I have daughters!

On my strawberry plants that is..so now what do I do with them? Leave em or pinch or clip them off and??? The base plants are 2 years old (or that's what the fella said) and so far we have 1 strawberry, it better taste pretty darn good for as long as I'm having to wait *wink* So what do I do with the little runners I have now?

Saint

You didn't say if you are growing June bearers or day neutral berries. There are different ideas about this but here is how I have done it with June bearing plants. Its easier for me to paint the picture by going through the entire setup. I should preface this by saying that I live in zone 6a. I am not sure if this would work in your zone 9a garden.

Year 1, purchased plants go in the ground about 18" apart in rows about 3' apart. The bed, (rows and aisles) are mulched with straw. All blossoms are pinched off that year and all runners are directed fill out the rows to about an 18" width. This will end up with a wide 18" row of plants followed by an 18" aisle another 18" row of plants etc.
Year 2, After the harvest the plants are cut with the mower on the highest setting to remove all the leaves which are raked off. The entire bed is fertilized with well rotted manure or 10-10-10 and mulched with straw in the aisles. The runners are directed to the aisles.
Year 3, After harves the plants are once again mowed but this time the original rows are tilled under leaving 18" rows that were aisles last year. The new aisles that were just tilled are manured and mulched with straw. Runners are directed to the aisles.
Year 4+, repeat year 3. This system ensures plants are in the garden no more than two years which is about the point their production starts to decline.

To answer your question... Following the method above if your plants went in the ground this year I would remove blossoms this year and allow the runners to fill in making the wide rows. Removing the blossoms sends more energy to runner production and gives a much larger yield next year as you are getting berries not only from the mother plants but from the daughters that will be produced later this summer.

*G* Ok but I have em in pots...

lol. ok never mind.

I suppose you could start more pots?

yep I have a few extra and a little potting soil so I'll do that, I really don't think I'll try strawberries again next year as for us to have enough to feed the DH and I (piglets that we are with berries) I'd have to rip up the entire back yard and build a raised bed *G* I took a few pictures so maybe someone can tell me what type of berries these are. Or maybe not...*G*

A close up on the leaf