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  • From: Chex <chex.rice@gmail.com>
  • To: "Lee Reich" <garden@leereich.com>, "Richard MURPHY" <murphman108@msn.com>, "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Saskatoons
  • Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 12:08:52 -0500

Lee, I don't have a revised copy of your book but I still have the one
I purchased about 10 years ago. I'm always tickled when an author and
sage that I have great respect for responds to one of my emails.

I've read much of Dr. Richard St-Pierre's book now that I downloaded
it online and am left with the impression that most juneberry growers
can expect a certain percentage of the berries to abort. On my plants
that are starting their 3rd year about 75% aborted but some look like
they might make it. I have no signs of disease or insect damnage. No
holes in the fruit or discoloration on the fruit or foilage. I'm just
hoping to get to taste some this year and hopefully the percentage
that abort will decrease as the plants mature. I still have hope.

Thanks Lee

Richard Murphy, I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Chris Rice
zone 5a, Illinois


On 5/22/07, Lee Reich <garden@leereich.com> wrote:
I've tried juneberries for years. At my particular site, which is lowlying
with more humidity than the surrounding area, juneberries are a failure. In
about 20 years of trying a half-dozen varieties, I've harvested perhaps a
handful of fruits. Others get lost to a various insects and diseases. The
best years for my plants and for wild plants in the mountains here have had
very summers.

Still, I think juneberries are worth trying, to the extent that i did
include a chapter about them in my book Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden. As
I point out in my book, an ornamental planting only 5 miles here bears
abundant and regular crops of delectable berries (they are not sprayed at
all). As I wrote in my book, the best juneberries are sweet and juicy with
the richness of sweet cherry and a hint of almond aftertaste. Anyone who
wants to know more about this fruit should check out the chapter in my book
(which NAFEX library has).

I'm tempted to try Regent, which I've not grown yet.


Lee Reich, PhD
garden@leereich.com

Books by Lee Reich:
The Pruning Book
Weedless Gardening
Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
A Northeast Gardener's Year




On 5/21/07, Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com> wrote:



Good thing you found it for free.
I paid $75 for it, and own a copy.

Yes; I think they will turn around, and the smallish size has everything to
do with plant health in general.
My bare root plants were from Burnt Ridge, a good company, but they were
sort of dry and there were albino colored shoots on most tips. Then, I
planted them in very soggy soil. The first year, they just barely hung on.
Voles nailed quite a few, and a few dozen drowned.
My wife actually spoke with Paul Hamer of the Saskatoon Farm. He said
clayish soils weren't a problem. I then bought 200 Northline seedlings from
Select Seedling in Saskatchewan. Their product arrived in good shape. The
plants were not bare root. They were 'liners' in peat moss type soil, very
moist. These plants will be transplanted in my Maine orchard this Sunday.
The Krahn folks of Select Seedling also cautioned about too much water and
wet feet.
A lot of the plants I thought were toast, actually sprung out a few new
suckers, and the grow quite quickly. Don't yank them yet, is my advice.
Let's give them a few years. Read Richard's book.

RM





On May 21, 2007, at 1:20 PM, Chex wrote:

I really wish that I could find a copy of Richards book. A few years
back I had an email conversation with him. So do you think that in a
few years when the plants are bigger that it will turn around? If I
know that I just have to wait I can live with that. I just don't want
to keep investing time and space into something that is not suited to
the environment. When they sell the plants they portray them as being
able to grow in many kinds of soil. If I can find Richard's book it
would give me a better Idea of how to amend the soil if that is what
is needed. Thanks for your response.

Chris Rice

P.S. I just found his book in pdf form here:
http://www.prairie-elements.ca/saskatoons.html

I'm printing a copy of the book using Fedex Kinko's online:
https://printonline.fedexkinkos.com
Permission for non commercial copies is given on the website

Dr. Richard St. Pierre:
http://pgrc3.agr.ca/staff/stpierre_e.html

St-Pierre, R.G. 1997. Growing Saskatoons - A Manual For Orchardists.
Fifth Edition. Department of Horticulture Science, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. 338 pp.

On 5/20/07, Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com> wrote:



Hello Rice Chex;

I have had a similar experience with Smoky Saskatoons both here in MA z6 and
in Maine z4.

Really young plants. A few berries, small and fell off.

I have 200 Northline seedlings out in my yard here in MA to plant next week.

I have read Dr. Richard St. Pierre's book.

As far as I know we aren't doing anything wrong, so I'm going to keep trying
and hope to find a cure, because I have tasted Saskatoon Jam. You can buy it
on the web from Canadian places. It's so good. That's what started my
interest.

I'm going to try some soil PH modification, and possibly some Boron. I'll
let you & the club know how that goes.
One interesting question is, "How many leaves does it take to make a berry
grow large?" Maybe we have teeny little bushes with a few blossoms, but the
ratio to the leaves is wrong.


Richard Murphy


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