Fruit Bush in shops

[veg4681]

I checked out the following stores and found these great bargains:
Pounland has red currant, raspberry, blueberry (cheapest blueberry bush!) and maybe gooseberry but variety is not specified on the box.

Woolworth has half price on fruit bushes with variety specified on box e.g. Tayberry £1.99 Cranberry £2.49, 6 runners Cambridge strawberry £1.99, black currant Ben Lomond £1.99, Chinese Gooseberry (a miniature kiwi) £1.99, the usual raspberry, also have stuffs like wine black/white Grapes, Kiwi, Olive, Citrus something, Pomegranate and Gooseberry.

Wilko has similar fruit range (including fig, dwarf apple/pear) as Woolworth with similar pricing. Variety not always specified on box so I wasn't too keen.

Not any of the raspberry in any of the stores specified for variety!

Wilko strawberry are Honeoye (early season), Elsanta (mid season) and Ostara (perpetual/everbearer) at £1.50 each for a pack of 3 runners.

[rustylady]

They're all good value, but make sure you check inside the box to be sure the plant is still alive.

[shirlthegirl43]

They're all good value, but make sure you check inside the box to be sure the plant is still alive.

Very good advice RL - I was looking at oranges and lemons in Woolies today and they were a bit poorly looking

[Seahorse]

You're my kind of girl Veg!

* See Seahorse obsessively ferreting through cut price fruits for the best bargain!

[seasprout]

I also saw quite a few crispy specimens in my local Wilkinson's and Woolworth's today.

I do think however you get what you pay for.
Stuff I got from these shops last year has been rubbish, those that pulled through will need several years to mature before fruiting, eg my Gooseberry, red currant.

Stuff I paid more for from specialist nurseries produced within months of me receiving them.
I guess you pay your money for a bit of a gamble.

[veg4681]

I also saw quite a few crispy specimens in my local Wilkinson's and Woolworth's today.

I do think however you get what you pay for.
Stuff I got from these shops last year has been rubbish, those that pulled through will need several years to mature before fruiting, eg my Gooseberry, red currant.

Stuff I paid more for from specialist nurseries produced within months of me receiving them. I guess you pay your money for a bit of a gamble.

I don't know much about specialist nurseries (but reckon you pay over £10 for anything) but there doesn't appear to be much difference between the online fruit suppliers and fruit bush from shops (sold this way).

My online Tayberry was £4.95 and Woolworth's is £1.99 and they look similar in age ! I paid a whopping £5.95 for my Cranberry and Woolworth's is £2.49 but my online is better and much bigger so no regrets there. Blueberry was worth it because I wanted a specific variety but the size is no different to Woolies. One thing I got from Woolies that no one else is doing is Chinese Gooseberry (mini Kiwi) that I can't even find online so I'm throughly chuffed with this find.

[kentvegplot]

I bought some yesterday from Woolies - all good looking plants and don't seem to be too battered. Just need the weather to dry up a bit so I can get them in.......

[hypnophil]

I just bought a sauvignon blanc vine and hopefully i will get some other bushes, i would like blueberry tayberry maybe a kiwi, all from woolies.
Will they fruit this year? any of them? or will it be next year?
And is there a better chance for the £3.99 vine over the £2.49? not much difference in size really.
by the way kentvegplot, what did you buy?

[Lizzy]

Fruit Bushes in Shops

I also went to Woolies and bought a Kiwi, Pomegrante and Cranberry, they all look healthy - a bargin at half price.

[kentvegplot]

by the way kentvegplot, what did you buy?

Tayberry, Redcurrant, Blackcurrant, Gooseberry plus some ornamentals too (roses, acer, potato vine, wiegela)...all the fruit was £1.99, bargain! They all look strong, standing in the g/house waiting for a dry day for planting.

