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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] backyard growers report IL
  • Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2013 10:32:04 -0400

Thanks for the report, Fluffy. Alas, I have a higher ratio of critters to
fruit than you have. Although nothing has eaten any of my mature apple trees!
(I have had trouble with rabbits girdling newly transplanted apples, but a
collar of hardware cloth, or even aluminum window screen, until they are a
few inches in girth seems to work adequately.)

From the western suburbs of Boston:

Apples:
Worst cedar apple rust I have ever seen, with half of the foliage affected on
many trees, including the only one that bears fruit, a Jonathan. That tree
still has a lot of apples on it, although many fewer than it had a month ago.
I haven't seen a lot of cores on the ground, so perhaps its deer and not
squirrels who are eating them. A few are too high for deer, so I'm hopeful
that I might harvest half a dozen. I'm a little worried about how the tree
will do next year, with so little viable foliage this year.

Raspberries:
I grow Fall Red in a nice location, and Taylor in a less accessible and less
sunny spot. Usually the Fall Red is my most reliable crop. But this year the
jays and squirrels got into it. They are heavy enough to break the canes, and
the bed it a mess. I did harvest a very small number of tiny but extremely
flavorful berries. I find that my raspberries like to be irrigated, but I
didn't bother this year due to the infestation of wildlife, and small
highly-flavored fruit seems to be the result. (we also had a summer drought.)

Grapes:
As usual, my grapes formed flower buds, and then the buds dried up and fell
off. I have yet to figure out whether the problem is an insect or a fungus or
a nutritional deficiency. This year I saw some evidence it might be an
insect, and next year when I spray for winter moth I will spray the grapes,
too, and see what happens. If anyone has any guesses as to my problem, please
let me know. I've had exactly the same symptoms with two different cultivars
(Canadice and Jupiter)

Apricots:
The apricot I replanted in the same spot where my old one succumbed to borers
and/or gummosis grew nicely this year, and I expect it to bloom next year.

Currants:
European black currants aren't allowed in my county, but I grow red and
Crandall currants. Usually I am able to pick the reds before the birds get
them, but this year the cat didn't hang out near the bush, and I picked a
handful of nearly-ripe currants (after shoeing away half a dozen birds) and
that was it. I've never had to net them before, but maybe I will try that
next year.

I love the Crandalls as an ornamental plant, especially in the spring when my
whole yard smells of clove from their blossoms, but I'm not wild about the
fruit. I used to have a long window to pick it before the critters got to it.
I don't think I did this year, but I might not have noticed.

Blueberries:
This is the crop that I try hardest to protect. It has a permanent hardware
cloth fence around it to protect it from rabbits in the winter, and I usually
net the crop when it begins to ripen. Despite that, I usually lose most of
them. Whether to birds who find their way through the net or to chipmunks who
burrow under the fence (or both) I'm not sure. This year I was so depressed
about the currents and raspberries that I didn't even bother.

Oddly, I got a few berries. Thanks to the drought, the ripe berries held very
firmly to the bushes. So firmly that it was hard to pull them off. Some of
the berries I pulled off had obvious beak-marks on them, where some bird had
tried to pluck them and given up. I decided that there aren't a lot of
diseases communicable from wild bird beaks, and ate those anyway.

Cornus Mas:
I have three Cornus mas trees, two of which have fruited in past years, and
one which hadn't. This year, the young one set fruit, and the other two set
LOTS of fruit. Fruit all over the trees. Last time I checked, there was a
little fruit just turning red on the two more mature trees. I assume the
squirrels and/or birds have taken the rest. I've eaten two very under-ripe
fruits (which is sort of a successful harvest for me) but doubt anything will
last long enough to actually ripen. It's never been worth netting them in the
past, since they've typically only set a tiny handful of fruit. But they are
small enough to net, and maybe I will try it next year, if they set fruit
again.

Strawberries:
Regular strawberries are completely hopeless -- the chipmunks and/or birds
get them all when they turn white -- but I've had decent luck with alpine
strawberries, and keep tucking new clumps here and there. This was a
successful crop this year, and all summer long, I have been able to find one
or two plump ripe little berries every time I look for them.

Tomatoes:
I completely ignored the tomatoes this year after I planted them, and didn't
even train them to stakes. I did water them from time to time, when they
looked limp. I am happy to have harvested a couple of very tasty tomatoes
(probably JetStar) and a lot of nice sweet cherry tomatoes.

Meyers Lemon:
I have a meyers lemon that lives in a pot in the winter, and in my garden in
the summer. This has been a really bad year for it, and I'm not sure why.

Cherries:
I planted one of the new U Saskatchewan dwarf selections, Carmine Jewel. It
is now two years old, and has become a large, attractive bush. I imported it
from Canada, and the shipping/phytosanitary fees were more than the cost of
the plant, so I bought three, and gave two to friends, also in the Boston
area. Both of my friends report they had some bloom this year, but not so
much that they expected fruit. Mine has not flowered, but it looks very
healthy. I am a little surprised that a plant from the Canadian prairie
doesn't struggle with fungal stuff here in damp New England, but so far it
has been completely clean. In addition to my apricot, there are a lot of wild
prunus around, (which get black knot, and other prunus diseases) so I would
expect disease pressure, but so far, so good. I would recommend others in
this climate give it a try.

Hazelnuts:
I planted two hazelnut bushes from Grimo Nuts, a "Red Leaf Hazel" and an
"American Hybrid Seedling". They are mostly intended to be
ornamental/hedgerow plants, and are near the property line with my backyard
neighbor. (But I'd be thrilled to get some nuts, if the squirrels leave me
any.) I had more insect damage than I like to see on the seedling, but after
hand-picking off some caterpillars, that stopped, and both are looking great.
They put on a surprising amount of growth in the dry, shady spot where I
planted them. So far, so good.

Ginda Fisher
eastern MA, zone 6


On Aug 31, 2013, at 6:30 PM, fuwa fuwa usagi wrote:

>
> Fluffy’s update…backyard growers report IL...far west burbs of Chicago
> ...




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