North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

"Trees, Shrubs and Vines for Attracting Birds" by Richard M. DeGraaf
(2nd edition, University Press of New England, 2002) says of black 
chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa:

"This plant spreads naturally by seeds and suckers. It is easily 
transplanted to dry or wet soil in full sun or partial shade. Fruits 
should be collected when ripe, and then dried. They may be stratified in 
moist sand for a minmum of 90 days at 41 degrees F. to hasten 
germination, and sown in spring in garden soil (U.S. Forest Service 1948)."

My limited experience of this plant as a conservation plant is that it 
is very tough and adaptable. It seems to prefer somewhat moist soil, 
though it will endure in dryish sand.

"Shrubs of Ontario" (Soper and Heimburger, Royal Ontario Museum, 1982)
says of its native distribution:

"Widespread throughout southern Ontario and northward to about 50 
degrees N. (Nfld. to Minn., southward to n. Ga. and N. Eng."

Also "A low to medium-sized shrub up to 2.5 metres tall; [habitat] In 
and around peat bogs, swamps and wet woods; also on dry sandy or rocky 
ridges and in pine woods."

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada



On 27/01/2011 3:56 PM, Richard MURPHY wrote:
> Phytoholics:
>
> I have 2 batches of Aronia wine in Secondary ferment right now. When I
> did the first 'rack' I was very pleasantly surprised by the enticing
> aroma of the Aronia fruit. One batch is 100% Aronia and water, the other
> Aronia and apple. Both are very dark purple. I have high hopes for their
> success, and one of us (Mark?) is already happy with this product. For
> red wines, it has all the tannin you'll ever want, too.
> Aronia is not, and probably never will be a fruit that can be enjoyed
> right off the bush. The thing I am fascinated with is it's ease of care;
> none! I picked my berries from bushes at a Supermarket parking lot. I
> never knew they were there, until one day when I was shopping there I
> happened to look way out to the boonies and saw some shrubs LOADED with
> clusters of black berries. So I swiped a branch and brought it home and
> confirmed its identity on Google. The next day I went back and picked a
> couple gallons in 30 minutes or less. I washed the heck out of them at home.
> Here is this large, rugged shrub, loaded with fruit, growing in wet
> soil, given no particular care, and AND... the birds leave it alone.
> So, on it's own merit, the berry itself is a 'who cares', but when you
> look at the big picture, it looks fantastic, especially for those of us
> that have some not-so-well-drained areas to plant it!
> RIght now I have some of these Aronia seeds in my fridge stratifying.
> Does anybody know how long the strat time requirement is for Aronia?
> Finally, I have 10 Nero plants up in zone 4 Maine; they are fine, and
> laughed at winter.
> (medicine my ass)
>
> Murph z6 MA and z4 ME
>
> R A Murphy Jr