North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>]

There are lots of great blueberry varieties out there, but some will do
better than others depending on where you grow them. I would suggest finding
local blueberry farms and asking what varieties they grow, and most
importantly, which varieties did not do well for them.

Kiwi trellises need to be really strong, as the vines will eventually get
big and heavy. Hector Black told me his single 'Anna' vine produces 300 lbs
of fruit each year. When I first saw the enormous vine, I instantly realized
my trellises were not nearly strong enough. It may take many years to get to
that size, but that should give you an idea of what you will be dealing
with. A strong pergola type structure may be the best choice if only a
couple of vines are going in.

Deer will eat the new shoots on kiwi vines, but once they reach the wire,
they should be ok. My trellises have the wires about 7 feet high, and I have
never had deer problems with any shoots more than about 4 feet up. I use
wire cages around them until they reach the wire, then remove the cages once
they have established a trunk.

Hal
zn 6/7 TN

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melissa Kacalanos" <mijwiz@yahoo.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 2:09 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] blueberries, kiwis, grapes, deer


> My husband and I finally bought a place with room to
> plant fruit, and now we're hoping we have time to get
> a few plants in the ground this year. I know it's kind
> of late, though. I have some questions:
>
> What are the best (meaning tastiest, while still
> fairly high-yielding and trouble free) blueberries?
> When I look up varieties, all the descriptions sound
> pretty much the same, except for the obvious
> differences between the little wild ones and the big
> cultivated ones.
>
> We'd like to plant hardy kiwi vines ASAP, since they
> apparently take years to get old enough to fruit. Do
> deer eat the vines? In that case, we shouldn't plant
> them until after the deer fence goes up. Also, any
> recommendations for how to build a trellis for them? I
> understand that they need a lot of support, but what
> does that mean exactly in terms of materials and
> design?
>
> I had an idea to make our deer fence less ugly by
> growing vines on it, for example, kiwis and grapes,
> but this would only work if the deer don't eat them.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> Melissa
> zone 5, Ithaca, NY