[Habanero]

Hi guys,

I bought some of this half price fruit from woolies last year and it has done ok, but not great. biggest successes have been the 2 tayberry canes and 2 loganberry canes I bought as they all grew somethin gliek 3- 4 foot each last summer. You won't get any fruit in the first year of planting from these small canes, mainly because these canes fruit on the prevvious seasons growth which you only have a tiny bit off. To compare, I planted a well established Tayberry (in a pot) I got from a garden centre and it grew amazing well last year, probably at least twice as much as the woolies plants and I got fruit from it as well. It grew so well i have erected wires to support its various canes that shot up. Fortunately it was in a sale so I only paid £1.99 for it rather than the usual £7 or £8.

I also got some red currants from woolies and they did nothing last year. I cannot even spot any new wood on them.

so, my experience is that the cane fruits should do ok but if you want something to establish quickly (like me) I would pay the £7 or whatever for a well established canes from a nursery etc. The gooseberries from woolies tend to be very small compared to the bushes you can get from garden centres and nurseries so will take some time to get going I think. Yes, I think you get what you pay for and I don't want to wait even longer for my first good harvest! you will find places like Homebase selling much more established bushes and canes for only a couple of quid more and in much better condition.

hope this helps guys!

[veg4681]

so, my experience is that the cane fruits should do ok but if you want something to establish quickly (like me) I would pay the £7 or whatever for a well established canes from a nursery etc. The gooseberries from woolies tend to be very small compared to the bushes you can get from garden centres and nurseries so will take some time to get going I think. Yes, I think you get what you pay for and I don't want to wait even longer for my first good harvest! you will find places like Homebase selling much more established bushes and canes for only a couple of quid more and in much better condition.

Thank you for telling us of your experience with cheap and nursery fruit bushes. I think deep down, we all roughly know what we're letting ourselves into when we fall for these cheap fruit bushes. It's disheartening fact that you do get what you pay for.

Interesting point that Tayberry and Loganberry were more successful so if you don't mind waiting the extra year, it may be worth it for the cheap price which probably isn't relevant for woodier fruit bush (currant, gooseberry, jostaberry, blueberry) requiring more time to develop/establish themselves into mature plants.

If I see a cheap Loganberry (didn't see it in Woolies though), I'd go for it with all the patience in the world . BTW my online Tayberry was substantially expensive than Woolies but I hope at least it's the same quality as your nursery one to fruit in the first year...fingers crossed.

[Habanero]

The loganberry canes I bought from Woolies for £1.99 grew very well last year considering they looked pretty crappy when I planted them. I think they grew something like 5- 6 foot without any major attention so hopefully this year they will bear some fruit. The reason I bought them was out of curiosity - can something costing £1.99 be as good as something from a garden centre costing £7- £8? No is the answer and seeing as you only tend to buy these items once per plot then the extra £6 or something you spend is nothing over many years the canes are bearing fruit, if that makes sense :-)

My strategy was to buy some of this cheap fruit and some decent stuff from garden centres and nurserys because I fully expected the cheap stuff not to do as well, therefore i had "backup" fruit!

On another point, I don't know if this cheap fruit is certified disease free.

[JanieB]

When I was first gardening for myself (as opposed to for my parents) there were no garden centres. If you wanted to buy seed you bought it from your local ironmongers or from a catalogue. OR mostly it was got from other local gardeners.

When you pay £6/7 pounds for something at a garden centre you are getting something that has already had the preparatory work done. When you are paying £1/2 you are buying effectively what an old gardener would have got from his neighbour either free or as a swop knowing it might fail or would take a year or so longer to get established.

That didn't matter as you knew that you had your garden for X number of years and it would be productive in the future.

Just read that back. I hope it makes sense.

[veg4681]

I was at a store called InStore (like Poundstretcher) and they have newly stocked fruit berry bushes at £1.99 each of the raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, blackcurrant, red currant and even white currant that I haven't seen in any other store. No fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry etc) though. None of the fruits are named variety so you take your chances.

BTW they sell Suttons seeds and another unheard of brand name seeds which starts from 50p onwards (I think) but the vegetable variety are somewhat standard as with B&Q, Wilko and perhaps Woolies.