I have maybe 3 dwarf sized trees, but I haven’t had to stake them up yet, because they are still pretty small (under 8ft), and not producing a lot of fruit yet. We get high winds here also, but my trees seem to handle it okay. We haven’t got much snow here over the last few years. We had about 3" last week, which was the most we’ve had in 3 years.
I do have a large semi-dwarf tree (over 12ft tall), that is leaning a bit, so I have support it, mostly because it’s in soil that gets a bit loose in wet weather.
Yes, it is a wild, or American plum. We got it from a neighbor 3 years ago, he allowed us to dig it up and we transplanted in our yard. It was about 5ft tall then, but is now about 10ft. Wild plums tend to be small and not too flavorful. But, I wanted to see if could get it to produce something. I guess the squirrels like them!
We also have wild strawberries, but they are also very small. There are some stands of wild blackberry, and to a smaller degree, black raspberries. The blacks are small, sour and not too sweet, but black rasps are sweet. We’re growing domesticated versions of those berries.
Yeah, they’re unusual. Like blackberries, they will root when their tips encounter soil. Regular red or yellow raspberries do not.
We are are growing two tame black rasp varieties that have done just that, they have tip-rooted. Left alone, they will send up new canes from those points, and you can replant those (and the roots) to other locations. Free plants!
I would think you might find some somewhere. I will say though, I can’t recall seeing black rasps at any local nurseries or other stores that sell berry plants. I had to order mine from a nursery website that specializes in berry plants.
Well tap water can be basic. It is never acidic, else the water would eat copper and even old lead water pipes like in Flint. that is what caused the lead in the water. they did not buffer the water. Once exposed to acidic water it could leach out for years. My tap is about 7.8 pH I use rainwater only. So ANY tap water will probably hurt blueberries. One summer during a drought, I used sulfuric acid in tap. Blueberries love sulfuric acid. You can kill your plant if you put too much in. You have to be able to measure pH
No doubt chlorine is not good and will hurt some plants. We have an easy fix, let the water sit out a day it will evaporate. We still have water fluoridation too. Fluoride is a weak base for sure. usually sodium fluoride is used.
I have Bristol, and Mac Black. There is a black rasp called Jewel, although I have never heard it called Black Jewel, but it may be the same plant. It may be the most popular black raspberry.
Jewel has a bigger berry and is more disease resistant than Bristol, but from what I’ve heard, Bristol has better flavor. My two black rasps have small thorns.
I’ve had reason to work with water from way more than a dozen water districts or municipalities…I can tell you they are definitely NOT all the same.
And in Eastern Kentucky, you can have well water which has Sulphur…which is acidic. (Same in parts of Florida, Georgia, etc.)
But, some places get water from a large river, some get water from small lakes that are less polluted…it’s difficult to know without a test. But, water soluble organics are often not filtered out (fertilizer run-off from farms or golf courses, for instance)…and are in municipal water.
Typically, the few times I’ve checked, the pH of water from Lake Cumberland or the Cumbrland River is around 6.5…….and that’s the pH from the kitchen sink, also.
Well, I was thinking that Black Jewel is the most generic name for a black berry But if I had to guess I would say that it is the same variety, because it would make sense for a swiss nursery to import your most famous variety.
Thanks for your informations, I think I’ll go with Black Jewel because disease resistance is very important to me and they’ll be easier to get, since Häberli sends their plants to garden centres all over switzerland.
Here our regulations say 6.5 is the lowest allowed. I have never seen it here lower than 7.8. Most water works buffer the water. I use MColorpHast commercial plastic strips to test.
I like pine and peat. Peat alone if it becomes dry, could kill the plant. Hard to re-wet. It would work for sure though. I use a 3 to 1 mix of pine to peat. Pine has just as low a pH as peat. I prefer this mix for blueberries.
Still putting basic water on it would be a mistake. It won’t kill it or anything, just at times the plant would suffer unable to absorb nutrients in that basic water. Some types really don’t mind, but the northern’s are picky about keeping the pH right.
