I actually prefer a good blackberry to a good raspberry. I’m not crazy about all the seeds in rasps. I bought my two blacks from Henry Fields. Bought 4 of the 6 rasps from Indiana Berry and two rasps from Tractor Supply. The triple crown just doesn’t look right to me. Its root mass was not as developed as the PAF and if I wiggle the stem there is a little more wiggle than I’d like to see.
I think everything I planted is ever bearing except for TC. I believe it’s a summer bearing with a spreading habit. I probably shouldn’t have gotten TC but I’ll see how it does.
The 4x4 posts were 8 feet long and they were buried 30 inches. My plan is to run wire at 2’ and at 4-5’.
Yep. They’re heavily mulched with pine bark chips in a raised soil bed heavily amended with peat moss. Some perlite mixed in too. I sprinkled a little sulfur soil acidifier on there as well. Sometimes I drop clumps of White Pine needles or hickory husks, but that’s just fluffity fluff.
I watered them once, heavily, upon planting, and that’s probably the last time I will ever water them!
Back East here, it usually drops plenty of Acid Rain to keep blueberries happy. Around here, they are on autopilot for the rest of their lives as long as you give them the proper start. It just rained here 5 days in a row. We are a population of manic depressives, but in summer, at least we have plenty of wholesome native American blueberries.
In northeast Pennsylvania, where I grew up, the dark legacy of coal mining further acidified the already acidic soil. Up there, the cold winters prevent one from growing too many exciting things, but you can grow world-class blueberries and tomatoes there with almost no effort. Just plunk them in the ground and walk away…
This was my first time trying sprinkling to prevent damage, I guess its actually the fact that water releases heat when it freezes that gives the flowers or fruitlets a bit of protection. But, I agree with you, if its enveloped in a layer of ice and the air temp drops to say 28, or 29, you would think the ice would also have an insulating effect against the cold air.
No, you’re right, our average last frost date is May 10th. As far as waking up early I think thats always going to be a problem with my Superior and Toka plum. The good thing is Toka seems to be pretty cold tolerant, last year it got down to about 25 on May 15th long after petal drop and fruit formation, and, while most of my orchard was wiped out, Toka actually set a pretty decent crop.
Hard to imagine that living where I do. Even with a record breaking winter, San Jose received just above average rainfall. No rain for six months now so I have to plan a watering schedule for every tree, especially the potted ones!
The ice has no insulating properties. And there is no heat of any extent to hold in. Wood and little fruits aren’t warm blooded.
It’s all about keeping the ice wet all the time until the ice melts in the morning. An ice/water mixture stays at or near 32F because as stated heat is released as water freezes. Think of it this way. We all know it takes a lot of heat input to melt ice. When ice forms there is exactly the same amount of heat output.
That’s the problem I have with our wild blackberries- too seedy, tart, and not that sweet. Mrs Dood likes them, but don’t know if she’s had any really good ones to compare them with. She’s canned a few of them, made jelly, etc.
The good commercial varieties are miles ahead of most wild blackberries for fresh eating out of hand. The wild blackberries shine in pies and cobblers in my opinion due to having enough acidity to balance the sweetness of the sugar.
Have you or folks in your area had any luck with apricots and peaches? I added a couple more peaches this year, and was going to try some 'cots, but decided against it because of bloom killing frosts.
The orchard we went to in central KY last year have a few peach trees, but they didn’t get any because of late freezes. This year they said that a lot of the king blooms got bit, but the other blooms seemed OK, but it’s still to early to tell. I hope they have some, because they are growing all four of the varieties we’re growing, and we’d like to see how they taste before ours produce. They don’t have any nects or 'cots, maybe a few cherry trees, tho.
Well, you’ve almost sold me on them, then. But, they’re going to have to wait until next season. Need something new to add next year. I would hope we’re done with adding trees, but perhaps we’ll try some more strawbs and blacks.
This was my first year for apricots, I got a nice bloom but we’ll see if I get fruit, it bloomed even earlier than the plums. I’ve gotten nice peaches from my Blushingstar peach in the past, which is in a half whiskey barrel and kept in the garage all winter, so, I kind of have to cheat to get a crop. Its at full bloom right now. I also have some blossoms just about to open on my Intrepid and Reliance peach which are planted in the ground out in the orchard.
What kind of apricot do you have? Sounds like you got some cold weather peaches, I’m not sure if Blushingstar is a hardy variety, tho. But, since you keep it inside it doesn’t matter. Have your Intrepid and Reliance produced anything?
I added that B-star and Contender this year. Plus, we planted a Redhaven and Coralstar last year. Those two trees pretty much languished all season last year, we had a lot of rain, and the soil is very acidic, not good for peaches, about 5.0. I put some triple 10 fert and some lime around them this year, and they look better already.
For the most part our soils are pretty acidic, I’ve had to lime almost all our veggie plots. Lots o’ lime. One 1500 sq ft plot needed over 150lb of the stuff! I understand the soils where you’re at have plenty of calcium?
Anyway, the Blushingstar and Contender were very nice trees, both of them were at least half and inch thick, and had good roots. They’ve already pushed out leaves. I put those and the new apple trees below the barn where the soil’s better.
Bb"s are already in, I had a makeshift enclosure for a couple years made from pvc and bird netting but want something a little nicer and less work in the long run.
There are 8 in now and a boysenberry but there is room to put some of the ones I have in pots. When I’m done with this one am going to rebuild the one over the grapes and then one over strawberries.
These enclosures are the only way I can get any fruit. The 70 ft one over the raspberries and blackberries will have to suffice for now.
( cold sweat)
