Not looking like a good harvest this year

[Lucina]

Has anyone mentioned that the lack of bees might be part of the poor harvest problem this year? I've seen very few bees this summer and I know beekeepers in our village have lost many bees and have produced little or no honey. (I'm in Fife.) Or is blackthorn wind pollinated??

[Col]

Has anyone mentioned that the lack of bees might be part of the poor harvest problem this year? I've seen very few bees this summer and I know beekeepers in our village have lost many bees and have produced little or no honey. (I'm in Fife.) Or is blackthorn wind pollinated??

Just going by what little I remember of zoology 1.1.1 (from the 1970s), if the flowers are white, they attract flies to pollinate them. Bees see yellows and purples and violets, and so bee-pollinated flowers - like clover, buttercups etc, tend to be those colours.

I am blaming the weather!

Col

[3Musketeers]

Bad harvest is definately due to the fact that the weather was bad at the time of pollination and there were simply no insects around to do the job.

Let's hope next year is better as in my search this year I have found lots of bushes - obviously with no fruit this year - but next year - well who knows I might need to buy a seperate sloe only freezer.

[nidgelowe]

Went picking yesteday in Norfolk picked 3lb in about 15 minutes,sloes do not seem to be affected here.

[Ricco]

Wish I could find some near Cardiff

[Early Bird]

Moonich they are indeed over the other side across from the car park. There is a path that runs past the football pitches and there are a couple of trees there as well as one damson/bullace? tree. The best sloe patch is through the trees onto another path that runs parallel. A good tip about the road to the leisure center though, I must check it out for blossom.

[freon warrior]

Here in Sandhurst it is looking quite poor this year.

[banherb2000]

Slightly odd this year! My normal places are somewhat sparse but there are large quantities of ready-now sloes at other places which, historically, have been pretty poor Picked 3 kilos in 45 mins over weekend - all very strange!

[spammeplease]

I refer you to my previous answer this time last year..

In my limited experience:

- Some bushes never have any sloes;
- Some bushes nearly always have sloes;
- Some bushes inexplicably have loads of sloes one year;
- Some bushes inexplicably have no sloes one year;
- Some bushes pretend that they won't have any all summer, but then do by late September.

That said, last year I ended up picking nearly all of my harvest from one location which has never let me down, and this year there are hardly any there. I may even have to walk an extra 100 yards to the other side of the field.

The damsons are good, though. Just making up a couple of batches now.

[ibbmeister]

Well i went out and about up in the Scottish Borders and all my usual picking places are barren of all but one small green sloe Also a lot of the bushes seem to be dead,no leaves at all and worse still most of the others seem to be in the grip of some parasitic or fungal attack......it is strange though that near by elderberry,rosehip and various other bushes (even in the same hedgerow) seem unaffected??? has anyone else come across this????

[Col]

Well i went out and about up in the Scottish Borders and all my usual picking places are barren of all but one small green sloe Also a lot of the bushes seem to be dead,no leaves at all and worse still most of the others seem to be in the grip of some parasitic or fungal attack......it is strange though that near by elderberry,rosehip and various other bushes (even in the same hedgerow) seem unaffected??? has anyone else come across this????

This is not good news. I have not been out yet, but my picking spots are all in the Scottish borders! I will let you know what I find when I get down there.

Col

[freon warrior]

A friend has a farm in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, found this one bush!

[OBG]

Freon warrior,

Is the picture you posted a bullace bush/tree? I know these pictures always create debate. I have a tree very similar near to me, the fruits are larger than traditional sloes, but the larger fruits are still astringent like sloes and not sweet like damsons.

[freon warrior]

I am convinced it is Blackthorn, I have a closeup which has a large thorn! Will post it up.

Here you go.

[penguinbrau]

I've not been to my usual sloe picking area yet but the damson trees in the nearby fields are completely bare! Not a good sign if this is repeated by the blackthorn. This is slightly compensated by the abundance of blackberries in the alleyway behind our house.