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FIrethorn - no berries
GrassyKnoll
Posts: 95
I have a fairly healthy looking firethorn. It's about 12 feet at its tallest and spreads about the same along a fence, though it is a bit 'star' shaped, if you know what I mean.
Last year it had tons of flowers and berries. This year, not so much. Barely any flowers and no berries at all.
We have had no apples to speak of on the apple tree and there are hardly any berries, compared to last year, on a couple of rowan trees just outside our garden.
Is this just a bad year all round?
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Here's a photo of the firethorn. I'm thinking of pruning it down to the height of the fence and hoping it'll grow horizontally. Will this help it to flower and berry? Totally devoid this year.
You can prune them without any problems, but you'll have to guide new growth along the fence if you want it spread rather than go up. It also depends on the variety - some are columnar so it may not work very well.
If it doesn't flower, it won't have berries. The weather can be an influence with plants not flowering as normal - long dry spells at the 'wrong' time are often a factor. Some shrubs and trees can have a year when they don't produce the goods. It will be getting a fair bit of competition for water from the other planting around it too. It looks perfectly healthy though, so I don't think I'd worry too much. Mine have been quite similar this year
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have three laden with orange berries but no berries on the three red-berried ones. Peculiar.