Allotments 4 All

I usually get a couple of buckets of damsons in the autumn from a work colleague for making jams and jellys.  This year though she has mentioned that they have had no blossom on the trees so it will be unlikely that they will have any fruit  :-[    Does this happen often?  Will miss my damson jam this winter  :-\

Well I guess the blossom could have all been nipped in a cold spell - happened on a plum tree on the next door plot a couple of years ago.
I will be off walking in Kent later in the year - plenty of wild damsons!

Edit - see other thread

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,72824.msg744616

Plums - and damsons are inclined to biannual cropping if they have a bumper year and then have a years rest. The poor spring may mean that any minimal blossom won't have been fertilised either.
So you may not get any this year but should be fine next especially if its a cold winter cos stone fruit need good dormancy. My plums are lacking after a bumper year last year. They'll be ok next and I should thin them more to help even them out a bit.

I'm told my tree on my new plot normally has loads and this year there were loads of flowers and now not one fruit... frost possibly killed them all off..?

Not necessarily due to frost - just cold wet weather can mean the pollinating insects are not around at the right time to do their stuff. It seems to be a bit of a problem this year.

Quote from: Paulh on June 17, 2012, 07:30:03
Not necessarily due to frost - just cold wet weather can mean the pollinating insects are not around at the right time to do their stuff. It seems to be a bit of a problem this year.

Yep!

I think I will have to hand pollinate my squash and pumpkins thus year as a result.