Author Topic: Healthy looking Raspberry bush with no fruit? (Read 5000 times)

caracroft · « **on:** June 24, 2014, 07:49:57 pm »

Hi

I bought a raspberry bush roughly 18months ago and it is in a raised bed with strawberries. Unfortunately the packaging didnt say whether it was summer/autumn variety? Last year it grew really well, flowered but i had no fruit apart from a few that only produced one or two "drupelets" ( I had to look that up!)

I cut back the stems that had flowered and allowed other stems to come up from the base and a few "runners" I presume.

This year it was covered in blossom and looks again really healthy - runners are coming up everywhere which i am trying to control by pulling them up and leaving just a few around the original plant.

I can see all the flower heads where the petals have come off, still there and again a couple have a few "drupelets", which I have eaten and taste perfect. But where are all the proper raspberries?

Attached is a pic from 3rd May 2014 when it was in full flower

thanks caracroft

shygirl · « **Reply #1 on:** June 24, 2014, 08:36:36 pm »

firstly are you sure its raspberry? i cant quite see it in the photo. is it the middle section? as the left bush looks like currants.
raspberries are "canes" rather than bushes. the new grow is what bears fruit and last years growth is dead so gets cut back. new canes can sprout up near the old original site so dont cut these as they are the fruit bearers.

hope that helps.

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2014, 10:13:04 am »

If it is flowering but there is no fruit set it is either a pollination problem or a mineral deficiency. If you don't want to do a soil test then maybe apply some seaweed meal and rock dust and keep your fingers crossed for next year.

doganjo · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2014, 11:02:48 am »

I would pull it out and start again with a known variety - most rasps will fruit as soon as they hit the ground running! It's more a case of controlling than encouraging!

Fleecewife · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2014, 12:22:31 pm »

Quote from: clydesdaleclopper on June 25, 2014, 10:13:04 am

If it is flowering but there is no fruit set it is either a pollination problem or a mineral deficiency. If you don't want to do a soil test then maybe apply some seaweed meal and rock dust and keep your fingers crossed for next year.

........or insufficient water to swell the fruit. As there are flowers though I would go with the poor pollination option, which could be due to an absence of bees or other pollinators, or to a late frost.

Autumn fruiting varieties grow on new canes grown this year, so if you're pulling those out you're losing the main crop. Main crop rasps grow on the canes which grew through last summer. To tell old canes from new, the old ones will have a branched appearance, and be woodier, new canes are straight and green and more flexible. You get some fruit on old canes but not much.

Looking at the pic again, it is a bit of a mess. Your plant should consist of straight canes, tied in individually, not that bushy jumble - as someone has already said, raspberries grow on canes not bushes.

So for fruit next year, cut the old growth back in late summer and leave the new canes to develop. If it's an autumn fruiting variety then those young canes might fruit late in the year.

Somewhere_by_the_river · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2014, 01:05:19 pm »

Are we talking the plant on the left of the pic? If so that's definitely a currant. Is it just the one that's a problem or all?

caracroft · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2014, 08:16:27 pm »

Thanks for all your answers.

Sorry to clarify - yes I have a very healthy and productive blackcurrant on the left of the bed and covering the floor are strawberry plants.
The Raspberry is in the middle and is made up of lots of straight "canes" now very tall, as it has been 7 weeks since that photo. The canes that have flowered are what grew up late last summer and i have several fresh canes which I have not touched and are looking very healthy- I only pulled ones that were coming up in the grass in front of the bed and crowding my blackcurrant .

I water the raised bed regularly and also feed every 2 weeks.

I think after reading all your answers that pollination maybe the problem - I haven't seen many bees this year, although I have a bumper crop of strawberries and blackcurrants - not sure if the pollination is the same for all the fruit flowers?

for next year - maybe a little manual pollination is required - or maybe even an autumn crop although there are no flowers on the new canes?

Thanks again

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2014, 10:57:23 pm »

What are you feeding with every 2 weeks? If you have too much of certain minerals they can lock up the availability of others so that may be the problem.

doganjo · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2014, 08:59:54 am »

If you have success with other fruit in the same bed I think you have a dud rasp. I don't take prisoners - as I said before I'd get rid and start again. At least then you'd know what variety you have. Rasps aren't expensive to buy, nor to maintain, and to be honest you shouldn't need to feed them - they just grow.

Somewhere_by_the_river · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2014, 10:48:36 am »

I'm inclined to agree with doganjo; the leaves look really healthy (raspberries tell you if they are lacking in anything pretty quickly) and if everything else in the bed is cropping nicely...

shygirl · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2014, 05:50:33 pm »

we bought a big clump from b&q for our rental house, for £15 - years ago and they are still going really strong. had loads and loads of fruit, shame its not in my own garden though....lol