Despite the rain, I went out to do a little job in the garden. Instead of
doing that job, I saw a very sad plant which needed some attention. The
plant was a once *beautiful* yellow Primula bulleyana which I'd bought on
holiday. It was magnificent! That same plant appeared collapsed and, when
I investigated, there were about 50 vine weevil larvae in the crown and
rootball of the plant. There is almost nothing left, and I doubt that that
'almost nothing' will survive. I will see what can be done, but it's not
hopeful. Boo hoo :~((

The birds are very happy though. They got an unexpected feast of plump
wriggly things .... I just got soaked to the skin, chilled through and fed
up for .. yup, bird food! :~(

I squelched my way indoors and hubby said "Did you get very wet, dear?"
Grrr!! It's just as well he made me a nice cup of tea :~).

Spider

In article , Spider
writes
Despite the rain, I went out to do a little job in the garden. Instead of
doing that job, I saw a very sad plant which needed some attention. The
plant was a once *beautiful* yellow Primula bulleyana which I'd bought on
holiday. It was magnificent! That same plant appeared collapsed and, when
I investigated, there were about 50 vine weevil larvae in the crown and
rootball of the plant. There is almost nothing left, and I doubt that that
'almost nothing' will survive. I will see what can be done, but it's not
hopeful. Boo hoo :~((

The birds are very happy though. They got an unexpected feast of plump
wriggly things .... I just got soaked to the skin, chilled through and fed
up for .. yup, bird food! :~(

I squelched my way indoors and hubby said "Did you get very wet, dear?"
Grrr!! It's just as well he made me a nice cup of tea :~).


I had the same problem with my Kiwi in the Spring. It was in a big pot
and I wanted to plant it against the house wall. Prepared the hole well
and took kiwi out of the pot - to find it crawling with horrible fat
things.

I spent a long time sifting them out to start with, but the main
rootball was quite tangled and I kept finding more - so in the end, I
took the hose to it and washed everything off - soil and weevils. I
didn't expect it to survive in the ground - but it has put on good
growth and plenty of foliage this year, so hopefully I got to it before
too much damage was done...

Not surprisingly there was no fruit - but then again it has never
fruited yet (Not sure how old it is - I've probably had it 3 years now,
so probably 4 or 5).

A propos nothing - we did have a fantastic crop of blueberries this
year

--
regards andyw

"newsb" wrote in message
news
In article , Spider
writes
Despite the rain, I went out to do a little job in the garden. Instead of
doing that job, I saw a very sad plant which needed some attention. The
plant was a once *beautiful* yellow Primula bulleyana which I'd bought on
holiday. It was magnificent! That same plant appeared collapsed and,
when
I investigated, there were about 50 vine weevil larvae in the crown and
rootball of the plant. There is almost nothing left, and I doubt that
that
'almost nothing' will survive. I will see what can be done, but it's not
hopeful. Boo hoo :~((

The birds are very happy though. They got an unexpected feast of plump
wriggly things .... I just got soaked to the skin, chilled through and fed
up for .. yup, bird food! :~(

I squelched my way indoors and hubby said "Did you get very wet, dear?"
Grrr!! It's just as well he made me a nice cup of tea :~).


I had the same problem with my Kiwi in the Spring. It was in a big pot
and I wanted to plant it against the house wall. Prepared the hole well
and took kiwi out of the pot - to find it crawling with horrible fat
things.

I spent a long time sifting them out to start with, but the main rootball
was quite tangled and I kept finding more - so in the end, I took the hose
to it and washed everything off - soil and weevils. I didn't expect it to
survive in the ground - but it has put on good growth and plenty of
foliage this year, so hopefully I got to it before too much damage was
done...

Not surprisingly there was no fruit - but then again it has never fruited
yet (Not sure how old it is - I've probably had it 3 years now, so
probably 4 or 5).

A propos nothing - we did have a fantastic crop of blueberries this year

--
regards andyw


It sounds as if you were lucky. If it's put on that much growth, the roots
must be okay. I'm not sure how long you have to wait for fruit on Kiwi, but
the pertinent question is 'do you get flowers?' If you don't, you
certainly won't get fruit. I'm assuming here that you've got one of the
self-fertile clones? Kiwi, generally, need a male and female plant for
fruit production. If you haven't got a self-fertile one (such as 'Jenny'),
then you will need a partner for your plant.

Another thought is that all is well .. you get flowers and fruit set .. but
that the embryo fruitlets drop because they're not getting enough water.
Many plants abort flower or fruit buds if water is scarce. Being on a house
wall, your plant is in a 'rain shadow', so you will need to give it enough
moisture to maintain and swell the fruit. A high potash feed, such as
tomato food, would also help.

Congrats on the blueberries. Do you grow them in pots, or is your soil
naturally acidic?

Spider

In article , Spider
writes

It sounds as if you were lucky. If it's put on that much growth, the roots
must be okay. I'm not sure how long you have to wait for fruit on Kiwi, but
the pertinent question is 'do you get flowers?' If you don't, you
certainly won't get fruit. I'm assuming here that you've got one of the
self-fertile clones? Kiwi, generally, need a male and female plant for
fruit production. If you haven't got a self-fertile one (such as 'Jenny'),
then you will need a partner for your plant.

