root all the runners from a vigorous variety like Jewel; maybe only 20% or less. Toss out the rest. Worked great. There is some hand labor involved, but nothing like what you will soon face from weeds in a patch as large as you contemplate. A few weeds will still grow around the cuts in the plastic, but nothing like you will see if you leave the area open. If you feel like trying another variety, that's up to you. Delmarvel is good, from the same development program as Jewel. So is Honeoye. But you will find it hard to improve on the productivity and quality of Jewel, although like most of the berries grown around here it is a little tart and requires some sugar to bring out the strawberry taste. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Mine are running quite a bit too. I'm trying to figure if I can catch a few runners without having to find ground space for my hanging basket. I've been impressed with Tristan. It's pretty and the berries are good size.

Strawberry plants are very hardy and should survive your winter. I would go ahead and transplant now... as for mowing the leaves of your established plantings is up to you, mowing makes it look neater but if left as is it should be fine,you should however replace your plants every two to three years and the runners off the mature plants works great; this is done to keep the planting healthy and productive.