North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard MURPHY" <murphman108@msn.com>]

Hello Ginda and All;

 

Down here in Massachusetts, nobody knows what a Saskatoon really is.

It is actually a distant cousin of an apple.

 

As far as selecting the best kind 'for this area', (zone 5 / 6) it's a crap shoot.

The more you read, the more confused you'll get. So... whenever I set off to pork myself, I usually observe someone else's success first as a model, and modify accordingly.

 

Although the climate is totally different, go to www.saskatoonfarm.com.

 

See what Paul Hamer did.

Read his opinions about the various cultivars of Amelanchier.

 

Then... buy 2 of each type, plant them and have fun!

 

A long time ago, I made the mistake of buying a un-named cultivar.

Sterile piece of crap. Chucked it. Lesson learned.

 

Mike out at Burnt Ridge in Washington gave me a decent price on a boatload of Smokies, so I bought them and planted them in zone 4 Maine last year, in clayish soil.

 

Most of them immediately caught some kind of leaf crud, but they survived the winter. Some that defoliated early actually put out some suckers and they are still alive. (I thought they croaked last November!). Finally, this year I gave them all a dose of Clorothalonil and Malathion before bloom, and as of today the leaves are fine; no crud, no bugs either.

 

These plants definitely don't like to be planted in muck. Down the bottom of my lot, the earth is still spongey, and the plants did die. Some are growing moderately fast, some slow, they are all still too young to have fruit.

 

As far as soil fungus benefit... I can't comment, nor speculate responsibly. I have read Richard St. Pierre's Amelanchier Manual about 75 times (own a copy), and don't remember him mentioning that topic at all; but it doesn't mean it isn't a valid idea. Sounds like another experiment. I might consider trying it, somewhere far away from the big orchard just in case....

 

Right now, there just isn't enough data on Juneberries to draw on for this area.

We should try to fix that. What a cool experiment.

 

Mr. Hamer also weighs in on the seedling vs. tissue babies................ Mostly true from seed.

Seedlings may take another year to fruit.....

 

Why would anyone bother with these unknown berries when blueberries are so easy to grow??

The taste. Send for a jar of jam etc and you will be hooked, as I was.

Wow.

 

 

Have fun.

 

Murph