Questions not deserving of a whole thread

So I didn’t get a chance to do my fall spray after the leaves fall off. I’m wondering if it’s too late to do it now? Should I wait till spring at this point? We are expecting freezing weather next few weeks.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is a right time. Everything is dormant over the winter. I would wait till closer to spring. I usually hit mine couple weeks before the trees get going. That’s mostly just for my comfort.

2 Likes

I am extra lazy this fall. That and the fact that my apple trees dropped leaves so late (still some on Gold Rush as we speak) resulting in no late fall spray.

I plan to spray copper and dormant oil mix in early spring.

3 Likes

Glad I’m not the only one :grinning:

1 Like

Are there any sweet elderberry varieties?

That’s an interesting question. I couldn’t find much on flavor when I was searching them a few years back. It seems to be about 1. production, ripening time, and size of the plant itself. Consider it only for processing/smoothies.

That’s what I thought to, but you know how the advertising works.

I use horticultural oil in the early fall and for small infestations of mites and aphids I use Safers insecticide soap. The soap has to be sprayed every 5 or 6 days until they are no longer hatching.

1 Like

Do these nodules look like they’re crown gall? If so should I remove the tree? It was planted on a mound and the recent rains exposed its roots to reveal these growths. It’s a peach tree I planted last year. I’m not familiar with this Trio rootstock.




1 Like

As I understand it, unless you want to risk cyanide exposure, you should never eat raw elderberry (@Robert too)

The Pros and Cons of Elderberry.

1 Like

Has anyone tried grafting tree type cherries (desired variety) using bush type cherries (as a rootstock)?

I haven’t tried it, but here’s a study that discusses it in passing (assuming that you mean P. tomentosa):

Meanwhile, P. tomentosa cannot be used directly as a rootstock for sweet cherry, owing to the incompatibility of the two species, although using P. tomentosa as a rootstock and Fuli (P. salicina) as an interstock produces sweet cherries that grow well and fruit earlier. Grafting compatibility also suggests that P. tomentosa is more closely related to subgenus Prunophora than to subgenus Cerasus, since a hybrid rootstock for peach was derived from a cross between P. tomentosa and Prunus cerasifera (Warner, 1998).

1 Like

I forgot to specify the name of the bush cherry, the exact name is Carmine Jewel and the tree type would be a variety of sour cherry or sweet cherry (not sure yet).

Ah, so that’s a hybrid (Prunus fruticosa x Prunus cerasus) so I’m not sure, you might just have to test it out yourself. I believe that’s usually called a dwarf cherry, not a bush cherry, but I guess terminology overlaps.

1 Like

They’re usually on their own roots, branch low, and and (many cultivars) send up suckers pretty frequently, so I think it’s a to-may-to/to-ma-to situation.

Two questions…

  1. How much deer protection would hazelnut/filberts or elderberries need to get established? Are they an occasional “browse” (like just about everything else) or “chew everything green off, maybe the rest of the plant, to the ground”?

  2. Growing elderberies: Can the Ranch and Wyldwood elderberry varieties be treated like blackberries? Let the first year branches grow, summer/fall prune them to a terminal height of ~6 feet. Let them flower and fruit the next Spring/Summer, then cut them to the ground. New branches grow out during the rest of the Summer/Fall for next year. Fall/Winter prune those if necessary to ~6 feet. Repeat?

I believe most can fruit from 1st year canes, I plan to try this. Plus then you can root the old ones pretty easily.

2 Likes

I never heard of deer paying any attention to elderberry plants.

2 Likes

Maximum protection. Deer love hazelnut. It’s one of their favorites, right up there with mulberry.

3 Likes

They eat the heck out of my grapes but do a pretty good job on my mulberries too :triumph::flushed:

2 Likes