Flowers disappearing on red and black currants

[kathyd]

Hi - my currant bushes had lots of flowers on a few days ago, but 'something' seems to be stripping the flowers from their stalks... not the berries, the flowers! Although maybe berries too, not sure how I'd tell. I'm a bit confused, because I wouldn't have thought there were enough pests on the bushes at the moment to be doing the damage I've found - unless it's birds, and they eat flowers as well as unripe berries? Things I've found on the bushes so far include:

- A very small number (maybe half a dozen overall) of gooseberry sawfly caterpillars, although mostly on the redcurrants rather than the gooseberries

- A couple of very small bright green caterpillars similar in size to sawfly but a different colour

- A few small green beetles - no idea what they are

- A few black ants

Can anyone please hazard a guess at the culprit for me? I've not netted anything (yet!), but if the birds are behaving badly maybe it's time I started??

[zazen999]

I've already got gooseberries around an inch diameter; i grow mine in a bowl shape and have only ever found one sawfly which was very quickly stomped on.

I'd always reckon sawfly with currants and gooseberries. That's what they do.

[kathyd]

Thx for your reply Zaz. What do you mean 'in a bowl shape'... you mean you prune the bushes so it's a rounded shape? Concave? Convex? Photo??

The reason I'm not entirely convinced it's sawfly is that the leaves haven't been munched much, just the flower heads. When we had sawfly in Leeds, whole bushes were completely decimated within a few days... Plus the blackcurrant flowers have also been removed - and I thought sawfly didn't like blackcurrants? Or is that just another bit of wishful thinking...

[rustylady]

Are the flower stalks still there? Are you sure the flowers aren't just doing their usual thing and disappearing after pollination?

[Nicos]

Bullfinches strip flowers off fruit trees and bushes- have you seen any around??

[kathyd]

Flower stalks still there, but no 'endy bits', just a flat stem like they've been cut off with scissors. I'll see if I can get a photo after lunch.

Bullfinches... not sure Nicos - we've got lots of other tits and finches, but not noticed bullfinches I don't think... although the fruit bushes are behind the house, so I might not have seen them. I'll keep an eye open, and see if I can cobble some kind of netting together...

[kathyd]

OK, can't upload my photos at the moment cos my 'puter doesn't work properly, will try with OH's later. In the meantime - the blackcurrant berries appear to be drying out and dropping off as they change colour leaving the stalks I've described above... no idea why. Hasn't happened before... Any ideas? The redcurrant berries look OK so far, but they're still white and haven't started changing colour yet. The bare stalks look like the b/c ones though.

[Scarlet]

I think that's called something like "run-off" . Where the fruit hadn't developed correctly through stress with cold/frost maybe. I've just googled and can't find anything

[rustylady]

Sounds to me as if they've not been pollinated. Has it been cold and wet where you are Kathy?

[kathyd]

Thx both - I tried google too Scarlet and couldn't find anything very helpful. It's been cold certainly RL (frost last night, and another 3 deg forecast for tonight, which will be lower in the countryside where we are...), and wet too at times, although things have dried out quite a lot now. I wondered about pollination, but there are some berries on all the bushes, and on the b/cs some of the berries look as if they've formed but then shrivelled. But insects have certainly been quite thin on the ground . I think I'm resigned to not getting that fruit harvest I was hoping for this year anyway . If I can get onto Tony's computer later I'll upload the photos and see if they help at all. Thx for your suggestions so far anyhow.

[Tadpole123]

I have exactly the same problem on 1 of my red currents and thought it might be mice as it was close to the shed and no saw fly here. So in the autumn, dug it up and stuffed it into a massive pot in prime sunny position nowhere near the shed. And exactly the same thing has happened again this year.
The other 2 bushes covered in mini red currents, and this one has 50% stalks sticking off the fruit stems instead of fruit. It's 5 years old now and it's always done this, so it's being sent to my sons garden where it will be given one last chance. My gardens too small not to have everything productive as possible.
I'd love to know what causes it too.

[Scarlet]

Just popped in for another coffee break! Lovely out and I've managed to do loads today!
Anyway I've found this:
The Blackcurrant Foundation - The Blackcurrant | Growing | Guide For The Commercial Market

Look at "flowering" third paragraph down.

[kathyd]

Doh... so it's probably frost then . Thx Scarlet. At least I don't need to blame the birds anyway .