[VSS]

Every year, a high proportion of my redcurrants get pinched by the blackbirds before they are ready to pick and because of the location of the bushes, netting is impractical.
Can anyone tell me, if I pick the strings before they are fully red, can they be ripened off the bush in the same way as tomatoes?

(I suspect not, but you never know )

[Backinwellies]

Cant you just net individual bushes?

[Fleecewife]

The birds get ours too.  Just when you think 'ah, they'll be ready to pick tomorrow', you go to look in the morning and they've all gone.


I'm wondering if, just for those last few days, you could put the heaviest laden branches into old tights.  OK it would look hilarious, but you might just get enough fruit for red currant jelly at Christmas     

[Lesley Silvester]

I have the same with my jostaberry bush which is huge and would be difficult to net. One year there were so many that I manage to get plenty for myself so decided to leave the rest for the birds. The birds obviously thought that if they weren't good enough for me, they weren't good enough for birds and left them to rot.