Posted by Steve Kind on June 12, 2010, 6:56 am
I have had a cultivated blackberry briar (Bedfordshire something I
think)
growing on my fence for 24 years. Each year it puts up a new stem
(in it's early
days it was 2) which grows up to 18 feet in the course of
the year while last
year's growth is bearing fruit. In the winter I cut
the old growth right back to
the base, leaving the new stem to bear
fruit the following summer.
Yesterday I noticed that this year's new stem, currently about three
feet tall,
had flopped over - the six inches of green growth at the end
is completely
flacid :( There is no sign of damage or withering leaves
yet - but this morning
it looks even limper.
Looking at the current fruiting stem, I reckon it has a lot less flowers
than
I'd expect for the time of year, and only on the lower half.
Do blackberry briars simply die of old age??? Or is this a disease? Is
there
anything I can do?
Advice gratefully recieved.
--
Steve Kind
Posted by songbird on June 13, 2010, 10:27 am
Steve Kind wrote:
> I have had a cultivated blackberry briar (Bedfordshire
> something I
> think) growing on my fence for 24 years. Each year it puts up a
> new
> stem (in it's early days it was 2) which grows up to 18 feet in
> the
> course of the year while last year's growth is bearing fruit.
> In the
> winter I cut the old growth right back to the base, leaving the
> new
> stem to bear fruit the following summer.
> Yesterday I noticed that this year's new stem, currently about
> three
> feet tall, had flopped over - the six inches of green growth
> at the
> end is completely flacid :( There is no sign of damage or
> withering
> leaves yet - but this morning it looks even limper.
> Looking at the current fruiting stem, I reckon it has a lot
> less
> flowers than I'd expect for the time of year, and only on the
> lower
> half.
> Do blackberry briars simply die of old age??? Or is this a
> disease? Is
> there anything I can do?
> Advice gratefully recieved.
how is the other cane doing?
could be a lot of things,
can you describe the surroundings
more? has anything changed?
has the neighbor sprayed it with
herbicide? have you fertilized the
surrounding area recently? has
something else been changed or
dug up in the area?
songbird
Posted by Steve Kind on June 14, 2010, 7:08 am
'songbird[_2_ Wrote:
> ;890923']Steve Kind wrote:
> -
> I have had a cultivated blackberry briar (Bedfordshire
> something I
> think) growing on my fence for 24 years. Each year it puts up a
> new
> stem (in it's early days it was 2) which grows up to 18 feet in
> the
> course of the year while last year's growth is bearing fruit.
> In the
> winter I cut the old growth right back to the base, leaving the
> new
> stem to bear fruit the following summer.
>
> Yesterday I noticed that this year's new stem, currently about
> three
> feet tall, had flopped over - the six inches of green growth
> at the
> end is completely flacid :( There is no sign of damage or
> withering
> leaves yet - but this morning it looks even limper.
>
> Looking at the current fruiting stem, I reckon it has a lot
> less
> flowers than I'd expect for the time of year, and only on the
> lower
> half.
>
> Do blackberry briars simply die of old age??? Or is this a
> disease? Is
> there anything I can do?
>
> Advice gratefully recieved.-
>
> how is the other cane doing?
>
> could be a lot of things,
> can you describe the surroundings
> more? has anything changed?
> has the neighbor sprayed it with
> herbicide? have you fertilized the
> surrounding area recently? has
> something else been changed or
> dug up in the area?
>
>
> songbird
The other cane (this year's fruiting cane) looks healthy - though I
think there
may be less flowers on it than usual.
The only change I can think of is that the briar is right next to an
outside
toilet that we are re-furbishing. A couple of weeks ago we laid
new concrete on
the existing cracked and broken floor - it is possible
that some limey water
seeped down to the roots. When I thought of this
yestrday I doused the area
round the cane with rainwater from the tanks
- and it rained heavily later. This
morning the droopy stem is beginning
to come upright again :)
--
Steve Kind
Posted by songbird on June 14, 2010, 2:42 pm
Steve Kind wrote:
...
> The other cane (this year's fruiting cane) looks healthy -
> though I
> think there may be less flowers on it than usual.
> The only change I can think of is that the briar is right next
> to an
> outside toilet that we are re-furbishing. A couple of weeks ago
> we
> laid new concrete on the existing cracked and broken floor - it
> is
> possible that some limey water seeped down to the roots. When I
> thought of this yestrday I doused the area round the cane with
> rainwater from the tanks - and it rained heavily later. This
> morning
> the droopy stem is beginning to come upright again :)
probably it. :)
songbird
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> something I
> think) growing on my fence for 24 years. Each year it puts up a
> new
> stem (in it's early days it was 2) which grows up to 18 feet in
> the
> course of the year while last year's growth is bearing fruit.
> In the
> winter I cut the old growth right back to the base, leaving the
> new
> stem to bear fruit the following summer.
> Yesterday I noticed that this year's new stem, currently about
> three
> feet tall, had flopped over - the six inches of green growth
> at the
> end is completely flacid :( There is no sign of damage or
> withering
> leaves yet - but this morning it looks even limper.
> Looking at the current fruiting stem, I reckon it has a lot
> less
> flowers than I'd expect for the time of year, and only on the
> lower
> half.
> Do blackberry briars simply die of old age??? Or is this a
> disease? Is
> there anything I can do?
> Advice gratefully recieved.