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caroljeanb_gw

NO fruit on raspberry plants

caroljeanb
13 years ago

I tended them all summer, weeding them and giving them some plant food, but by summer's end, they had grown up into strong, tall bushes, healthy looking, but they had not raspberries, not one! What am I doing wrong?

Comments (37)

  • glenn_russell
    13 years ago

    Hi Carol-
    We need a little more information. Did they just get planted this year? Are they a summer bearing variety, or a fall bearing variety? If they're a summer bearing variety, then it is normal for them to only give berries in their second year. I.e. With summer raspberries, you get your berries on the 2nd year canes called floricanes, and not on the 1st year canes, called primocanes. With fall bearing varieties, you do get berries in their 1st year on the primocanes. -Glenn

  • ericwi
    13 years ago

    Were there any flowers on your raspberry canes? Is there were, then a lack of pollinators, typically bumblebees, could be the cause of no fruit. We have plenty of bees every summer, partly because of the flowers we grow, and partly because the neighbors have plenty of flowers, and, apparently, bee habitat.

  • sfbaygardener
    13 years ago

    I planted my raspberries this year in january, and they came from the store with part of last years cane. so it sprouted from that cane and got fruit off of it, and its also sprouting its next round of canes for next year which dont get fruit....sounds to mee like you got a bunch of first year canes....but i coudl be wrong. my raspberries are in almost full shade and I get a nice size crop, specially for being first year. hope that helps

    ~Mike

  • annschroll48_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I had no flowers or fruit on my raspberry bushes. The canes were healthy and beautiful. I waited all summer long to now and still nothing. Last year we transplanted them because they weren't growing to this spot. What happened do you think?

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    Any updates? We've had the same problem for about 5 years. Lots of flowers, healthy plant, no fruit.


  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Well what is pictured is not a raspberry for one. Looks to be Rubus species so should have some berries. Looks like a wineberry, sort of. i didn't think they has that big of flowers. Flower looks like a blackberry.

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I'm not sure exactly what they are. My wife bought a few berry plants a few years ago and she can't remember what they are. Maybe boysen, raspberry, blackberry. They have lots of tiny thorns like hair. I remember these had some very small miserable fruit a couple years ago, few red balls like part of a whole berry.

    They get direct sun until about noon. I transplanted a bunch this year to other locations in full sun.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Probably some blackberry. Either cane borers or other insects. The plant could have a virus. When brambles become unproductive it is usually a virus. I myself have not seen this happen. You could try feeding it, but usually they produce some no matter what. If a virus the soil there is no good for brambles for the next 6 years.

    A very slim chance it needs a pollinator. Most brambles are self fertile, wild types are not.
    As it seems healthy otherwise.

  • Molex 7a NYC
    8 years ago

    May not be suitable for your climate, if you are 9b you may be better off with some of the varieties grown in Northern California. Heritage is always a recommended foolproof variety for most zones, even out west


  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    Thanks guys. I touched them up with a Qtip this week. Seem to all be no fruit still. I wasn't aware blackberries come small like this - I'm used to the thick cane type. Not sure the type they are, but they are crazy vigorous - came up through the washing machine pipes and leaves in the bathroom. Will keep an eye out for Hertitage.

    Any suggestions?

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    Well, here's the results, red fruit like this fuly ripe now early season. Sucks I know. What kind of plant is this?:


  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    You do have some disease process going on here, just not sure what??
    The leaves look like they have a fungus. The drupe damage is still unknown why, but for sure you do have something wrong with the plant.


  • pip313
    8 years ago

    Zone 9b huh? Does raspberries grow in 9b? What's your chill hours on average each year?

  • jerry63
    8 years ago

    Crumbly berries like that are a sign of virus infected stock . They likely were infected when purchased . It has happened to me once . Common in wild berries . Could have come in on pollen from wild plants . I doubt that since they never had full berries . Destroy them . Nothing else you can do . Purchase certified virus free plants next time .

  • jtburton
    8 years ago

    The purple circles are a type fungus and I agree with the other members above that you probably have a virus infected plant. At a lower probability, you may also have a problem with not enough chill hours for your blackberry plant to fruit properly. You really can't solve either of the previous causes, so if you want fruit, you probably will have to get a new plant.

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    I'll ask an expert about local chill hours, but I think they would probably be okay. If it's a virus, is it endless? I took cuttings from this huge plant and put them into different locations this year. Must these cuttings also be destroyed?

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    If a virus yes, if fungal or something else, it may be treated.


  • jerry63
    8 years ago

    Virus is endless . It can be spread by aphids and pollen to infect new plants . It takes a lab and tissue culture to get virus free again . They basically grow the plant faster than the virus can infect new tissue and then tissue culture . My experience was over 30 years ago . I bought Darrow blackberry from Millers nursery . The plants grew great and bloomed great . Only a few crumbles for berries and not many of those . It took about 4 years for me to find someone who knew what it was . Millers started advertising virus free stock after that . I never bought Darrow again . Never had virus again but I see it in wild patches when I pick . I find patches of black raspberry and blackberries with a few crumbly berries . Other patches are normal .

