[Titfertat]

Are these two plants good neighbours?

And old hand on my plot says that blackcurrants exude something into the soil which retards the growth of other plants nearby (??) and as I want to remove a row of blackcurrants and replace it with a rows of newly acquired whips I'm just a bit worried that the rasps won't flourish.

Anyone heard of this problem with blackcurrants and will I be safe putting my rasps in where blackcurrants have been?

[muntjac]

i always put them away from each other .cos others did it that way .n fresh ground  

[gobs]

Curious, I have never heard of this.

Black walnut is notorious for what you describe.

[londongardener]

I have a jostaberry and things seem to grow nearby.
I know it is not the same but they are not that different.

[splodger]

1 of the reasons for not having these two too close to each other is that they both send out a mass of  roots close to the surface

and blackcurrants produce many more surface roots  - the two will end up fighting for the same space - so neither will do that well if in direct competition for the same ground

hope that helps  

[Trillium]

Okay, here's the spanner in the works.
My blackcurrants are right next to my raspberries and both are very happy together. I give them all as much manure as I can spare in the fall, mulch them all well for the summer and they're all thriving. The raspberries send runners everywhere regardless of what is near them, so I just dig them up with a lot of soil and move them to any empty spots. The currants do put in loads of roots but in a circular pattern, whereas raspberries are strictly linear.  If the currant roots exude any sort of chemical, the raspberries obviously don't mind it because they grow right through the currant rows. I also have gooseberries and the raspberries are happy around them too.

[gobs]

I'm glad, you said that, Trill, I have seen all sorts of soft fruit growing happily together, that's Ok.

On the other hand, however little allelopathy is researched, we do know there is re-planting disease, and as they are related, just so you won't come back shouting at us, in case it happens, would be safer to advise to plant them somewhere else.

[Trillium]

thanks Gobs, but I've been moving them out of the currant rows for years. Obviously they don't know they're not supposed to be thriving there. Could be that it's a hybrid raspberry that's growing beside the currants and it's a very vigorous grower. I'll break the bad news to them in the spring   :cry:  

[gobs]

Don't spoil there blissful ignorance.

[Titfertat]

Thanks everyone.

I think the chap on my allotment might have been alluding to the spread of the b/c roots so, given that I'm taking a whole row of b/cs out (and I improve the soil they were in), I think there'll be sufficient distance between the remaining rows of b/cs to risk it.

The again I'll need room to pick from both sides.....now where's my tape measure

[DellDGM]

while we are on raspberries I have just put 2 sticks in my garden and was told they won't fruit this year but probably next year my question is how and when and how often do you prune them - I was told to cut them off at the base every year but if this is true why won't I get fruit this year? :?  :?

[gobs]

Raspberries have primocane varieties, those that fruit on same year's new growth and those that fruit on previous year's growth, yours probably the letter, then pruning, correct, lose the dry, finished fruiting canes every year.

BTW, what is the climate and current weather like where you are, Dell?

[DellDGM]

sorry putting the kids to bed.

its spring , 33 degrees celcius it gets into the 40 in summer.  
so Hot, Hot, Hot.
Apparently Adelaide is the dryest state in the dryest continent, so not a lot of rain and we are on water restrictions so I can only water with drippers for 3 hours on a saturday and other than that I have to water with a 9 ltr wateriing can - no taps or hoses allowed :evil:

The rasberry I have is called chilcotin Rasberry and I have 2 of them

[gobs]

I was wondering along those lines, even if variety almost certainly developed for local conditions, might be a good idea to plant them somewhere shady.

[DellDGM]

I have them in a shady spot and they are doing will - I now have leaves (when I bought them they were sticks). I just wasn't sure when or how to prune them.