Facebook fruit growing groups suck

General Fruit Growing
#70

All of my hobby groups are loaded with people planting trees and canes now… their things seem to be dying and most every post asks what to do… lots of answers on fertilizers etc.

There seems to be a phenomenon amongst newbies to plant trees and canes and other fruiting things at the same time as we plant corn or tomatoes…

I saw a blackberry plant that i wanted from a grower on on of my groups and i asked them in February if i could buy some from them… they told me not until May…that digging or planting them then would kill them.

There is something innate about frost and cold that makes average folk think that you cant plant anything then… also Autumn… something about trees losing their leaves makes folks think that planting anything will result in death in Autumn.

If i had plants and trees to sell now i think i could sell my whole inventory on my facebook groups alone… because NOW is the time to plant things. I think if i listed them in February or October instead i would have mostly hesitation…likely not many sales if any.

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#71

I was on a local garden group today and the group “expert” told someone that the new tall shoots on their blueberry was the rootstock trying to take over. I gently mentioned that blueberries are sold on their own roots and those were nice vigorous new growth that would be where new fruit would come from… they replied that some blueberries are grafted. I think the worst thing about these groups is just like so much discussion these days, when people just dig in on an answer instead of considering new information.

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#72

Yes…if someone that posts alot and has a good ‘reputation’ says something its like a law of sorts. Like if Olpea said that a peach was no good…or Clark said that a pear was no good… it would lose favor. When in another climate or location it could possibly be very good.

You can read on Ollalieberry until your eyes cross and most all ‘internet’ information points that it will only grow in Northern California and that area. I recently posted that a guy in New York is growing it with success… but its too late…it will never grow on the East Coast…

Ponca was pushed by everyone that drank the Dr Clark kool-aid… which makes every other cultivar inferior. Im not even convinced its hardy enough for my zone fully…whereas Ollalie is.

As for figs- everyone is an expert… it seems. Pinch, dont pinch… pots, no pots, spacing…growing habits… even the propagation of them has experts.

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#73

Many of the FB groups start out with a high % or knowledgeable members. Eventually they attract newbies, many of whom are not serious, who refuse to research the fruits they are growing, refuse to use the group search function, and instead address all of their questions to the group. Often you can have the same question asked by different members for many days in a row because no one bothers to read the current posts either. And then you have the people who have read one article written by a nurseryman trying to sell trees and think they are now an expert. That type of behavior is not restricted to FB either.

Some FB groups are being destroyed by this type of behavior. The knowledgeable members just quit visiting the group because there is so much nonsense. The once good mulberry group now has some of the least knowledgeable fruit growers on the planet, plus way too many posts from growers in foreign countries, some tropical and some plant dealers, who are growing cultivars not available in North America and whose experiences with mulberries are vastly different than those in temperate areas.

And let’s not forget the constant posts about the magical Tibetan Black Diamond apples. Almost once a week I see some FB fruit group post about that scam.

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#74

In one of my groups over the weekend a guy posted 2 blackberry plants that he bought beside the road and is growing them on a fence… nothing special. He didnt ask any questions nor ask advice…just posted his plants in a prideful manner.

Currently there is over 470 likes/loves an well over 100 comments. The comments range to asking for seeds to telling him to mulch and fertilize and how to prune…and explaining what kinds of trellis he needs. Asking for plants and starts… and asking what he uses for sprays and fertilizers. The commenters cannot help themselves to post their expertise.

Because of his climate he has nearly ripe berries and from what i gather they are Chesters and Navajos. Now everyone wants them…and wants to grow them… and they really arent worth growing.

Thats how Facebook works.

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#75

Bingo.

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#76

And did someone tell him to use epsom salts on them?

There are 3 huge groups I used to belong to that I left because 99% of the posts were from people who knew nothing about growing anything, but thought everyone needed their opinion. I do realize that many of these people are simply lonely and lack friends, but it destroys groups.

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#77

I don’t have any Epsom salt, is pickleing salt ok?

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#78

the latest meme is telling people to avoid killing everything they love by using glyphosate and instead to simply salt the earth

facebook has its funny moments

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#79

I’ve successfully dug and relocated (planted) both trees and shrubs all 12 months of the year. But for my area, early November and March are probably “best” for most things.
Most years from 95 to 98% survive…but the December sudden chill dropped that average in recent times. Things like Japanese hollies died or froze to the ground all over Kentucky it seems. That’s just one ‘for instance’.

#80

Funny observation. Yes, growing things is “hot” it seems. The more the merrier, I spose, though it IS genuinely funny sometimes how the hubris of the newbie can manifest itself. I sold nursery stock as a side hustle for a few years, going back 5 yrs or so now, so interest and demand hadn’t quite exploded quite so much. I tried to sell bare root stock, but wound up potting it when I realized no one was going to be buying it for some time. Round about the middle of June I’d sell out of everything I’d managed to dig and pot, and about the same time, requests would easily double or triple. July 4 seemed to be about peak.

One of the funniest encounters I ever had involving absurd newbie-ness took place at the annual Fedco/MOFGA scionwood swap in Unity, ME. One of the local growers maintains a substantial patch of many heirloom varieties of sunchokes, and brought a bag of them to the swap. They were huge tubers, some nearly softball sized. One tuber sat on a cutting board, with many others in Aarhus bag nearby. Next to the cutting board and knife was a hand written note saying, “you only need a small piece!” I stood in line behind 3 or 4 people waiting my turn to get a chunk of tuber. I watched as one by one the others in front of me did exactly the same thing. They’d look at the tuber briefly, glance at the note, and then proceed to slice a paper thin section of tuber, as though julienning it for a salad! Whoever had started this trend hadn’t realized that the author of the note intended people to take a CHUNK of tuber, with nodes, etc., an honest enough mistake. But the way that it seemed to just cascade through the line was too rich. It being nearly the end of the swap, when it was my turn I went ahead and grabbed a nice big tuner from the bag. There was plenty to go around, yet after hrs only one large tuber had been whittled down to maybe 1/2 it’s size, one sliver at a time.

You don’t know what you don’t know. And for that matter I guess you don’t know what others don’t know either. The herd IS occasionally right, I spose. Kind of like the broken clock?

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#81

Reminds me of many of the cannabis growers I encounter now that it’s been home cultivation is allowed and it’s been licensed for small commercial production here. So many have never ventured to grow anything else, and consequently have such a distorted view of what good horticulture consists of. And there seems to be a real echo chamber of specious “knowledge” that circulates through these demographics.

Everyone starts somewhere, but I have little patience or regard for the uninquisitive mind. Mistakes are part of how we learn, maybe the best way in some respects. But the self assured attitude of some prevents them even noticing their mistakes, let alone learning from them.

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#82

You would love Hobby Fruit Growers. About 20-30 times a day someone will pop in and say that they just bought a fruit tree and ask what all sprays and fertilizers and how to prune all in one run on sentence. As if books were obsolete and Google didnt exist, and Youtube had no videos and the search function didnt work at all.

My feed is geared towards my interests and i see ‘what is this big stalk in my blackberrys’ about 5 times a day. Or what fertilizer makes my berrys sweeter.

I also get a full feed of pictures of bugs on fruit trees and cane fruits and they ask what to spray to kill it. Last year someone asked what to spray to kill the bees on their fruit trees because they had little kids that play in the yard. They said that the website description on the tree said it was self pollinating.

I guess in the mechanic boards they likely get the same posts ‘how do i change my oil?’

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#83

image

At least the comments to posts like this can be amusing… “Depends on whether you want any fruit next year or not” and similar :slight_smile:

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#84

You need to read the one that shows the pics of the laterals.

“do i pinch these suckers off like i do on my tomatoes”?

I think last week someone posted “last year i cut everything to the ground, how do i get my stalks to make berrys”.

I think every group right now has folks planting seeds from the grocery store to get fruit trees and canes.

Next months will be ‘i planted my X land the temps were in the 90s’ why does my X look like its dying? My tomatoes are doing great but my fruit trees and canes are dying…HELP!

I like the cuttings stuck in holes in the bags of miracle gro the best… those folks are too lazy to even pot them up. Thats happening in my Elderberry groups. Full sun of course.

I read facebook like i am watching Mystery Science Theater 3000… its the only way to stay sane.

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#85

It’s instant gratification. It’s never thinking ahead. The younger generation is in trouble.
You don’t wait until the cupbord is bare and you’re hungry to think of food for tomorrow,
next week, next month, and next winter!

#86

The older generation has been saying that about the younger generation since the beginning of time.

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#87

When i was younger i couldnt get enough reading from magazines… my mom was an avid yard saler and i would come home with magazines that cost a penny or nickle or dime and i would read them cover to cover… My dad didnt like it and thought i should be reading books instead. I do remember that we had several batches of Encyclopedias… a few were decades old but i still read them. We also had a large dictionary and a thesaurus. Probably my favorite books were Foxfire and another similar series.

I see kids nowadays with the same obsession…but with Tiktoks and FB and Youtube…constantly scrolling…

I feel as if i am pretty well rounded, well read, i can write a short story or mostly understand anything that is written… but none of that matters nowadays…

I can just create an avatar of myself. I can join any group and click on ‘post anonymously’ and ask any question i want framed as a banner with cute flowers or aliens… and get just about any answer that i want. I dont have to do any effort on my own at all.

Pic for attention :crazy_face:

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image1920×1285 522 KB

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#88

I get that a lot from various customers. They have a peach tree they bought from some big box store and ask almost in passing what they need to do to it, as if I can explain it in a sound bite.

The problem is they are under the assumption that growing peaches (or any other fruit) doesn’t take much knowledge, skill or effort. All you have to do is basically “plant & pick”.

This woefully oversimplified view is not relegated to just uneducated people or youth. Even intellectuals fall in the trap.

Mao Zedong, an intellectual who knew nothing about agriculture or horticulture, abandoned the then current farming practices (which were reasonably successful for the time) in favor of unproven, untested methods in his Great Leap Forward. He forced farmers to “deep plow” several feet deep in the mistaken belief that soil very deep was more productive. In reality all it did was bring unproductive subsoil and rocks to the surface. He also had farmers over sow seed which not only wasted precious seed, but actually reduced yields. He concentrated manure fertilizer only on the most fertile land. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides were also banned.

According to Wikipedia, reduced yields and administrative boondoggles resulted 15 to 55 million deaths by starvation.

Even in modern times, a few years ago, a very wealthy intellectual, running for a major political office, was caught on tape from a previous lecture, in which he made the statement, “I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]: you dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn.”

This mistaken belief is reinforced by the fact that sometimes gardening is simply “plant & pick” Sow some radish seed, and if weeded, you will likely get radishes. But just about everyone on this forum knows growing fruit is substantially more complicated.

Similarly, farming is not the same as gardening. But one can see why it’s easy for people to think so. At face value, it would seem farming is simply gardening on a larger scale. But, a 25% reduction in garden yield because of planting at the wrong time, wrong depth, wrong seed, is of little consequence to the gardener. A 25% reduction in yield to a farmer is a huge deal. A 25% reduction in yield to a nation is catastrophic.

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#89

Adam? Is that the origin of your moniker “ribs 1”?
Didn’t realize you
were around since the beginning of time! :grinning:

(Boy, I’d like to ask you lots of questions, like
when did it first rain…or is the globe really
heating up…or about the mammoths and unicorns…and the reasons
you called the animals certain names…for starters.)

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