[cjskts]

We got our allotment at the end of March 2010. We ordered some Raspberries from J Parkers. We did a deal where we got 10 earlies, 10 normal and 10 lates. We also did the same with strawberries (except we got 25 of each). They arrived late April 2010. Everything was planted straight away as we'd been waiting for them and had areas prepared.

The strawberries did really well. All produced fruit and we were having strawberries until October. We had loads of runners etc (we snipped these off) and we're really happy with them.

The raspberries are a different story. Only 1 out of the 3 sets have grown. We thought the earlies were the only set that had grown, but we could have planted them in the wrong order so that its really the normals that have grown. We kept waiting and waiting for the others to grow. In the end i contacted J Parkers last week. I explained that i didnt know how long i should wait and wondered if i'd missed the season for the others and that they would grow this year. I explained that i didn't know if i should scrape the bark or leave them be.

They have written back and said that i should have contacted them by 1st August 2010. Is that right? Surely they cant expect 3 different varieties that fruit at different times to all have grown in 3 months? Some of the strawberries didnt show until September so we just thought it was normal for the raspberries to not start. Then i thought perhaps some of them would start growing early spring and was going to wait but decided to contact J Parkers, just in case there was something wrong.

I had no idea about only have 3 months the respond. Now i feel a bit fed up that these raspberries are a waste of money and all the fruit i was expecting in the spring/summer wont come now.

J Parkers have said i can send the 'dead' plants back to discover why they didnt grow, but that it could take months to sort out and would be at my expense.

The cheap reduced Wilko ones have produced more!

[Kristen]

"They arrived late April 2010."

That's pretty late, but if J Parkers were happy to send them to you at that time then that's up to them I reckon. (I get fed up when I see plants in the garden centre at inappropriate times as all they are doing is luring in unsuspecting newbies)

At at that time of year all of them should have sprouted within a week or two, a month at the most I reckon.  Assuming the ground was not bone dry, or massively over watered.

I haven't bought from J Parkers, but my impression is that they have a good name, but my money is on the plants being dead when you got them - given how late they were sent out perhaps they were "old stock" anyway.

[mumofstig]

It is not of much help to you I know, but I agree with kristen. You should have seen some growth within a few weeks and complained to Parkers much earlier than you did. Sorry

[Kristen]

Although I would expect the Supplier to be tolerant of "I didn't know how long I should wait until they came into leaf" as I don't think it is unreasonable (unless you know otherwise) to think that it might not be until "next year"

Don't suppose you've got any pictures from during the growing season last year (to demonstrate that they were not growing when everything else was, which would give some proof of "timing" too)

[bigben]

Sorry to do a bit of hijacking - I got some Autumn gold rasperries that arrived and were planted in November. So far they still look like the dry sticks they were when they arrived. When should I see signs of life? I did not expect much over the winter especially after a very cold December but am not sure when to start worrying?

[DD.]

I would not expect to see growth on autumn fruiting raspberries until March at the earliest.

[bigben]

Thanks DD