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Gooseberry & blackcurrant berries dropped off
ramsons
Posts: 5
in Fruit & veg
Has anyone got any idea why a whole bush load of unripe small gooseberries, and the green unripe berries from a blackcurrant bush, would all just drop off? The fruit bushes are netted against pigeons, the bushes all look healthy, no mildew, no visible pests. Just berries all dropped suddenly. I cannot find anything about such a problem on the internet. Suggestions?
0
Posts
Are they dry? I note that you garden on clay - sometimes although there is plenty of moisture underground, the topsoil can dry out quickly and the bushes' roots can't reach the moisture.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Blackberries are down individually, not as strings. Would mice nip them all off and not bother to eat them? They have not bothered with them in previous years, and seem to prefer other food, such as the whole bar of Simple soap that got left in the shed.
I don't think they have gotten dry - we water if the top of the clay is dry. I did wonder if they berried-up too soon, and then did not like the cool nights.
Maybe mice then. No malicious neighbours, but there used to be a strawberries-thief. Someone who lives nearby, apparently.
No frosts this last few days though, I think. Perhaps just warm days versus cool nights is enough.
Most likely they have not been pollinated. Each individual flower has to be visited by a bee. If it isn't the plant has no use for it, so it drops off. Perfectly natural.
It is little unripe gooseberries, and normal-sized but unripe blackcurrants, that have dropped to the ground. There are a very few small gooseberries left on the bush, just starting to turn yellow.
I am having the same problem this year. Bushes were covered in flowers earlier, small berries began to form, now the bushes are bare! Any clue would be very helpful.
through the netting? Sounds like a mystery to me
Ah! Trust me to fail to read it properly!