To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [nafex] Saskatoons (A. alnifolia) varieties for the warmer regions
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:36:59 -0600
Lucky sent me 2 little starts of Timm x Success about 8 years ago. They
have done pretty well considering where they are, and have cropped for
several years. The flowers are different from the local species, not
as showy, rather downy looking, and earlier to bloom. They never had a
hint of rust till this past year, when some berries had rust. The
native bushes do poorly, when they do have berries they often lose the
entire lot to horrible masses of rust. Like so many successful pests,
rust doesn't hurt the trees, merely destroys the fruit. I've found one
bush that has very small berries and almost no rust on them.
Any of you who remember my Red Clay Blues article will be amused to
hear that my husband came across the statement that The Highland Rim has
the worst soil in Tennessee. Just my luck. But I had kind of figured
that out by now anyway. Still better than Florida sugar sand though,
as given enough organic matter and extra minerals, it will grow garden
veggies and pears, hazels, blueberries and blackberries. The
Micromalus apple rootstocks are still holding up to their reputation for
tasting bad to voles. I lost 2 big rabbiteyes, one each of the last 2
winters. When I called David Lockwood, UT's horticulture expert, he
asked if it could be voles. So I've pulled a lot of pine branches etc
out of the blueberry patch. Donna