How to keep a detached strawberry runner alive

Question

I acquired a strawberry runner seperated from the main plant.

By the time I got home it looked quite withered and dying. Since I couldn't plant it right away, I put it in a glass of water overnight. By morning it looked a lot better. Later that day I planted the runner in a pot of dirt and watered it every day.

But it seems to be getting worse everyday, it's a few days later now and it's looking withered and dying again.

What can I do to save it? Would it be better to put it back into a glass of water as that seemed to help?

The runner did have some very short roots, perhaps 1cm long, when I planted it.

Answer 1

Probably too much water, combined with planting at the wrong depth. Strawberries are sensitive to being planted too deeply or too shallowly. Get a fresh pot of soil, moist but not wet. Remove the runner from its pot, and pass the runner under a running tap or in a glass of water so that you can see exactly where the crown is. Replant the runner in the fresh pot, making sure that the crown is at soil level with its head in fresh air. Gently firm soil around the crown. Then restrict watering to just keep the soil moist, not wet. Return previous pot of soil to the compost heap.