what's wrong with the Jerusalem Cherry

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donnerville Damascus, MD(Zone 7a) Sep 16, 2008

I have been growing Jerusalem Cherries for years, and this is the first time I have had this problem. The plant is 2 years old and is in a pot in full sun. Can anybody please help me to ID the cause of the damaged berries? The leaves are still very healthy. I didn't see any bugs on the plant. The berries seem to crack and then rot, and finally fall off. Is it a disease? Was it caused by irregular watering? I was traveling quite a bit in late August to early September. The plant probably wasn't watered very well when I was away. And then we got about 5" of rain a couple of weeks ago. Now about 30% of the berries on the plant have this problem :-(

Thanks.

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trackinsand mid central, FL(Zone 9a) Sep 17, 2008

i think you solved your own mystery-irregular watering would be my guess too.

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donnerville Damascus, MD(Zone 7a) Sep 18, 2008

Thank you for the reply. I will be careful with watering. Hopefully, the plant will recover a bit during the remaining weeks of the season.

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Sep 21, 2008

Hi Donnerville, I also think it was the watering that did it, lack of water, the plant dries out and this makes the berries/fruit stop expanding, then you added water and the fruit took this up all in one go and caused the fruit/berries to fatten/plump up too fast so they burst their skins, this offten happens with Tomato's too, I would remove all the fruit/berries and let the plant settle a bit, you never know, you might get another flush of flowers followed by fruit again before the season ends, if not, then the plant will get time to build up and recover for the next flowering season. Once you feel it has got over the shock of watering sparadicly, then you can give it a half dose ofliquid feed at one of your watering times and this will be like a tonic to boost the growth again. good luck. WeeNel.

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donnerville Damascus, MD(Zone 7a) Sep 21, 2008

Thank you, WeeNel. You explained the cause of cracked fruit in such a way that it is very easy for me to understand :-).

The plant still has some flowers and green berries on it. Hopefully I still have enough berries to enjoy over the winter. Only the orange ones have cracked. I am more careful with watering now. I will take your advice and remove all the damaged berries.

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