[RosiePosie]

There doesn't seem to be many topics on growing fruit on here, I just wanted to know if there are many fruit - growers on here? We have a raspberry bush which has just started producing fruit for the second year running, and we're also growing strawberries in a bag thing on the fence which seems to be going quite well, a couple are starting to go red & softer now, I was just wondering if there is a particular way to pick them, as with the raspberries, I don't want to pick them wrong this year to find that it won't bear any fruit next year!

[monkeywobbler]

I think a lot of people grow fruit in addition to veg - the majority of my plot is fruit however!
The way you pick strawberries is to pinch off the stem about 1cm away from the top of the strawberry (the cap), rather than pull the stalk out of the berry. This means they last a little bit longer, and don't bruise as easily.

[JayG]

Not done a statistical analysis ( ) but I think there have been quite a few recent threads about raspberries and strawberries in particular.

Anyway, pick your fruit when they are ripe (all-over red for strawberries; pinch or snip them off behind the calyx of the fruit. Raspberries should be picked when they can be gently pulled off the core easily - the core is left on the plant.)

(Both will still fruit next year whether you pick them or not, although not picking would be a strange tactic!) 

[Nobbie]

I think there's plenty of growers, but soft fruit just tends to get on with it and you harvest once a year (if you're lucky, see my post on my blackcurrants), unlike veg which needs sowing, transplanting, thinning etc.

For strawberrys just pinch the stem holding the fruit about an inch from the fruit or use a little pair of scissors. Don't pull them off or you may damage others on the cluster.

[RichardA]

raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries, blackberries, cherries, plums, apples, pears, multiples thereof.
Concur with other posters - by and large fruit growers find out what they need to know and then they and the fruit get on woth it so perhaps not a lot of correspondance is generated.
Great fun though
R

[sunshineband]

There have been quite few threads recently about soft fruit  :blink:

[Trillium]

You name it, I'm probably growing it. Even planted sea buckthorn this year.

[RosiePosie]

Haha, I must've missed the fruit posts, all of the ones I see seem to be about veg, i'll just have to look harder !

Thank you for all the help, I'm looking forward to the strawberries now, the raspberries are good but a little sour, nothing some cream wouldnt fix!

[lancashiregardeninggal]

I grow all the ones Richard mentioned, also I have Apricots for the first time this year - which I'm really chuffed with and the redcurrants and cherries are just divine

[JayG]

Haha, I must've missed the fruit posts, all of the ones I see seem to be about veg, i'll just have to look harder !

Thank you for all the help, I'm looking forward to the strawberries now, the raspberries are good but a little sour, nothing some cream wouldnt fix!

I find there is a world of difference in sweetness and flavour between a very-nearly-ripe raspberry and a perfectly ripe one (comes with practice; you soon get to know your particular variety/varieties!)

[shokkyy]

Am I the only person incapable of picking a raspberry without it disintegrating into bits?

[RosiePosie]

Am I the only person incapable of picking a raspberry without it disintegrating into bits?

twist them & wriggle them gently, they should come off fairly easily if they are ripe enough

[lancashiregardeninggal]

My Fallgold raspberries (yellow ones) have done really well this year - they're not as big as the red ones but just as lovely

[Dominic]

I think theres definatly something to the "its fruit" thing.

Once set up, it just sort of runs itself, so all posts are newbie related.
If I spot them I try and answer, but I'm just on here a lot less the veg people, who sow and harvest a lot more.

Unfortunatly for the original poster, I'm at the end of my tether with raspberries, they're just mould factories and I dont like strawberries, although the other half wants me to look into them.

[Trillium]

I was just wondering if there is a particular way to pick them, as with the raspberries, I don't want to pick them wrong this year to find that it won't bear any fruit next year!

You can pull the berries off any way you like. The only thing that affects fruiting is that raspberries will fruit on next year's wood. So, the stem you pick from this year will die off later and must be pruned off. The stems that are green this year will bear fruit next year, etc.

Sometimes older wood will produce a few berries but they're usually inferior to what 2nd year wood will produce so not worth the bother. At the start of the new season,  be sure all dead stems are pruned off, feed the plants well with old manure and water often during the fruiting season for nice berries. If you get a lot of rain, then don't water.

To avoid the severe mold problems, thin out the bushes so you get better air circulation, or, just don't plant them as close together. In heavy rainy seasons, it would help to tent off the rows with clear poly sheeting.