[PembsPanther]

Morning All

Right just been to my local "discount" shop and they had some raspberry plants / bushes and blackcurrant bushes reduced to £1! Could not resist so got 3 raspberry and 2 blackcurrant and may go back for a few more tomorrow. Problem is I have no idea what to do with them  :blink:

From reading other threads it seems they will need support as they grow, are they best potted in the ground or will pots do the job? Best food? Anything I need to be doing to them? I am new to growing so please excuse all the questions I just want to make sure I get it right

Thanks in advance

[New shoot]

Do you know which varieties of raspberries you have PP as there are differences between the growing systems for summer and autumn fruiting ones. 

Blackcurrants grow as a free standing shrub so need to put up supports.

Both will be better in the ground and plant with plenty of homemade compost or well rotted manure as all soft fruit plants are greedy feeders 

[PembsPanther]

Hello Thanks for taking the time to reply, the raspberries say  rubus idaeus which from what I can gather from Dr Google is basically raspberry in latin so not too much help there so they are basically unidentified...........

They look like 2 or 3 twigs about 6-8 inches high with a root system in a plastic bag, they look dead as a door nail to me but the lady in the shop was adamant they are fine.

[New shoot]

Hhhhmmmmmmm  Should be shooting leaves out by now PP so you may be right.

I'd stick them in a pot and see if they do grow before going to the trouble of building supports for them  

[DD.]

Think I'd be heading back to the shop, but not to buy more! 

[JayG]

Give the roots of all of them a good soak (at least a few hours) before planting, but if they are so dry they look a bit shrivelled (or worse still, brittle  ) I wouldn't be looking up jam recipes just yet.

[digalotty]

as jayg says put them in a bucket of water and hope they will recover and give them a couple of hours or even overnight

[fatcat1955]

Scratch the bark with your thumbnail. If you see green underneath all is fine. If it is brown take them back.

[PembsPanther]

Hello everyone

Thanks for all your replies Well the one I have brought in the house definately seems as dead as a dodo the bark is very very brown and hard and when scratched it is brown all the way through and dry, had a look at the roots which are wrapped in a plastic bag in some compost and as soon as I opened the bag I got a whiff of mould, roots dry to the bone and grey in colour really not healthy so that is at least 1 that is a gonner the others are in the back garden so I will check on these is a while

Oh well learnt something new today

Thanks again for the replies I appreciate your time replying

[love-my-plot]

Just to say, all my rasps and blackcurrant were  bought in "pound stretcher" of all places,  a few yrs back and have been fantastic croppers. Both unknown variety and looked dead when I opened them up. I soaked them in buckets of water for a few hrs before planting. I dug a fair bit of rotted manure into planting holes and they have been prolific croppers for the past 3 yrs. So you might get lucky yet 

[PembsPanther]

Just to say, all my rasps and blackcurrant were  bought in "pound stretcher" of all places,  a few yrs back and have been fantastic croppers. Both unknown variety and looked dead when I opened them up. I soaked them in buckets of water for a few hrs before planting. I dug a fair bit of rotted manure into planting holes and they have been prolific croppers for the past 3 yrs. So you might get lucky yet 

Yes this is the plan now, I am not going to take them back for the sake of a quid so in a bucket for a few hours then in some good compost and feed see what happens, they either will or won't

Funnily enough I have just got back from Pound Stretcher, I did go to B&Q originally for some of the half price decking they had to make some raised beds  but the offer finished yesterday grrrrrrrrrrr so in disgust walked out and went to Pound Stretcher instead, glad I did now got a few good things cheap as chips!

Thanks for the reply

[fatcat1955]

Panther, where in Pembrokeshire are you? I have a lot of family down there mainly Tenby and Manorbier.