North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

I like hearing about other people's successes, it give me hope.  :-)

This year was a mediocre year for my blueberries.  I got lots of  
fruit, and I've never seen it larger, but only the midseason fruit was  
sweet.  The early fruit (northblue, I think) was enormous, but almost  
flavorless.  The midseason fruit got some sunny days, and was  
moderately large and delicious.  The late-season fruit was again  
hampered by lack of sunlight.

On the other hand, it's been a fine year for the raspberries.  They  
ripened as much summer fruit as expected, and seemed to be able to  
hang onto it, not quite red, until it was sweet, and the new canes are  
enormous, promising a fine fall crop.  I was worried about grey mold,  
but haven't noticed a problem.  Between the kids and the critters, we  
keep the plants pretty clean of old fruit, which I imagine helps.

Not fruit, but perhaps related:  I've had trouble with powdery mildew  
on my peonies and on a winterberry (a sort of ornamental deciduous  
holly) for the last two years.  This year I sprayed the winterberry  
and some of the peonies with milk, after noticing mildew on the  
winterberry.  I just sprayed once.

I haven't seen any progression of the mildew in the intervening  
month.  Maybe it's just been too cold for it, as even the unsprayed  
peonies look good.  (But the peonies are all in a line, and I did  
spray the most susceptible one, which might reduce the spore  
population.)  And the winterberry has some tender new growth (all that  
rain!) that looks clean.  Not a proof of efficacy, but I think I'll go  
out and spray a little more milk.  Milk is cheap.

Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6



On Aug 2, 2009, at 9:03 PM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> I wasn't trying to brag things up- it's just that this year is  
> actually setting up to be quite the fruit growing disappointment if  
> the rain doesn't slow up.  I said "of course" about the blueberries  
> because everyone out here is getting a great crop of them and the  
> point is that even in bad seasons some things do very well.  Also  
> it's interesting to me to find out that blueberries can actually  
> perform so well in this ridiculous weather.
>
> We can grow many kinds of fruit here but I'm hoping even an Iowan  
> might find some benefit from my observations.  You learn the most  
> growing things in adverse conditions.  If you want to be jealous of  
> someone, I suggest you focus on a grower living in the state of  
> California.  We Easterners have to work pretty hard for our fruit.
>
> This is spoken with a light heart, I hope you know.
>
> <Well that's all I have time for now- got to go pick another gallon of
> blueberries before they drop.  Of course they've been absolutely  
> great.<
> Ya know, Alan, there are just some things the rest of us don't want  
> to know
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>
> Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
> This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on  
> web sites.
> Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have  
> permission!
>
> **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
> Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
> No exceptions.
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can  
> be used to change other email options):
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
>
> File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
> TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
> Please do not send binary files.
> Use plain text ONLY in emails!
>
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/