Redcurrants - Advice Needed, please

[Indigo23]

The single redcurrant bush that we inherited when we took over our allotment appears to have set a nice amount of fruit. We haven't done anything with the bush since taking over the plot at the end of April, except weed around it.

The smallest berries at the very ends of the trusses are starting to turn red but they are shrivelling up and none of the other berries further along the trusses are showing any signs of turning. I have no experience of growing fruit so I am wondering if this is normal.

[FB.]

In recent weeks the amount of rain here in Cambs has been quite low (low compared to last year, but normal compared to our usual drought summers).
Currants, raspberries, strawberries and other "soft fruits" are very heavy water users.
In this area, I've noticed a lot of plants are beginning to show water stress symptoms - even my pears on "full size" seedling roots are wilting, while some of my M25 apples are also looking floppy in the afternoons in this warm dry spell. The MM111 apples are not yet showing signs of water stress.

[boundtothesoil]

The smallest berries at the very ends of the trusses are starting to turn red but they are shrivelling up and none of the other berries further along the trusses are showing any signs of turning.

I wouldn't worry. Wait a couple more weeks. The berries along a truss don't ripen simultaneously. Quite often only half the berries on a truss actually develop into fully ripe fruit. Some just shrivel and some remain so tiny that they aren't worth picking. The most important thing to do in my opinion, in the expectation of redness, is to cover the bush with netting. Otherwise the Blackbirds will have the lot!

[Indigo23]

Thanks for the advice, Grapes.

FB, I did wonder last night if they were perhaps dry so the OH did give the bush a good watering. Strangely, I thought the apple tree looked dry, with floppy leaves. I wonder if we should give it a good soaking?

Boundtothesoil, I've got some netting lined up, and that will be one of my next jobs, along with netting the strawberries.

[FB.]

Strangely, I thought the apple tree looked dry, with floppy leaves. I wonder if we should give it a good soaking?

What to do with the apple would depend on:
1. Which rootstock.
2. Which variety.
3. How old it is.
4. How big it is and how it is trained.

If it's on MM106 rootstock, it may need watering as that rootstock really struggles in dry soil which can affect the tree health, vigour and cropping. In recent years quite a lot of Suffolk and Cambs community orchards have been having a lot of trouble with this rootstock because it struggles in the usually-dry summers.

[Indigo23]

Unfortunately, I know nothing about the apple tree as we inherited it with the plot.

[Two_Sheds]

Assume the worst then, and give it about 22 litres a week

(I came by that figure somewhere, and it's stuck in my head. Two little ducks, water ...

[FB.]

Unfortunately, I no nothing about the apple tree as we inherited it with the plot.

If it has been there many years it's probably able to fend for itself. If it's a tree of a good size it should be able to find all the water it needs from deep in the soil.

[Indigo23]

One thing I should have perhaps mentioned is that the previous plot-holders had tried to dig up the tree at some time close to us getting the plot. It seems they gave up when they realised just how far the root spread was but not before managing to snap one root! We carefully back-filled the hole and firmed it back in well and crossed our fingers. It flowered well and appears to have set a decent amount of fruit so I guess we just need to watch and wait.

Last night when we popped up to check on the previous evening's plantings, the tree looked happier following the rain we'd had overnight and again yesterday afternoon.

As for the redcurrants, I think I can see a few of the more sizable berries just starting to turn colour now.

ETA: I found a picture of the apple tree taken a couple or so weeks after we got the plot.