Growth And Runner Production Of Everbearing Strawberries In Kenya

Abstract

Strawberry production in the tropics is hampered by lack of enough propagative material. Propagation in Kenya is mainly by crown division because the continuous short day condition in the tropics does not favour enough runner production. Physical manipulation of the parent plants proved a little beneficial in runner production in two everbearing cultivars. Defoliation of the older leaves promoted runner production in Turft and Tioga. This resulted in an increase of daughter plants for propagation. Defoliation had no influence in all cultivars used in the study. Deblossoming promoted runner production in Turft, but failed in Tioga and Aiko. Defoliation and deblossoming or a combination of the two treatments failed to promote runner production in Aiko.