I was very disappointed with my gooseberry harvest last year.
What can I feed them on? Is tomato food any good?
I think any fruit grown in containers will benefit from regular potash feed once the fruit starts to form, so yes, tomato food is good.
We got nothing off ours last year, but it was their first year. Mine are planted in a border, not pots, but would be interested to know if they need a feed. Should i top dress them with compost and if so when is the best time?
Mine will be getting some Turbofruiter as soon as they show signs of growing and another shot a month or so later... did well for me last year on other fruits....
Is there any advantage to growing them in pots? Do they produce earlier as some plants do being confined?
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on March 03, 2013, 20:59:23
Is there any advantage to growing them in pots? Do they produce earlier as some plants do being confined?
Not all are in pots - they are only in pots because of lack of space.
So far I would say don't grow them in pots.
Quote from: chriscross1966 on March 03, 2013, 20:32:00
Mine will be getting some Turbofruiter as soon as they show signs of growing and another shot a month or so later... did well for me last year on other fruits....
Is this what you mean by Turbofruiter?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GARDEN-FERTILISER-SPECIFICALLY-FRUIT-20KG-BAG-/170662905154
It seems expensive, can you get it from all garden centers?
We have goosegogs in pots 'cos the fruit plot isn't quite ready to house them yet and I have given them a handful of sulphate of potash each.
I have also given a handful to the apple tree and all the clematis too.
That's quite possibly turbofruiter, we get it in 1kg bags frmo the allotment soc shop for a quid or so... 2Kg across my soft fruit early in the season and again once the berries are forming... will probably have to go to 3 or even 4Kg once they're sorted out in the plot though, I'll have nearly 4 rods of soft fruit by the end of this season...
It may seem a silly question, but are you sure the plants aren't fruiting? I grow mine in buckets, and I thought for the first couple of years there was very little fruit, and then I netted them after flowering and realised the birds had been stripping them overnight before!
Quote from: Deb P on March 05, 2013, 15:46:30
It may seem a silly question, but are you sure the plants aren't fruiting? I grow mine in buckets, and I thought for the first couple of years there was very little fruit, and then I netted them after flowering and realised the birds had been stripping them overnight before!
Well some of them did not have flowers last year.
Also my neighbour very kindly has a cherry tree which seems to protect the raspberries by distracting the pigeons.
How big are your buckets?
Although saying that I will start putting cd's or something to distract them.
(I have family who will protest if I use nets).
They are just ordinary sized buckets, they are old galvenised metal ones that had been left on my plot when I took it over, so they already had some holes! I only moved them in as a temporary measure to start with but now just top them up with fresh soil every year and give them a seaweed feed and a few chicken manure pellets in spring. I prune them every winter to keep them a managable size as well.