For me it’s not broke, it works well for me. Like the subject of this thread All gardening is local. I suggest all test water and monitor soil yearly if in ground. If your soil is not naturally low. Some have perfect blueberry soil. I do not so I use raised beds It works well for me. I mound them up nice and high.
my native soil is naturally around 6 so a little peat /perlite in the hole at planting is all i need to keep it in the sweet spot and draining well. well waters 6.5.
No, these are the only black rhaspberries available in Switzerland. Häberli has an online shop and distributes their plants to several garden centres. Lubera are known for breeding new varieties, especially redfleshed apples - the redlove line.
Häberli has a cross between the black and the “ordinary” rhaspberry.
We had a commercial blueberry operation and found five feet on center to be the minimum spacing between the bushes and that didn’t always allow room to get between them.
Thanks for the feedback. I may plant mine too close, but I don’t have to crawl between the plants…my arms are almost 36 inches long. Good point you make. I like to be able to grow in beds and cover 8 to 10 plants with a 12 x 20 or 15 x 15 or 15 x 20 net.
The Rabbiteye bushes are especially vigorous…some 8 x 8 feet.
The Sunshine Blue which I bragged on is about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide at maturity.
Ok, thanks. I had to use the Google translate to figure out what was what. I know a little bit of German and French, but needed some help. Anyway, I took a tour of the site, looks like they have lots of berry plants. Hopefully you can find some Jewel at a local garden store soon.
That Glencoe raspberry is a purple variety, it might be pretty good, but I’m not growing it. I tried Royalty, which is also a purple, but I couldn’t get it to survive.
I see that they also sell blackberries, do those interest you, or is it too cold for them where you are at? Blackberries are more sensitive to cold weather than raspberries.
Do you have German or French relatives and friends or how did you learn it?
Yes there are some stores quite near me…I think I’ll call ahead and ask if they have it…
I really don’t care all that much for blackberries to be honest. We have many wild brambles here with very sweet fruit.
They are a horrible weed in pastures and every year we spend multiple days just fighting them back to the edge of the wood.
So I have really no interest in planting the tame versions of these monsters
Both. My late maternal grandmother was full blooded German. Her parents came to the U.S. about 110 years ago. I think she told me they came from Gelsenkirchen, which is in the Ruhr valley, I think.
She spoke it pretty well, from what I remember, but we really didn’t converse in it. Sometimes she would scold me in German if I did something wrong, but I forget the phrase.
I learned a little bit of it over the years, and really studied before I traveled to Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2003. I could read it better than speak it.
I took a year of French in high school, and two years of Latin, and have still retained some French. I also worked on it before I went to France in 2002.
I still study it and other foreign languages, it’s a hobby I enjoy. I have phrasebooks in Italian, Spanish and even Vietnamese, as I had some friends at my former work and wanted to learn a few phrases.
We have lots of wild blackberries here, and they too are awful with their wicked thorns. The fruit isn’t very good, so I have mowed or pulled up a lot of canes. We’re growing more tastier and larger domesticated thornless varieties.
Hopefully you’ll find those black rasps at your stores.
Wow, you really have an affinity for languages!
Since Switzerland has four official (French, Italian, German and Rätoromanisch) languages children are required to learn one of the other three in school, and of course English!
So I had 8 years of French and 6 years of English but to be honest j’aie oublié le plus grand portion de mon français…I had to think quite hard to remember that
Yes, reading is the easiest for me too in English. Speaking and writing…not do much.
What blackberry varieties do you grow?
I’m somewhat reluctant to plant blackberries since a fruit farm I worked at has really big problems with drosophlia suzukii in blackberries. They really like the darkest fruit…
But if I had to guess I would say that it is the same variety, because it would make sense for a swiss nursery to import your most famous variety.
Good point you make. I like to be able to grow in beds and cover 8 to 10 plants with a 12 x 20 or 15 x 15 or 15 x 20 net.
