Shallow rooted trees like dogwoods need a good watering. I would also water your muscadines and any other young trees and shrubs that haven’t established. Roots need moisture year around, deciduous or not.
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I’m 30 miles south of you at the bottom of the peninsula ( south of Cape Charles). I’ll have to keep an eye on your progress as I’m fairly new to the area. I’m only growing figs and berries at this time, but I want to grow cherries pear peaches plum hardy kiwi jujubes mulberry pawpaw etc.
Luke, glad to hear from someone nearby. There was a small pick your own peach orchard down there at one time. It has since closed but I got lost and found it once. So peaches will do okay. I also know someone outside of Kiptopeke State Park that has pomegranates. Some really good nut trees grow there too. Cape Charles is full of the best pecans ever. I am going to try growing a few almonds.
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As the crow flies, I’m about 2 miles away from kiptopeke state park. A farmer near me grows peaches and nectarines. Oh, he has a couple of fig trees which I need to find out what he has. Well they updated the zones but from what I’m seeing is it didn’t change here. Still 8a. It’s better than 7a where I lived in New Jersey.
Greetings, all. I’m in Howard County (Savage) and I see that many of you are practically next door! Just joined the forum; been lurking for a little while. I am planning on growing a few varieties of blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry, in containers because we rent. Also lots of strawberries.
Please let me know if I’d be better off starting separate topics for these questions, but I thought I might start by asking you neighbors.
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Are there any local nurseries you recommend for buying 1-, 2-, or 3-gallon potted blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry plants? I’m tempted to make the 3-hour trek (well, 6hrs round-trip) to Edible Landscaping in VA. They do seem to have a great selection of larger/older plants.
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Are any of y’all in my area growing blackberry, raspberry, and/or blueberry in containers? What varieties grow and produce well for you? I’m thinking of getting 3ish varieties of each berry so I can cover a wider harvest season. Trying to avoid varieties that are more gimmicky and don’t seem to actually produce well for most folks. Currently I’m leaning towards:
Raspberry: Heritage; Polana; Caroline; maybe FallGold or another gold?
Blackberry: Osage (and/or?) Ouachita; Triple Crown
Blueberry: Sunshine Blue; Biloxi?; Tophat?
I’m growing fall gold, double gold, and crimson night for raspberries. Fall gold is the favorite of the bunch but it isn’t as vigorous in its bed as the others. I’m going to try to improve its situation this year to see how it compares in similar conditions.
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Good to know that fall gold is a favorite. I’ve never tried a non-supermarket golden raspberry, so I’m kind of going in blind on the golds.
Welcome to the forum.
I’ve tried a few blackberries and am currently growing Caddo and Ponca, both of which I’d recommend over those in your list. They are newer varieties and I think better. Ponca might be best for pots, since it isn’t as vigorous a grower as Caddo, which is a beast, and the internodal distance (space between leaves) is shorter, so it is a denser/smaller plant. But I’d still put it in a 10-gallon or larger pot. Besides root room, the biggest issue is keeping things adequately watered in the heat of the summer and a large plant is going to dry out your potting media quickly, so the bigger the pot the easier to keep them from drying out. In the heat of summer I often water container plants every day.
For raspberries, I think your choices are probably fine. I’ve grown Prelude for years and really like it for being very early, etc. Joan J seems to be very popular with a lot of growers these days and is worth considering.
For blueberries, I grew Sunshine Blue for several years and was not impressed with the flavor. I don’t know Biloxi, but I’d probably skip tophat, since it is such a small plant you just won’t get that many berries. With blueberries, you have to net them anyway, since birds will steal every berry before they are even ripe. Generally, we are fine growing Northern high bush in this area, which I think have the best flavor. Cara’s Choice and Hannah’s Choice are my favorites, but these are very hard to find and are a bunch of other excellent choices if you can’t locate them. O’Neal is another that a lot of people speak highly of for flavor, but I haven’t grown it.
I’m nearby as well and got some blueberries from Sun Nurseries a while ago for growing in pots. I bought Polaris and Chippewa for being smaller varieties that overlap in bloom but stagger fruiting a little. Overall the flavors were decent. In containers you have to be careful about your watering. Mine got a little dry while ripening and it certainly didn’t make for the best berries. Also, I second needing netting. The catbirds will pick the berries before they’re even near being ripe.
