North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["kieran or donna" <redherring@tnaccess.com>]

Steve commented:  Evans is one of only two tree fruits I have
this year that are bearing a full crop after a series of very hard late
freezes.

   I'll bet we can give Evans some "very hard late freezes" in years to
come, so I'll have to be eternally grateful to Lucky for sharing.  None of
my sweet cherries or the Duke seem to be moping about our bad clay soil.
The sour cherries haven't grown a tenth as big, and let's not even talk
about the apples.  Evans isn't growing by leaps and bounds, but in  year or
two I'll see how it compares to the Duke sucker I transplanted this spring.
They are in the same area too.  I thought I'd see how this one sets fruit
near the sour cherries compared to the one surrounded by sweets.  It does
bloom earlier than the two sweets.  The larger Duke bloomed for the first
time this year, didn't set much and the birds got them early.
    My local black sweet cherry finally set some fruit, and when I saw the
birds were pecking them while practically still green, I bagged one.  I
picked it when it looked pretty ripe and set it on the counter, then forgot
it. A couple of days later I remembered, and there was only one possible
explantation for where it went.  I asked my husband how he liked that
cherry.  He said it was "pretty good".  They are small, but from what I have
been told, most sweet cherry trees planted in this area don't make fruit at
all,  they just kick the bucket.
    I have read that sweet cherry trees are particular about soil and
drainage.  The huge Duke tree I found in Cookeville was on a slope.  In
spite of our tight clay with the poor internal drainage, the sweet cherries
are all on a slope, and as I say, they have grown well considering.  If you
have a drainage problem, where can you buy a slope?  Well, they seem to be
hard to come by in Florida, Kansas, Nebraska and other central states.  I
doubt that the smaller hardware stores would carry slopes, and even if you
could find one at a farm supply store, I'm not sure you could carry one home
in your pickup.  So where can you buy slopes?  Well, call us old fashioned
if you will, but Tennessee is just crawling with them.  And there are plenty
of real estate agents who'd just love to sell you a bundle, a great package
deal on slopes.  Some places in Tennessee, the folks have got so many
slopes, well, it's just not in good taste.  Take Jackson county for example.
How can I explain this.....how much do you know about waves?  I mean the
kind like you see on an oscilloscope.  You can have a low amplitude and a
low frequency, we have that kind around us in White county.  Then the
amplitude can get bigger and the frequency higher, like the many tit-shaped
hills in some counties around us.  But Jackson county... do you know what a
square wave looks like?  Flat on top, flat on the bottom, with a completely
vertical slope?   They have some sawtoothed waves as well.  I swear, if you
pounded Jackson county out flat, it would cover half the state.  Some slopes
though, they aren't finished yet.  It's called "creep" and when it's
happening, you will notice that all the trees have a curve in their trunks
from the dirt piling up on them.  Best not to build under this kind of
slope, it will eventually shove your house into the crick.
    How does all this relate to fruit trees?  I got carried away there, but
I can tell you that if you are on the bottom in Jackson co you have decent
soil and the cold air settles right down on you in the spring when
everything is in bloom.  If you are on top, on the Highland Rim, you have
dreadful tight acid soil but good external drainage, and good air drainage.
I'll throw in the heat and humidity for free.  Also the bugs and disease.
Let's not forget the late freezes.      Donna

P.S.  My husband says another option would be some really big jacks to put
under one edge of your property.  It would be cheaper than relocating.
P.P.S.  Get me to tell you about the Swiss Cheese State sometime (and I
don't mean Wisconsin), which has even less to do with fruit trees, but 8,600
known caves have GOT to be good for SOMETHING!