2010 Growing season

[pwrose]

I'm jealous of all of you......
I only have 17 blueberry bushes and 5 of them are only last years cuts.
I have 2.5 acres and over 3/4 of that is open grass/weeds lol. I need to start putting something in there, any suggestions that are still plantable for this year.

What are the conditions that black currents like? It gets really hot and humid here during the summer months. I know that I would have a hard time with one of my favorite berries which is raspberries, but what are some others?

PW

 

[Racer]

Check with your local county ag extension first. I have property in N.C. and have been looking into what can and can't be grown there. I believe currants may not be an option for you.

 

[Mud]

Lots of states have bans on ribes (gooseberries and currants) as white pine blister rust needs them in order to finish its life cycle. PA has a ban, but the cooperative extension provides growing info and says it's an outdated law and not enforced. Can't comment on NC laws, but like Racer said, the ag extensions are great sources of information.

 

[Julie]

Holy cow, holy cow, HOLY COW do I have the cherries . I have two Montmorency cherry trees that can not get any fuller. I am still scare that we might get a frost but I am starting to hope that maybe not. Also, 1 apple tree is loaded the other not too bad but the third had nothing. That's ok because what I do have will make me a good big batch of wine and apply pies. The blueberries are looking pretty good as well but they are young so I not expecting to get enough for wine.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I see many crabapple trees around here. Anybody make crabapple wine?
My apple trees have a lot of mini apples on them now as my grape vines have many bunches. It's neat to see how and where grapes grow on the vine. I've snipped back my vines to thicken the vine so we are very excited for our grapes this year.

 

[Racer]

I wish frost season would end for this spring! I've been up since 4 watering the vines down trying to stop more damage from happening. I'll have to check the vines later today but so far I think I kept damage down to a minimum. I'll need to spray the vines again too since I'm sure I washed everything off of them by now.

 

[Mud]

Wade once sent me a bottle of crabapple wine. It was very good.

 

[Wade E]

I see many crabapple trees around here. Anybody make crabapple wine?
My apple trees have a lot of mini apples on them now as my grape vines have many bunches. It's neat to see how and where grapes grow on the vine. I've snipped back my vines to thicken the vine so we are very excited for our grapes this year.

I make Crab apple wine every year but only use the bigger "Dolgo" crab apples and they are very god. I usually have enough off one tree thats down the road to make 12 gallons and I make 6 gallons still and 6 gallons Sparkling. Heres a pic of the size of a Dolgo crab apple.

 

[RMT]

At the B.C. House; my merlot might have had some winter or early fall freeze damage,
because the basal buds have broken out first, instead of at the ends. Oh well, it was only the 1st year growth & ahead of schedual for some of them, so I'll prune back to the main stem at the fruiting wire anyway. There were 7 out of the 50 that had to be pruned down to 2 buds because they didn't reach the fruiting wire last year, thats not bad 86% on schedual

The Lapin Cherry that was put in last year is loaded with blosums this year.

Raspberries transplanted last year from runners from the Alberta house are comming back with new canes.

At the Alberta house we just got rid of the last of the snow (had a snow storm last week)
For those who are unfamiliar with Alberta weather we've been having a fairly warm spring then we get dumped on with 5 " of snow. (the saying is- if you don't like the weather here, just wait 10 minutes)
Anyway back to the fruit. The raspberries in Alberta are coming along, the rubarb as usual is growing like crazy.
From a vine that I suspect to be Vitis Riparia, I started from cuttings then planted out side last year, only 2 out of 5 seem to show signs of bud break, I've got a bunch more dormant cuttings this year from the neighbours vine, that now have about 4" growth on them in pots inside house
My red currents didn't make it, pests killed it - some type of little fly, maybe boror.
The Mayday tree is budding (is basicaly a late blooming chokecherry)
The Pear tree had blight last year, so I had to prune half of the tree away, but what is left is
budding good this year.

I plan on transplanting some rhubarb in B.C. this coming week.
____________
Randy

 

[grapeman]

The next three nights will be touchy here. The high today was about 37 and the low expected at the low 30's for today, tomorrow and the next day. The vines have popped and some have 6 inches of growth. I continue to be impressed with the St. Pepin. It is still just starting to break- which helps with frost. Only time will tell how my vineyard fares this year! It has been snowing on and off all day!

 

[Julie]

Well it looks like I lost my blueberries. The flowers just fell off and there is nothing there but the holls. I am assuming the last frost did this, that was about 2 weeks ago.

Both of my cherry trees are full of cherries and they are calling for 29 tonight, if it goes down to that I will lose the cherries. This is what happen last year. Ok, UPDATE, Mike got off the sofa where he has been lying all day dying from the flu to help me put tarps on both trees. So now I'm gonna have to be nice to him because he was a real sweetheart.

The concords have barely started to leaf, so hopefully they will be safe. The niagara's and catawba's are way to small to worry about. The apple trees will probably survive, they did last year anyway.

Ok, I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Julie]

at 5:30 am the temps were 28 degrees. There is frost on the tarps, hopefully the cherries are ok.

 

[Mud]

Best of luck, Julie. Hope you don't lose your crop again. Nothing I have is big enough to bear much, so I'm not concerned. But this is the second yr in a row we've had a last frost. not great.

 

[Runningwolf]

Hope all works out for you Julie. Thanks to Mike you'll have born again virgin tree's with new cherries this year!

 

[sly22guy]

Planted 24 of the 36 vines yesterday up on the hill. then of course it got cold last night only down to 38 i think, no frost. There is frost advisories for the rest of the week in my area, but im up on a hill and usually dont get too much frost. I dont have my blue x vine shelters on yet but plan on doing that tonight. these are 1yr & 1yr+ vines. Will the shelters be good enough to protect from frost or is there something else i should do?

Lost about 18 tomato plants from too much heat the weekend before last was mid 90's here. had soda bottles over them and it baked them Oh well guess next year i wont rush and put out my plants so early.

 

[Mud]

I think you mainly need to keep the frost from falling on the plants. As long as you have a tarp or cloth of some sort over them they should be ok.

Was trimming around the apple that leafed out late and hit it with the string. Took off a patch of bark about 1" high and 1/2 the circumference of the tree. I put some asphalt based wound dressing on it. It's only about 1" in diameter. Hope it survives.

-clumsy Mud

 

[Racer]

Planted 24 of the 36 vines yesterday up on the hill. then of course it got cold last night only down to 38 i think, no frost. There is frost advisories for the rest of the week in my area, but im up on a hill and usually dont get too much frost. I dont have my blue x vine shelters on yet but plan on doing that tonight. these are 1yr & 1yr+ vines. Will the shelters be good enough to protect from frost or is there something else i should do?

Lost about 18 tomato plants from too much heat the weekend before last was mid 90's here. had soda bottles over them and it baked them Oh well guess next year i wont rush and put out my plants so early.

Frost will not usually effect vines that haven't broken bud yet. If the temp. goes low enough it can hurt the buds. But that usually means well below freezing to do that.

 

[Wade E]

We might get a frost here also and I hope it dont tak out my berries.

 

[Julie]

Looks like I was able to save the one cherry tree and half of the second cherry tree. The tarp on the second tree did not cover the whole tree. Not sure about the apples, those trees were done blossoming but apples have not formed yet. Time will tell.

 

[jtstar]

Here in northeast Nebraska we had a frost two night ago I had 45 vine showing growth after a hard winter but they don't look so good now the frost got to them hope they can snap out of it
Jack