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How are the Ponca blackberry as far as flavor goes? I’m reading good things about them. I have a Black Satin which produces a ton but the berries are not very sweet and go overripe on the canes. (I’m calling it overripe, they just taste off if you let them go to long)
I find Ponca to have excellent taste. They are the best variety I’ve tried. Most of the other thornless have been okay, but not great. I liked Prime Ark Freedom just for the huge size of the berries, but I got sporadic fruiting since sometimes it was a primocane, etc. and I prefer to get the full harvest all at once. And they weren’t nearly as tasty. Caddo isn’t quite as good as Ponca in terms of pure taste, but I like that it is a bigger berry and maybe a bit juicier, so I enjoy the mouth feel on those a bit more, which basically makes them even for me. Previously, the tastiest I’ve grown was Navaho (just one plant), but it wasn’t as prolific and eventually died out on me. It also wasn’t in a great spot, so that may have been an issue.
I haven’t tried Black Satin, so I can’t compare flavor of those.
In our area, ripening time is very important to me because of spotted wing drosophila which start showing up in July (usually later in the month), so I want early ripening. I think it is particularly relevant for blackberries since I like to let them hang for a while to get the most sugar and when I had Triple Crown, which ripened in July I’d get nasty little larva in them - yuck.
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I wouldn’t grow blackberries if Black Satin was my only choice. Sour tasting every year until I mowed them down for good.
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Fall Gold raspberry- Yum!
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Anyone close to Richmond VA want a Northern Spy tree? Boulevard Flower Gardens in South Chesterfield has several from Hollybrook Orchards in containers. I imagine they are very much rootbound being semi dwarf and of such large caliper. No price tag on it as they just came off delivery truck. But other garden centers are selling that companies trees for $69.
Anyway, being out its recommended zone by a long shot, I wouldn’t try it due to it’s long time to bear reputation and then finding out it sucked in central VA. But for the young and adventurous grower, it would at least make a sturdy yard tree.
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Jerry are those three gallon pots?
5 gallon
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FYI, I bought a 3 gallon Stayman and a 5 gallon Red Winesap from Hollybrook Orchards and planted this weekend. The 3 gallon had minor root bounding that I loosened up which was easily offset by pruning to shape the tree anyway.
The 5 gallon being a year older tree had extensive circling. I ended up doing slicing cuts straight up and down in 4 areas around the pot. Then teased out roots to head into the ground. I pruned the tree heavily as being grown in the nursery, the branches were too upright. So I pruned to lower buds right where the upright turns were made. It will be a nice well balanced tree when it grows out this summer. I expect it to bear 2 years sooner being a 3 year old to start with. Makes the 1 year whip from another nursery next to it look sad especially after cutting it to 32 inches.
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How’s everyone’s spring going? Everything is flowering by now at my place.
There was a cold front (29F) that came 3/24 that wiped out almost all of the shuck split apricots/apriums. Summer Delight has a handful that survived. Pears are close to petal fall stage. Apples flowers are starting to open.
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We are on our 3rd day of rain… My fig shot up new growths (maybe an inch long) that got hit with frost a week or 2 ago, the main branches haven’t woken up yet (2nd year in ground).
my 2 honeyberries, one flowered at the end of Feb (and looks like it has other buds that haven’t opened yet)… And the other still hasn’t flowered yet. Both of them are pushing tons of growth though (2nd year in ground). I have an Aurora on order from HBU. Which then also turned into … a poorman, Primus, and belaruska 
Also have a Crandall and black velvet coming as well … Gonna be busy in probably 2 weeks
At my parents house in 7a … I planted 2 elderberry, 2 red lake, and a pixwell over Easter weekend… They are enjoying the rain ! Their japonica bush is also flowering right now too. Their fig hasn’t woken up either.
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Mostly stuff is wet. Except for the dogwoods and daffodils there is not much that has flowered. Things are still in the bud stage. I am hoping to get a phosphite salt spray in even there is little (besides the elderberries) that has leafed out. If it warms up a bit more my daughter and I will release the first round of mason bees.
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