[chimaera]

I have just come back from being away for a few days and expected there to be lots of fruit waiting for me; both summer raspberries and strawberries had loads of developing fruit a week ago. The strawberries have almost all rotted on the plant, some have gone pink but most are still green and the surface has gone brown and soft (not mouldy). The leaves of second year raspberry canes have gone yellow and dry and brown around the edges, and the new canes are going brown and dry with the fruit tiny and deformed.
I didn't get to move the strawberries last year and they are quite close together, so could that be the cause, with the fruit not all in the sun? The rasps have stumped me- I have fed them and watered them a couple of times, and the autumns in the next row are all fine.

Charlie

[Aunt Sally]

Oh dear 

Can you take some pictures for us ?

[chimaera]

I'll try when I get down there next.
The rasps don't seem to match any of the diseases i have seen described and I was thinking of digging one up and having a look at the roots to see what they look like.

Charlie

[Aunt Sally]

That's probably a good idea.

[chimaera]

These are some of the strawberries; the surface is rough, brown and soft but no mould,
Charlie

[chimaera]

Anf the raspberries where the leaves and stems have dried out and the fruit are tiny

[gillie]

I am guessing, but have they had enough water?  Raspberries need a lot.

My canes are heavily mulched and I leave the hose running on the roots for a couple of hours and then move it down the row.  I would do this about once a week while the weather is hot and dry.  (If it rains they will all go mouldy!)

Gillie

[chimaera]

its possible but I gave them a soak every couple of weeks and nothing else seems to have suffered (including autumn raspberries)
Charlie

[gillie]

Autumn raspberries seem to put up with anything, and will take you over if they can.  Summer ones are more finicky but probably better flavoured.

Remember that raspberries are naturally a woodland plant that does well in Scotland.

Gillie

[Trillium]

Judging by the pic of the raspberry, they're starving as well as too dry. Those darker veins tell it all. Recommend you give them a good top dressing of rotted manure, even do a liquid manure feeding asap.
In dry weather, watering them once every few weeks just isn't enough. They need good deep watering once a week if there's no rain. So if you top dress with lots of manure first the deep watering will help carry down lots of the nutrients. The crop for this year is pretty much had it but keep watering regularly so canes for next year's fruiting are healthy and ready to go.

[chimaera]

Thanks.
I was up at 7 giving them a soaking before work, but I think that seeing as how I barely get time to keep the greenhouse watered in May and June due to workload, I should replace them with something more drought resistant (the tayberry is doing great stuff)

Charlie