Kitchen Garden Forum

Too much breeze down here this year and I find myself with not 1 plum left on my trees! My established tree is usually overcrowded - and I have spoken about my Plum Beauty previously. My red apple has some fruitlets left on it but my green apple looks berefit of any - and no pears or cherries! (The cherries got frosted).

I have a couple of unknown apple trees given to me which were supposed to be single stem (Hmmm) which have some fruit on them which are close to the shed but one of them was down when I went up today so I expect the shock of that will mean it drops it's fruit as well.

Fingers crossed for a good soft fruit set then!

Westi

Dear Westi, i can match all your hardships, plus very few gooseberries here either....

Not that i'm going to let that get me down..

Not exactly a "fruit" problem, but I find the tomatoes in the cold greenhouse are reluctant to set in spite of my misting and shaking. Presumably it's the lack of warmth and sun.

I had been wondering whether others were experiencing problems. We have no plums or cherries, the pears set well then went brown and fell off (second flush of blossom now) and not many apples. Strawberries prolific, but they're in the polytunnel.

We are also having a fruit problem - no plums or gages although they were loaded last year and do tend to be biennial. Only the odd cherry in spite of being loaded with blossom. Pears set and the fruitlets dropped. No ripe blackcurrants yet, less redcurrants and smaller fruits - the same with gooseberries and jostaberries. Strawberries are fruiting later than they should - we've just started to pick fruit from the early variety as the flowers kept being frosted. The apples have set fruit but maybe not as much and the quince has set fruit too. The plants are loaded with fruit though. The tayberry, blackberries and raspberries appear to be doing well and could maybe save the day.

We also have fruit on our peacj growing outosde on the greenhouse in a large pot. Just hope the fruits stay on and grow.

Hi Westi, my top fruit is similar. No pears, very few apples - three sweet cherries, and the morello cherry crop half what it usually is - oh and three peaches on a new dwarf peach tree.
Cane fruit are doing better, loganberries and blackberies are fruiting well, and the grapevine in the cold lean to greenhouse is absolutely laden with fruit despite me neglecting to prune it last winter, and two outdoor vines coming along a little behind the greenhouse ones. Interestingly the kiwi Jenny which flowered too early in the previous two years is only just in full flower now - quite late, hopefully it will produce more fruit later this year. The larger male and female kiwi are growing away strongly but no sign of flowers yet I love the kiwis large heart shaped leaves which give welcome shade on sunny days. Blackcurrants are beginning to change colour - all we need now is some sunshine to sweeten the fruit, if not perhaps we can make some preserves to sweeten them! In the pipeline for next year two honeysuckle with edible blueberry-like fruits, a wineberry, and a different cultivated blackberry.

I have similar problems. Soft fruit in abundance but all the stone fruit is very sparse except for one cherry. Loads of blossom but it just didn't set. Apples anmd pears are Okay though. Plum Beauty Westi, like you maybe one or two that's all.

Beryl.

I have no pears this year, plenty of apples on both trees, both plum trees not much fruit. My sweet cherry has fruit on, so covered with net yesterday. I have 2 crimean cherryplum trees, one is laden but the other got a bad case of aphids, so I have lost most of the fruit and leaves and it is looking very sorry . Josterberry has a fair amount of fruit on, and strawberrys have been slow to get going so not much fruit yet.
Jane

Apols to all - I found 2 plums today - one on each tree! Will be a short, sharp taste test but I was well cheered to find them.

Westi

They mentioned on TV today that fsarmers had similar problems crops down as much as 90% - they put it down to not enough bees about to pollinate due to rain and low temperatures. If next year proves the same, it might pay to hand pollinate with a small soft artists brush - lets remind one another next year, perhaps between us someone will remember ! Poor bees, I have seen them but less than last year, they must be having a very lean year too.

Nature's Babe wrote: - they put it down to not enough bees about to pollinate due to rain and low temperatures.

Our pears set fruit but it all fell off so it must have been pollinated and then just given up!

Other fruiy such as redcurrants have set but not made as large berries.

We've got lots of plums and damsons, very few cherries, hardly any apples or pears, but lots of soft fruit, including currants ad gooseberries. a very peculiar year.

Picking my redcurrants blackccurrants, loganberries and allgold raspberries now, yes the currants are wonderful this year tigger.

Our currants aren't! Isn't it early for the Allgold rasps?

Yes gallotments it is early, they are fruiting at the tips, if I trim the fruited tip off I'm hoping we will get a second crop later in the year, lovely big fruits. The schizophrenic weather has altered a lot of things, usually they fruit on the tops in autumn and if you cut the fruited top off they fruit again on the lower part the following year plus new canes grow. I think that warm very early spring fooled them!