why have my soft fruits no flowers?
United Kingdom 
Hi, this year i bought three fruit trees from wilkos and potted them and put them on the patio. Theyve seemed really healthy, especially my gooseberry and raspberry, although my blackcurrant had a few teething problems with a few leaves dropping off. it seemed to stabilise and flowers seemed to be forming. then they simply withered and dropped off whilst the rest of the plant carried on growing.
Again, with my raspberry and gooseberry, very healthy, growing well, but no sign of flowers at all. What's going on? I looked in the garden centre at other fruit trees and like mine- some seem to be green tall and healthy with no flowers and some seem to be stunted with a few flowers and some browning. At what stage should these fruits be, and can i hope for anything at all from them this year? gooseberry on the right of the pic, blackcurrant left and raspberry foreground. Thanks a lot!
4 May, 2009
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My guess could be that you've not watered them enough, as plants in pots need tons of water, more than if they are in the ground. They do look dry from the photo.
The other thing is, it sounds as if they got caught out by the frost, which would explain why the leaves have turned brown and dropped off. Years ago, gardeners used to put old net curtains on soft fruit to protect from the cold. Not very attractive I know, but effective. Fleece fabric can be bought these days but they will need moving each morning to allow them to get warm.
You will not get any fruits til they have flowered. So, it does sound as if you'll not get fruit this year. My blackcurrant has finished flowering and small fruits have formed but it still has it's leaves as it is in a sheltered position. I could still be wrong of course, don't take my advice as gospel. I'm just saying what I think is wrong, in my humble opinion. It could still flower!
Good luck and let us know how you get on. :-)
7 May, 2009