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    This year I'm spending more care on the plants then before. I've just noticed a few berries forming that look perfectly normal however most of them are patchy. This still likely means a virus correct?

  • pip313
    8 years ago

    Yeah, maybe. I still wouldn't rule out lack of chill hours until you know for sure.

    Do you really like raspberries? Because what was said above about how your best bet was to remove them and start over was true. So was the comment that it could take 5 years for the virus to leave your land. Also unfortunately until you positively identify what virus you will risk other species being hosts while your trying in vein to "start fresh".

  • Kevin Reilly
    8 years ago

    I'm in 9b with Fall Gold, Anne, Autumn Bliss, Caroline, Heritage, and Taylor. All of them fruit fine. You also have flowers, just not fruit. Plants that don't get enough chill will not flower. Chill is not the problem.

    I would start new berries in a different location, dig those out and burn them since they aren't producing (and could be infected).

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    Ok thanks I'll get rid of them. How long should you wait before you plant new ones in the same location?

  • pip313
    8 years ago

    It might not even matter. You could get rid of them for 100 years and do no good if you have other plants acting as a host. And some common raspberry viruses have common hosts.


    I urge you to do your best to identify what virus and eliminate all known hosts in your area. I wouldn't like to hear that your new patch took a crap within a few years.

  • jtburton
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Aside from getting your plants tested for viruses, it is usually recommended that you try to remove or kill off any wild varieties of similar berries in a reasonable vicinity. I usually take Roundup and walk around my property looking for wild blackberries and raspberries and spray them before they mature. You may also want to use Roundup on your personal plants, assuming they are infected, to kill them to the root, before you remove them. If you dig them up and leave live roots behind, the berry plants can reemerge with the virus still resident in their tissue. Once you kill off the hosts, it should be safe to replant.

  • pip313
    8 years ago

    Ok but what about the fact that other species can host the viruses? Such as tomato. And without knowing what virus you can not know if every host is gone.

    Tomato ring spot virus-

    Slow growing plants with crumbly berries.

    Spread my nematodes.

    Hosts tomato, geraniums, raspberry, and others.

    I say keep the plants an use them to compare to and research all raspberry diseases. Start with ring spot.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    The spot will not be usable. It can live in the soil for years. So it doesn't need a tomato plant. Wait 5 years to plant brambles there. Grow something else. Currants, honeyberries. I figure I can grow kiwi on the raspberry trellis if it happens to me.


  • pip313
    8 years ago

    I don't get what people don't understand about how not planting there for 5 years means nothing if the bugs that live around there have access to other hosts. What's he going to get 3 years before reinfection via insects?


    Again, more than raspberries can have the virus. Getting rid of only raspberries is pointless.


    To use a human analogy, lots of black people in Africa had Ebola, did that mean banning Africans would stop the virus spread? No because the fact that they were black people (raspberries) means nothing when all other races (other plant species) can have it too.

  • jtburton
    8 years ago

    While I'm not discouraging the OP from getting a proper virus test, there is also matter of risk reduction vs risk elimination. The cost in effort to eliminate all of the virus hosts may not provide much more protection than eliminating the most commons hosts at much less effort.

    I'm adding a link to the University of KY Ag department document pertaining to sterility in blackberries and how to reduce the risk of future infection. This seems to correlate closely with the original post's problem. See page 11 and decide for yourself. Growing Blackberries in Ky

  • theniceguy
    8 years ago

    Thanks guys. Jtburton, I had read through that article actually a couple months ago. A few berries ended up developing okay and I was able to get a good sampling. The taste is quite bland so I think I'll just let them go and not worry about growing berries here anymore. At two other locations far away I've started thornless blackberries and they're starting to bud, so I'm looking forward to seeing what those taste like.

  • Christin Brown
    8 years ago

    I am still in the same boat. No berries no flowers just healthy plants. They are red raspberry plants. This has been going on for 5 years now. I trimmed them back in January. I have taken care of these plants along with my daughter for so long we are getting so upset with this. Any ideas?

  • jtburton
    8 years ago

    What type of climate do you have?

  • Manny Suarez
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Im in miami and my rasberry doesn't flower any ideas its def big enough and very Heathy I'm pretty sure it's a fall bearer.oh and good luck with your plant !

  • Manny Suarez
    8 years ago


  • jtburton
    8 years ago

    Could be the chill hour requirement for floricane-fruiting raspberries. Miami doesn't have many chill hours due to the warm climate. Those look like black raspberries which would need several hundred chill hours to fruit properly unless they were a newer primocane-fruiting (e.g. Fall fruiting) variety.

  • PRO
    SouthEnd Farm
    8 years ago

    If you over fertilize your berries they will grow huge and bushy, but have little to no berries. Depending on where each of you is located the berries could be getting too cold in winter. They are regrowing, but the energy is going into the plant rather than blooming and setting fruit. In too warm of locations they don't get cold enough.

  • Francesco Delvillani
    8 years ago

    They are biennial plant....they fruit on two-years old wood and that dies at the end of summer.