Soft Fruit Espalier?

**Two_Sheds** · 12-11-2010, 08:04 PM

Blackcurrants grow as a bush, kind of goblet shaped with many branches

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 08:14 PM

ahh okay thanks two sheds

looks like i'll be getting a gooseberry then, are there any reccommended varieties?

**Two_Sheds** · 12-11-2010, 08:28 PM

Dunno, I can't grow gooseberries

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 08:35 PM

are they hard to grow then?

**FB.** · 12-11-2010, 08:54 PM

Originally posted by Nordmead View Post

are they hard to grow then?

Mildew and sawfly are major problems.

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 09:00 PM

Originally posted by FB. View Post

Mildew and sawfly are major problems.

is sawfly hard to get rid of?

and is there much difference between the red and green ones?

**FB.** · 12-11-2010, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by Nordmead View Post

is sawfly hard to get rid of?

Nope - easy to get rid of: just pick them off - but by the time most people notice that they have a sawfly problem, the bush has been completely stripped and is just bare twigs.

Sawfly caterpillars are very destructive in a very short space of time.

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 09:12 PM

i'll have to keep an eye out for those then

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 10:10 PM

would birds be a problem or are they to big for them to take?

**Snadger** · 12-11-2010, 10:33 PM

I don't feel confident enough to progress to espaliers on soft fruit yet, but I do fancy growing some gooseberies, redcurrants and whitecurrants as standards or half standards.
I took cuttings of red & whitecurrants last year for this very purpose and they appear to have rooted nicely.

I also tried to 'layer' some gooseberry bushes but got sick of being impaled on the branches whilst fastening branches to the ground with looped wire. I finished up just putting bricks on the branches to hold them in close proximity to the soil where hopefully they've rooted. We shall see in the spring with the gooseberies but I will pot up some whitecurrants and redcurrants soon, once they have droped all there foliage.

**Nordmead** · 12-11-2010, 10:59 PM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

I don't feel confident enough to progress to espaliers on soft fruit yet

i dont see why not, youve got nothing to lose.. i mean ive just chopped off 9 leaves off my fig leaving the stalks attatched in hope they'll turn into branches, which leaves 1 leaf all on his own.. probably end up killing it but hey ho

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

I also tried to 'layer' some gooseberry bushes but got sick of being impaled on the branches whilst fastening branches to the ground with looped wire.

know exactly what you mean.. my welding gloves have now become my gardening gloves..

**Wareagle** · 12-11-2010, 11:35 PM

Originally posted by Nordmead View Post

would birds be a problem or are they to big for them to take?

Birds will gladly eat them, i had to move my potted gooseberies closer to the house this year because they would'nt leave them alone.

**Nordmead** · 13-11-2010, 12:19 AM

Originally posted by Wareagle View Post

Birds will gladly eat them

well thats slightly annoying.. i'll just have to go for the green ones and hope they dont notice them

thanks for the info though

**Two_Sheds** · 13-11-2010, 07:55 AM

Originally posted by FB. View Post

by the time most people notice that they have a sawfly problem, the bush has been completely stripped and is just bare twigs.

Quite.
I've been 'growing' gooseberries for 6 years, and never got a fruit yet

Originally posted by Nordmead View Post

i'll just have to go for the green ones and hope they [birds] dont notice them

They will. My neighbour's gooseberry bush was stripped by hoards of baby blackbirds this summer - I watched them. The neighbours won't believe it was birds, they think I did it

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