My gooseberry plants have stopped fruiting
I have 3 gooseberry plants on my allotment. They were originally in a shaded spot, and levels of fruiting went down over successive seasons, until I was getting only one or two gooseberries per plant. I thought lack of light was the issue, so 3 years' ago I moved them to a bright sunny spot, thinking that fruiting would be restored to normal levels. However, the opposite is true. For those 3 years the plants have flourished and grown but none of the them have even borne flowers, and consequently no fruit at all. I have mulched them, and tried fertilizers, both nitrogen-rich and phosphate-rich, but still no change. What can I do to kick-start them into fruiting? Or should I give them up as a lost cause, and dig them out?
Any comments/suggestions greatly appreciated!
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Have you been pruning them correctly? http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/pruning_prunesoftfruit1.shtml
Thanks for the pointer to the correct pruning procedures. When I moved them I cut out all the dead wood and reduced the bulk a little elsewhere, generally tidying up the bushes. That was in the spring, which was probably the wrong time to move them/cut them back - so I wasn't expecting miracles in the first season. But I thought that by the 2nd or 3rd year they would have bounced back!
High Greenguage,being an ex allotmenteer, we always made nettle and comfry teas and these used correctly were enough for good growth and fruit,I noticed you have used nitrogen and phosphate rich feeds, but its potash they need for flowering and fruiting,every year we start of all our bushes and trees in April with a handful of FBB and watered with Potash stirred into a 20 to 1 Comfry Tea made in the previews summer, give the potash a go and think on making your own cheap fertilizers,stinky but good,
Thanks Alan. I'll give it a go. I've got "Bocking 14" on the go.