I'm pretty sure its a self fertile plant - can't remember the name atm.
To my knowledge, it hasn't had flowers yet. I wasn't expecting any this
year due to the evils. Past year or two I didn't expect much as the
plant in its pot had been pretty much neglected over the winter. Year
before last, I thought it was dead but gave it a chance and in spring it
burst forth.

I promised to look after it from this year - which is why I was planting
it out. Although close to the house, its well mulched and right next to
a major drainage channel that we put in to carry all the water that
comes off the clay of the hill. It also gets well watered and as of
this year, well fed


Congrats on the blueberries. Do you grow them in pots, or is your soil
naturally acidic?

Bit of both - (pots and ground) but no naturally acidic soil. With the
two I planted out about 4-5 years ago, I dug a gurt big hole and filled
it with ericaceous stuff. It only gets direct rain or butt water, and
they get a lot of coniferous needles/leaves from nearby trees - and
regular ericaceous food and sequestered iron on top of standard growmore
dressings. To be honest, they don't seem to be plants that get really
upset by the soil acidity.

There are only two in the ground, but they are different varieties, one
ripening fairly early and the other being ready just before the first
starts tailing off.

The two in pots are the same age as the groud planted ones and have
performed nearly as well - they're already in biggish posts but need
repotting again

Also, this year, it was a bit of a (one sided) fight between me and at
least two female blackbirds. As the berries on the potted bushes
started to come ripe, the birds would fly onto the bush, pick a few
berries and drop them onto the ground then hop down and eat them. Then
repeat the process. For some reason, I let them keep doing it - they
looked so happy They also looked quite funny. Fully grown blackbirds
aren't the most elegant of creatures when manoeuvring through the
branches (compared to small natural tree dwellers).

Funny, but they didn't seem to do this with the planted out bushes. The
potted plants were on the patio wall, fairly close to the house - the
planted out ones are in what I'd have thought of as a much more natural
blackbird environment. Might be that the potted ones were riper earlier
when the birds really fancied plump berries.

--
regards andyw

"newsb" wrote in message
...
In article , Spider
writes

It sounds as if you were lucky. If it's put on that much growth, the
roots
must be okay. I'm not sure how long you have to wait for fruit on Kiwi,
but
the pertinent question is 'do you get flowers?' If you don't, you
certainly won't get fruit. I'm assuming here that you've got one of the
self-fertile clones? Kiwi, generally, need a male and female plant for
fruit production. If you haven't got a self-fertile one (such as
'Jenny'),
then you will need a partner for your plant.

I'm pretty sure its a self fertile plant - can't remember the name atm. To
my knowledge, it hasn't had flowers yet. I wasn't expecting any this year
due to the evils. Past year or two I didn't expect much as the plant in
its pot had been pretty much neglected over the winter. Year before last,
I thought it was dead but gave it a chance and in spring it burst forth.

I promised to look after it from this year - which is why I was planting
it out. Although close to the house, its well mulched and right next to a
major drainage channel that we put in to carry all the water that comes
off the clay of the hill. It also gets well watered and as of this year,
well fed


Fingers crossed for fruit next year then. Good luck.


Congrats on the blueberries. Do you grow them in pots, or is your soil
naturally acidic?

Bit of both - (pots and ground) but no naturally acidic soil. With the
two I planted out about 4-5 years ago, I dug a gurt big hole and filled it
with ericaceous stuff. It only gets direct rain or butt water, and they
get a lot of coniferous needles/leaves from nearby trees - and regular
ericaceous food and sequestered iron on top of standard growmore
dressings. To be honest, they don't seem to be plants that get really
upset by the soil acidity.

There are only two in the ground, but they are different varieties, one
ripening fairly early and the other being ready just before the first
starts tailing off.

The two in pots are the same age as the groud planted ones and have
performed nearly as well - they're already in biggish posts but need
repotting again



Thanks for all this information, Andy. We both love blueberries and scoff
lots of supermarket ones, but it would be great to pick crops from our own
garden. I've got two or three big pots, so I may try that first while I get
a patch cleared in the garden.


Also, this year, it was a bit of a (one sided) fight between me and at
least two female blackbirds. As the berries on the potted bushes started
to come ripe, the birds would fly onto the bush, pick a few berries and
drop them onto the ground then hop down and eat them. Then repeat the
process. For some reason, I let them keep doing it - they looked so
happy They also looked quite funny. Fully grown blackbirds aren't the
most elegant of creatures when manoeuvring through the branches (compared
to small natural tree dwellers).


:~) It's nice to know chaps are hopelessly soft-hearted, too! I would do
just the same, I know, and almost be pleased I could watch them eat my
berries. I suspect, though, we wouldn't lose so many because I have a
couple of cats. I would be horrified if the cats harmed a bird (as they
very occasionally do :~( ), but the deterrent effect if useful.


Funny, but they didn't seem to do this with the planted out bushes. The
potted plants were on the patio wall, fairly close to the house - the
planted out ones are in what I'd have thought of as a much more natural
blackbird environment. Might be that the potted ones were riper earlier
when the birds really fancied plump berries.


Yes, that is a bit odd. Perhaps you're right about the ripening, and maybe
those berries are also sweeter and have a more tender skin, having ripened
more quickly in the heat from the house wall. We may never know.

--
regards andyw

Thanks once again, Andy.
Spider