Blackcurrant bush?
Hi all,
silly question, I know, but is this a blackcurrant bush? Plant_1.jpg shows a close up of the foliage and Plant_2 the whole bush (warning: some may find the files large): http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_1.jpg http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_2.jpg Assuming it is blackcurrant, what is the best way to prune? Assuming it isn't, what is it? :-) We have bought a house with a large, rather neglected garden. These bushes look as though they have not been pruned for years. They are very large and dense. They are almost six feet high at the upper tips. There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what i should do? Thanks in advance -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
In article , Alan Johnson writes: | | There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they | look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what | i should do? Orange spots are probably coral spot - which is, indeed, a fungus. It infects dead wood within weeks in warm damp conditions, but rarely causes any trouble to living plants. Note that the "traditional wisdom" is that it can cause die-back, but it is also possible that all of the cases of where it appears to do so are where something else is causing the die-back and it is infecting the dead wood immediately afterwards. Anyway, most old shrubs have it on at least some of their dead branches, and they don't die back. I ignore it. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Blackcurrant bush?
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , Alan Johnson writes: | | There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they | look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what | i should do? Orange spots are probably coral spot - which is, indeed, a fungus. It infects dead wood within weeks in warm damp conditions, but rarely causes any trouble to living plants. Note that the "traditional wisdom" is that it can cause die-back, but it is also possible that all of the cases of where it appears to do so are where something else is causing the die-back and it is infecting the dead wood immediately afterwards. Anyway, most old shrubs have it on at least some of their dead branches, and they don't die back. I ignore it. OK, Nick, thanks for that. I'll just cut them out. But I was hoping for a bit more feedback. Perhaps tomorrow? Regards -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
In article , Alan Johnson writes: | | But I was hoping for a bit more feedback. Perhaps tomorrow? Perhaps :-) I am no expert, but there are some general rules. With an old bush, you may kill it by hard pruning, but the bushes that die are unlikely to do much if you don't prune them. You should start by thinning it ruthlessly - i.e. all really old, sick and thin wood, and cut back long shoots. If it then shoots from the base this year, cut out more (or the rest) of the old wood. If not, it may be beyond hope. With really special shrubs, you take more care, but blackcurrants don't thrive for more than a few decades anyway, and are easy to replace. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Blackcurrant bush?
Hello Alan
In article , Alan Johnson wrote: Hi all, silly question, I know, but is this a blackcurrant bush? Plant_1.jpg shows a close up of the foliage and Plant_2 the whole bush (warning: some may find the files large): http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_1.jpg http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_2.jpg Assuming it is blackcurrant, what is the best way to prune? Assuming it isn't, what is it? :-) We have bought a house with a large, rather neglected garden. These bushes look as though they have not been pruned for years. They are very large and dense. They are almost six feet high at the upper tips. There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what i should do? Thanks in advance In my view the best way to deal with blackcurrants is to have 3 bushes, and cut one practically to the ground each year in sequence. You will get very little fruit on the cut back bush, but the other 2 will make up for it. You also get rid of all of the old wood. With a collection of neglected bushes this is not a practical approach. I would start by cutting about one third of the branches out of each bush making the cuts quite low down. This will take out a lot of old wood, but also sadly some younger wood, but with luck will generate some new branches for the future. The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. John -- John Rye Hadleigh IPSWICH England http://web.ukonline.co.uk/jrye/index.html --- On Line using an Acorn StrongArm RiscPC --- |
Blackcurrant bush?
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , Alan Johnson writes: | | But I was hoping for a bit more feedback. Perhaps tomorrow? Perhaps :-) I am no expert, but there are some general rules. With an old bush, you may kill it by hard pruning, but the bushes that die are unlikely to do much if you don't prune them. You should start by thinning it ruthlessly - i.e. all really old, sick and thin wood, and cut back long shoots. If it then shoots from the base this year, cut out more (or the rest) of the old wood. If not, it may be beyond hope. With really special shrubs, you take more care, but blackcurrants don't thrive for more than a few decades anyway, and are easy to replace. Hi Nick, I didn't necessarily mean by you, of course, but thanks for replying again anyway. One of my first suggestions to my wife upon seeing the fungus was to throw them all out and plant new ones. She objected, buckets full of blackcurrants drifting before her eyes. :-) Regards -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
John Rye wrote:
