Strawberry plant stem thingy

[Caitmous]

My strawberry plant has grown a long stem type thing hanging over the pot. I'm sure the woman at the garden centre said something about it - to chop it off?! At root?

It's a runner - it's the plant trying to expand. If you look closely, there'll be a teeny root on the bottom of the end, underneath the leafy bit.
If you want more plants, then you can stick the end in a pot, but fi you don't, you should pinch the runner out and allow the plant to focus on fruiting.

NB my dad said that one should pinch out runners early in the season, as a) one wants more fruit, and b) there will always be 2 lots of runnersz sent out - early and later. But I have no idea whether this '2 runners' thing is actually true.

its a runner. you can peg this into a spare pot with soil in and you will get a new plant. if you don't want extra plants chop it off as it takes a bit of the goodness from the main plant

Thank you both so much!

But forgive me being a total thicko - if I pinch off and re-plant, what end of the runner do I plant?

no you don't pinch off till its established - maybe a month later. you plant the end bit, which has some leaves on it. peg it down with some stones or something