And another black currant problem...

[ken]

We have a couple of mature black currant bushes. On one of them (Ben Sarak, I think), a low-down branch appers to be dying/have died. All the leaves have withered, and the fruiton it look a bit withered, too. The rest of the bush is fine. Two theories - it may have got soaked with the hose, and then scorched in the strong sun, or a root may have got damaged. I'm assuming the correst thing to do is to prune the branch off.

[Elaine]

Hi Ken. Is the branch heavily laden with fruit? Sometimes the sheer weight of the fruit can cause the branch to separate from the main stem, as happened in my case. The bush is also Ben Sarek and I couldn't work out what had happened until I closely inspected the main stem. I pruned the withered branch off and checked the other branches. They are absolutely full of fruit this year and I have now resorted to supporting the heaviest ones by twine strung from the roof of the fruit cage to prevent further mishaps. Cheers.

[Primrose]

This has happened to me too. One branch laden with rather unripe fruit completely snapped off so I pruned the end and stuck it in water, which at least meant the fruit were able to ripen without withering. My single bush is heavily laden and it does seem to be the weight of the fruit which is causing the stems to snap. My redcurrants, strangely are all equally heavily laden but somehow seem to be bearing up so far under the weight.

[ken]

Thanks, Elaine & Primrose. I think you could be right. In this case, the branch was already tied in from last year, but it was very heavy with fruit and I think as it bent over the tie may have restricted the sap flow. This bush always crops well, but it looks like a bumper harvest this year. We'll beout picking this evening!

[Elaine]

Hi Primrose. My redcurrants are the same. The branches seem far more flexible than the rather brittle blackcurrants. As Ken says, it looks like a bumper year for soft fruit. The gooseberries are also groaning under the weight of fruit and I have picked some under ripe already to relieve the burden. I have had to support some of them too. Cheers.