Upper Midwest Growers

The arctic raspberries grow in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province. The dark blue region on this Minnesota dnr map. They are easier to find north of Duluth
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I think they’re worse this year because of the drought. They used to hit my pears hard, but this year it was the apples. I had to pick my Fujis early or I wouldn’t have had any left.

Should have netted the tree.

Same here, and all season long. Wondering what they trying to find in pots.I hate squirrels

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Started ripping out plants. Compost pile growing. Next year i need to plant better tomatoes. Mine weren’t that great this year. The grape tomatoes are about done and where they are growing is getting more shade daily because the sun is lower in sky.

Dry weather continues, but morning dew is strong.

Chipmunks do that here.

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I need to put some traps out

Stumbled on this post. What variety of lavender and rosemary have you gotten to over winter?

Also in St. Paul. Now zone 5a!

I had 2, 200ft trellis of valiant grapes that had fruit for the first time this year out at my land, about 8 miles from my house. I wasnt planning to use them so they hung for about a month, very ripe, but nothing much was messing with them, a few wasps, but even they werent hurting them much. I left for 2 days and when I got back out there they were picked bare. Im not sure if it was a big flock of blackbirds or what that got them, but it was kinda crazy, one day they were there, the next GONE. lol

For those who have grown both marquette and itasca, which do you like better? Im interested in your experience eating them fresh, for jam/jelly and for wine as I would like to use them for all those purposes.

i juiced my Marquettes this year. it was really good. alot like concord juice. im looking to put in another grape for fresh eating. preferably with bigger grapes. Marquette are pretty small.

If you can grow price, they are one of my favorites. where I am, in zone 4a, it dies back occasionally if I dont lay it on the ground, which I dont usually bother with anymore. It would probably be fine if you dont get -30 like I do often.

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Do those have seeds? Whatever variety i grew fruited this year and the grapes had seeds which i didn’t want. I have Reliance that i really like, but i need to move it.

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yes they do but they’re tiny.

I would strongly suggest Brianna. It is seeded. We got our first last year, many more this year, and everybody absolutely loved them. Also they’re very early , ripening about the end of August . They’re the best grape I’ve ever grown for flavor. St Croix is also very good, and the seeds are small and soft. Reliance is absolutely delicious as well.

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where did you get yours?

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St. Lawrence Nursery. Brianna is a green grape, St. Croix is purple. Another nice thing about those two are they are very hardy; you shouldn’t need to bury your vines in the snow.

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Chojuro Asian Pears are ripening. Olympic Giant need a little more time. They may be a no-go, since they’re so late. Forecast for the next two weeks looks pretty balmy for October.

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Can’t believe how dry it has been. No precip in the forecast either. I think i’m safe to start digging/moving plants around after the freeze.

I have the marquette and they were really good fresh. Grapes are small but so are the seeds so i just eat the whole thing. My brother made some jelly and likes it but i haven’t tried it yet. Ive got 6 gallons of wine going that is 90 percent marquette the rest Brianna, didnt really have enough Brianna so I mixed them. Hope it gets better with age because 2 weeks in when i racked it was not something I’d want to drink. I didn’t ferment on the skins, maybe that was a mistake. Maybe sweetening it when its time to bottle will help.

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Purple broccoli has formed a head. I’m going to let it go a little longer. I think starting the plants in July worked for a fall crop. Next time i’ll use mesh over the plants because the cabbage moths have been horrible. My lettuce hasn’t formed heads yet (iceberg).

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Did anyone else get blooms recently? My Methley plum and byrongold plum both put out about 100 blooms each last week. Must be a combo of temp fluctuations and a drought? I don’t know if the remaining buds will last the winter. 99% of the buds didn’t swell yet.