Hello Alan In article , Alan Johnson wrote: Hi all, silly question, I know, but is this a blackcurrant bush? Plant_1.jpg shows a close up of the foliage and Plant_2 the whole bush (warning: some may find the files large): http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_1.jpg http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_2.jpg Assuming it is blackcurrant, what is the best way to prune? Assuming it isn't, what is it? :-) We have bought a house with a large, rather neglected garden. These bushes look as though they have not been pruned for years. They are very large and dense. They are almost six feet high at the upper tips. There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what i should do? Thanks in advance In my view the best way to deal with blackcurrants is to have 3 bushes, and cut one practically to the ground each year in sequence. You will get very little fruit on the cut back bush, but the other 2 will make up for it. You also get rid of all of the old wood. With a collection of neglected bushes this is not a practical approach. I would start by cutting about one third of the branches out of each bush making the cuts quite low down. This will take out a lot of old wood, but also sadly some younger wood, but with luck will generate some new branches for the future. The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. John Hi John, Thanks for your advice, which is quite similar to that offered by Nick really. We found another one or two hidden in overgrown corners, so it looks like we now have 4 large, old, unkempt bushes. I'll try and cut one of them back hard, removing about a third, as you suggest, and see how it looks next year. At worst (I hope), it will let in more light and air this year. In addition, it appears that some have sown themslves out, as there are a number of very small "bushes" around some of the larger ones. Do you (or other readers) think it's worth keeping the little shoots to see how they develop? Regards -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
On 8 Apr, 10:51, Alan Johnson wrote:
John Rye wrote: Hello Alan In article , Alan Johnson wrote: Hi all, silly question, I know, but is this a blackcurrant bush? Plant_1.jpg shows a close up of the foliage and Plant_2 the whole bush (warning: some may find the files large): http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_1.jpg http://www.geotrans-online.de/Plant_2.jpg Assuming it is blackcurrant, what is the best way to prune? Assuming it isn't, what is it? :-) We have bought a house with a large, rather neglected garden. These bushes look as though they have not been pruned for years. They are very large and dense. They are almost six feet high at the upper tips. There are some orange spots on one or two parts; they look like some kind of fungus. Does anybody know what they are and what i should do? Thanks in advance In my view the best way to deal with blackcurrants is to have 3 bushes, and cut one practically to the ground each year in sequence. You will get very little fruit on the cut back bush, but the other 2 will make up for it. You also get rid of all of the old wood. With a collection of neglected bushes this is not a practical approach. I would start by cutting about one third of the branches out of each bush making the cuts quite low down. This will take out a lot of old wood, but also sadly some younger wood, but with luck will generate some new branches for the future. The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. John Hi John, Thanks for your advice, which is quite similar to that offered by Nick really. We found another one or two hidden in overgrown corners, so it looks like we now have 4 large, old, unkempt bushes. I'll try and cut one of them back hard, removing about a third, as you suggest, and see how it looks next year. At worst (I hope), it will let in more light and air this year. In addition, it appears that some have sown themslves out, as there are a number of very small "bushes" around some of the larger ones. Do you (or other readers) think it's worth keeping the little shoots to see how they develop? Regards -- Alan Johnson, German-English, Geosciences/Technicalhttp://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est Our method of pruning blackcurrants is to cut off the fruiting branch when the fruit is ready for picking and then strip the fruit off that. Seems to work pretty well. Jonathan |
Blackcurrant bush?
"John Rye" wrote in message ... In my view the best way to deal with blackcurrants is to have 3 bushes, and cut one practically to the ground each year in sequence. You will get very little fruit on the cut back bush, but the other 2 will make up for it. You also get rid of all of the old wood. With a collection of neglected bushes this is not a practical approach. I would start by cutting about one third of the branches out of each bush making the cuts quite low down. This will take out a lot of old wood, but also sadly some younger wood, but with luck will generate some new branches for the future. The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. I planted a couple of B/C bushes, probably 15 years ago along with 2 redcurrant. I get decent crops of the red but my best yield of the black has been 3 per bush - yes, that's 3 berries per bush. There are always masses of flowers but they don't set. Out of frustration, I cut them down 2 years ago and never got around to digging out the roots so last year the regrown bush produced nothing! I have taked to horticulturalists who are puzzled so now I buy my blackcurrants from a local farm. BTW, my parents live in Capel St. Mary and I nearly always find some excuse to visit Partridge's when I'm over for a visit. Graham |
Blackcurrant bush?
Jonathan wrote:
Our method of pruning blackcurrants is to cut off the fruiting branch when the fruit is ready for picking and then strip the fruit off that. Seems to work pretty well. Jonathan That also sounds like a good idea, Jonathan. Perhaps we'll try a mix of the methods suggested. I'm not really afraid that we'll end up without enough blackcurrants. Regards -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
John Rye wrote:
The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. John Hi John, I meant to ask: what is Big Bud and how do I recognise it? Regards -- Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns www.geotrans-online.de German-English, Geosciences/Technical http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/ Terminus Est |
Blackcurrant bush?
In article , afjohnson@geotrans-
online.de says... John Rye wrote: The other question if they have been neglected is "Are they suffering badly from Big Bud ?" If they are it wiuld probably be better to ditch the lot and start again. John Hi John, I meant to ask: what is Big Bud and how do I recognise it? Regards Its quite obvious when you have it! so if you areasking its not likely you do. The buds on parts of the bush become very swollen and do not produce fruit, we used to have it and kept things under control by pruning out the affected branches, eventually re planted the bushes as per advice in books but 4 years on the bushes are not cropping as well as the infected bushes so my advice would be live with it. -- Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and Lapageria rosea |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:28 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter