No kocide 3000 is outdoor use only I thought you were using a greenhouse for some of your plants. Figured you could open it up and spray and close it off when temps dropped again. I’m not sure if you could take them out and spray them on a warm day and bring them in later but I would check the msds sheet for that. Tomorrow will hit nearly 50 degrees here but today was 8 degrees. Kansas has wide fluctuations in temperatures.
Maybe you could spray a fine light mist of all season horticultural oil on them with a spray bottle, then sprinkle lightly with a copper Bordeaux powder. Just an idea off the top of my head, but do more research to make sure it’s ok. For instance, all season horticultural oil is supposed to be safe for green growth, but what you have there might be considered extra sensitive since it is so young.
1 Like
I have never found anything that comes close to Montmorency for flavor and production here on wet side PNW.
John S
PDX OR
1 Like
Yes, a very good all around cherry and agree still the king. Here though I would rather have the bush cherries. Easier to protect, a rich dark color inside and out. And I like the taste. Still I also bought a lot that has a Montmorency already on it. So in the future I can compare directly. Glad to have both. Many neighbors have it so I have tried it many times. Productivity is not a problem with the bush cherries here. They produce really well. . It’s great for those in zone 2 and 3 who have limited options on any fruit. Honeyberries has changed that too, I’m in 5b and we do get cold enough some years to kill most fruit buds, but not the bush cherries. I lost all stone fruit in 2016 except bush cherries. Not much worry about late spring freezes either. They both have their place.
4 Likes
I agree Drew. If I lived in a really cold place like Michigan, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
that has a much drier spring than we do, I would definitely grow a lot of bush cherries. I like them, but they hate growing here in our wet, warm springs. Disease city.
John S
PDX OR
1 Like
i have one in 2nd leaf here. how old are they before they start to fruit? got mine for $7 at tractor supply. was in pretty bad shape so i cut off some of the wood after planting and the 2nd year it sent out about 30in. of new growth.
I just bought two Wowza’s and a Juliet. One Wowza is for me and the others are a birthday gift to my sister. They came to $145 after shipping and tax from Gurneys. Ouch! Lol! I used the $100 off of $209 dollar purchase coupon.
2 Likes
I had that same thing happen to me last year growing the currant cuttings Drew gave me. You look like you have spider mites though. soap water might help that, or spinosad is what I used. I had a fungus that killed them in just days. My mites were on my house plant. I filled a spray bottle and set it to a fine mist. Look at it with a magnifying glass. All those crystal looking things are probably spider mites. Looks like I see a few adults. They are the big dots. They suck the life out of the plants! A fan in your grow area will help with that too. It blows them off. That’s why you don’t get them outside because of the wind.
2 Likes
Yes cuttings can be a bitch. I started soaking mine in a kocide solution at dormant spray strength for a few minutes before I store to prevent mold. My problem was mold on stored cuttings. With currants I just plant outside in the fall or spring. Mostly because I have other stuff taking up the inside, and currants grow like weeds.
The Juliet cuttings are bad, If spider mites they are a pain. They attack my cacti every year when inside, but the cacti can tolerate them easily. I sometimes don’t even treat them.
I’m not sure what that is, I can say it doesn’t look good for those cuttings!
2 Likes
I’m not sure about his cuttings either. It looks like what I saw on my plant. I would like to see it blown up or with a magnifying glass. I think mites are a lot easier to treat though. If that’s what he has. I think the cuttings will recover from that but who knows. I didn’t say anything about the cuttings dying that I was growing last winter Drew because I felt bad that I killed them. They did so well at first. I should have just waited and stuck them in the ground like you said.
The more plants you kill the better gardener you become. I can replace them this spring, PM me what i sent and an address. What I do is amend the soil with compost and they say to plant deep, like 3/4 of the cuttings except for 2-3 nodes above ground. I never did this, but will try this spring. I usually just planted them in the fall. I didn’t this year. I have some spots I want to put currants in, so I may not have them all this year. My plan is to stick three cuttings in one spot and remove the weakest two later in the summer.
After I took cuttings for a lot of people during the 2017 fall, any left I put into the ground right after harvest… I had 5 or 6 spare cuttings. Four took and are now growing. They spent all winter outside with no roots and rooted in the spring. Amazing things currants. In 2017 we all had an early fall freeze and I lost peach seedlings, mulberries, and figs. About 30 figs lived but were severely damaged. Not one node of any of my currants were lost. Including those with no roots!
I asked Fruitgrower in CA well actually fruitgrower offered to replace the peach scion I requested as I killed every piece sent! Like you I didn’t ask a little embarrassed of my failure to graft. but was contacted anyway! I did get 7 takes of peach or nectarine, but not one from fruitgrower took.
You are not the only one btw to get zero results i sent currants to. hey they grow like weeds, I can send every year.
2 Likes
John thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a Montmorency cherry tree. Last year it produced enough to make a pie and freeze enough for another pie. The flavor is awesome. Plus now it is tall enough that I removed the deer fencing, they dont reach up above about 5 or 6 feet.
I thought the bush type might be nice for a berry cage, like blueberries. Plus the fun of trying new things. Probably will pass - we can’t grow what we can’t grow. They sure look nice!
2 Likes
We all have that problem no matter where you are.
I’m looking forward to having both.
I have to work hard to keep western blackberries alive here. Some years all the floricanes die. It would be a lot easier in the PNW. They are the best blackberries, getting a few is better than getting none.
3 Likes
For what it’s worth, I’ve been making pies with 1/2 Monty and 1/2 Carmine Jewel the last few years. Good flavor, dark color. Win-Win.
4 Likes
Ironically, I grew Columbia Star for a few years, and culled it this year. Too much trouble for me, and only a few good berries. I think SWD was part of that. I also culled Ebony King, which was way too rangy and thorny for a few small berries. I kept PAF and Triple Crown which do very nice for me.
We have a massive bird-planted cherry tree, probably 40 feet tall, which bears yellow cherries with pink blush, smaller than Monty’s, slight bitter note when not cooked but great pies. I don’t know the species. I have grafted ornamental cherries to seedling rootstocks from this tree. Maybe grafting a Romeo or Juliet on these seedlings would give the vigor and disease resistance from the rootstock… hmmm…
2 Likes
I did too and also culled it. The westerns I kept are Wyeberry, Newberry. Wyeberry appears to be a sport or closely related to Boysen. It has bigger berries, ripens earlier and is more winter hardy than Boysen. Newberry was released by ARS and OSU just like Columbia Star. Both Newberry and wyeberry are fairly productive and both are very thorny, I do hate that but the taste is so outstanding. I feel the thornless types have inferior taste I culled Triple Crown. Which is about the best one for taste, still not my cup of tea. I also grow tayberry and siskiyou which are trailing and thorny and about as hardy as western types. I’m all about taste. The thornless were nice to handle, and not bad really I just so much prefer my westerns. I have limited room. Oh also wyeberry, and tayberry ripen way before SWD. Newberry ripens fairly early too. It produces a long while though.
Oh i forgot I grow Marionberry too, man are those good! Probably the best blackberry with Newberry a very close 2nd. Those two taste nothing alike but both rock!
2 Likes
Brady did you ever get up there? I bet you could buy some nice size bushes from them.
No,not yet.I wanted to the last couple of years,but the forest fires made me stay away.
Can plants be brought across from Canada into the US?
Also,my trip will probably be taken on a motorcycle,which will make it difficult to bring back anything of size.bb
I’m not sure if certified licensed plants can be or not, but they will ask you if you bought anything. Then they will have you pull over for inspection where they might confiscate certain items. Probably not a good idea to buy any plants especially ones not certified for the US. I live close to Canada and the thought of smuggling a couple Cupids has crossed my mind, lol. I wouldn’t try it on motorcycle though.
2 Likes
i live on the border w/ New.Bruinswick. they are VERY strict on crossing any plant matter. my father had a bag of apples my aunt gave him. upon entering to U,S customs, they not only confiscated the bag of apples but the one he was eating! any plants brought in from Canda have to go thru quarantine and screening. its a long process! there are z3 hardy blackberries sold in canada but I’ve yet to find a nursery there that ships to the U.S. I’ve thought of having my relatives order them for me and try to cross them but really isn’t worth the risk.
2 Likes