TOPIC: showing the changes of Springtime

Hugh,
Thanks for all the info. Some of you guys really know your stuff when it comes to disease and the correct sprays to use for different problems and what season to use which spray in. I for one am all for using sprays in the beginning for seng. It will give you a lot more seng that survives to harvest down the road 10 years from now. I have never used it before but I may start on new planting in the future.

We have had many discussions on the topic \"to spray the seng or not to spray\". I respect all views and I think we all agree to disagree at times. Keeping the seng healthy during the fragile first 3 years is key.
Good luck with your seng Hugh. If you can grow seng like you can peaches look out. lol


TN,
Where do you recommend getting your berry stock? I have taken seeds from fresh farm berries and planted them and they are growing. No berries yet thou but they are not that old yet. Ya think these will produce berries someday. They are blackberries and raspberries.
Latt

You are right Hugh...

I don't spray my peaches at all, not one single time and they have done OK.

One (the Reliance) seems especially hardy and disease free.

My peaches don't look hardly as nice as the ones you pictured but they will sure do and make some fine jam and fresh eating too.

I have had some serious disease issues in one of my Apple trees (a Fuji) it died completely, and one of my pear trees did too.

I replaced them with disease resistent varieties.

If you want to get by without all of the spraying, or at least minimize it, do some research on disease resistent varieties.

After my Fuji apple tree died and my pear tree, I found lots of info on line saying those varieties are very succeptable to fire blight.

I replaced that Fuji with a Mac(Free) which is supposed to be very resistent to fire blight and other diseases.

TNhunter

Latt,

On my tame blackberries ...

I got mine at millernurseries.com

I picked the Illini Blackberry mostly because they said it had wild blackberry flavor.

www.millernurseries.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=39

Some tame blackberries just don't taste much like wild berries, but these actually do.

I planted 6 of them, about 5-6 years ago and they are still doing well and make some big fat berries that are very sweet and have wild berry flavor.

They are about twice as large as most wild berries and bloom and get ripe a week or two ahead of wild berries too.

I have been happy with them.

They do have thorns, and need to be contained to hold upright (especially when loaded with berries).

They do have thornless (upright) varieties that they say do not need to be contained or supported. That would be nice, but not sure how the berry flavor would be. I may have to try some of those next time around.

Good Luck !

TNhunter

Latt..

You may already know this but blackberries have to make canes one year, then those canes bloom and make berries the next year.

As the second year canes are blooming and making berries, it will also send up new canes that will develop and make blooms and berris the following year.

Each year when the canes that blomed and made berries have been harvested fully, you need to cut those canes out of the way so the canes that will make berries the next year have more room to grow.

I am sure you can have luck at starting them from seed... but when you buy blackberry stock you will get root stock, that will send up first year canes, then the next year those will produce berries.

I never really noticed that about wild blackberries but they do the same thing.

TNhunter

Guys,
This is changing the subject a little, but I guided today in a spot that is the most Southerly location that I have planted ginseng in this past Fall. When I originally looked at the location I thought that it looked pretty clean and should not be a big problem. It was underneath over hanging bluffs and the western sunlight was completely blocked out in the afternoon. When I arrived today I thought there might be a possibility of seeing the first ginseng coming up. What had looked like a clean spot before turned out to be a jungle.There were all kinds of weeds and flowers up and I could not even see the ground now. Look at this.

TNhunter,
I tried planting some of the thornless blackberries before and like you said, they just didnt have the taste of wild. I will have to try that variety though. The one thing I have in abudance on my place is wild blackberry bushes.... and chiggers.

After the rain moved out I went and spread twenty pound of deadline. Good thing too, I seen their little slimy trails everywhere already. Mainly just in the new plantings that of course weren't treated last year. Trillium is up everywhere already and some are beginning to bloom... It won't be long now!

Hillhopper

Hugh,
Lol, yep it's covered plum up. Not to fear though, most of the early spring plants will run a short race and die down. I can't remember the name of that plant but I do think it will hang around awhile.If it were mine I might try to get it out of the way, looks like it has the area monopolized. As long as the seng isn't pushing up you can hit it with a shot of roundup if it bothers you. I have a little trillium and a couple other plants that has the ground half way covered but they seem to do their thing, then get on out of the way and let the ginseng do it's. The summer weeds is really what will starve a seng plant for light and water.

Hillhopper

Oh yea, since Im on a role of multi posting here, I'll add this...

I have decided I will start a Forest Ginseng Cat Ranch . I noticed quite a few hulled seed under the straw today. I know it's gonna happen some but these seed are too expensive to let mice and voles forage on them. As crazy as it sounds that is about the best thing I know to do to solve my mice and mole problem both... Round up all the unwanted kittens I can find, relocate em and pin them up in the woods for awhile to get adjusted to their new home,feed them about once a week when I visit my plantings and let them work on the vermin for their living. So... anybody in a couple of years need a wild ass cat, just let me know and Ill probably be able to trap you some.

Hillhopper

Those look a little like wild violets don't they Hugh? If so, I don't think they will hurt much once the ginseng gets up above them. The thing I'd worry about is they might be so dense that you have to watch for damping off in your seedlings. Maybe a shot or two of Kocide (metalic copper) as a pre-emergent preventative and another post emergence will help. I often use a heavy Kocide before emergence to burn off any fungi from the surface of the beds which might infect the seedlings as they emerge.

I'm with you and Latt in that I just can't stand to watch my ginseng die off in big bunches when I can do something about it. I also agree that spraying early is much more necessary in the lives of the ginseng than it is later (say after two years or so) I still won't spray wild sim at all, however.

Thanks for sharing Hugh. I've got a small commercial apple orchard up here in Vt. (2 acres of tall spindle)So far I've just sold wholesale to a country store but will sell some roadside this year and open for u-pic next. Do you sell by the pound roadside or by the bushel?

I'm growing a Reliance for my wife, do you recomend V training? Looks like what you have done in your vidio. Thanks!