Annual Report – 2015
Annual Report – 2015
2015 ANNUAL REPORT
** Please note the below is cut and pasted from postings from an online forum – I will work on cleaning it up later **
Since Fall 2012 I have been shoving a ton of different plants into the heavy clay (where certain areas are under 2 inches of water for 2-3 weeks in the spring during the melt) of my south facing acre lot and seeing what survives and prospers. Below are what I either have in the ground or am waiting for in Spring/Fall 2015 (pretty much only 6 apples and a couple grapes that I am waiting for).
I try to buy disease resistant and hardy stock from nurseries close to my zone (see below). I have tried to stagger maturation times both within fruit varieties but also between different fruit so that I have a continuous harvest from end of May (Rhubarb) well into November (Goldrush) and I have chosen certain Apples and Asian Pears for their keeping capability so that I will have fresh fruit from my cold room into the late spring.
So far I have only allowed my Rhubarb, Strawberries and Raspberries to crop. Next year I will allow my cherries, chums, and a couple apples bear lightly. 2016 and 2017 is when I will really get going. Since 2012 I have been looking forward to winters because it means I am 1 year closer to my crops!
In 2012 I got some of the plants from:
http://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/
They went into bankruptcy protection in 2013 and are coming out of it now I think. Honestly I was not super happy with their stuff and service/response to e-mail/phone was non-existent. Nursery kiwi’s were shipped 2 days before winter freeze and obviously died during the winter were not replaced, ect. I can’t recommend them based on my personal experience, this may change though.
I get all my stuff now from:
http://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/ (zone 5a/b)
They were a franchise of Green Barn pre-bankruptcy. They are super nice and responsive. The primary owners are mennonites so don’t expect lots of e-mails from them but their principle manager (Steve – part owner?) works with/for them and is excellent. He http://treehustler.ca/) is super knowledgeable and very helpful. His wife runs their website and a lot of their e-mails. I like their stuff and they have a great selection (I even got some tri-ark freedom blackberry and tri-ark 45 blackberry I am trying out (new primacaine bearing varieties) that are a huge stretch for my zone. If you buy from them I strongly suggest calling and asking to talk to Steve and get his recommendations, what you might want from looking at the website might not be his top recommendation. If you call tell them Trevor from Quebec recommended them.
I also buy from: http://www.pepiniereancestrale.com/ (located zone 4a/b). Bit less selection but their trees are AWESOME quality. Try to get their 2 yr old plants and you will be very happy. Honestly I have found that their trees seem to be in a bit better shape and take off a bit faster than www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca but I think it is because www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca is just starting up and does not have a lot of their own rootstock yet and have been outsourcing a lot. That said while the www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca may take an extra year to get going their stuff has not died on me, some has just struggled a bit.
I have tried to get stuff from http://siloamorchards.com/ but they don’t respond to e-mail or telephone. I would love to at least get some scion wood from some rarer apples.
It looks like scion wood is easier to get from http://www.appleluscious.com/orchard/ordering.html, but I am a bit concerned about hardiness in my zone 4a/b region so I have not tested them yet.
My table grapes will be growing on a geneva double curtain trellis I bought from http://www.agritek.com/wolverine_grape. UPS shipping to Canada was brutally expensive.
For an interesting approach to an organic permaculture orchard take a look at (http://miracle.farm/). They did a 2 hr documentary that you can buy the DVD or download a DRM free file.
Spring 2015 Report
Ok, here is my spring/early summer report for 2015. We had a brutal long winter. First frost was Sept 19, 2014. First snow was Nov 15. April 1st was -12 C. Last snow was April 8. Thaw started April 10. We were lucky this year in that we had very good snow cover that never melted. Total cumulative snowfall was 194 cm (76.7 inches). So while air temps were brutal, roots did ok. Now that it is summer it is amazing to see the general damage. Driving around one can see numerous 40-50 foot trees that have had the upper 30 feet fully die back and only shoots forming from the base of the crown. As you know my soil is heavy clay and there are lower areas that have standing water. In fact during the winter I checked and there was 2 inches of standing water in my lower areas that was frozen solid.2015 Growing list
Apple – Pristine – DR
Apple – Redfree – DR
Apple – Crimson crisp – DR
Apple – Liberty – DR
Apple – Celestia – H
Apple – Egremont russet – H
Apple – Swayzie Russet – H
Apple – MacFree – DR
Apple – Sundance – DR
Apple – Goldrush – DR
Apple – Enterprise – DR
Asian Pear – Hayatama
Asian Pear – Shinshiki
Asian Pear – Northbrite
Asian Pear – Kenko
Pear – Taylor Apple
Pear – Moonglow
Pear – Olympic
Plum – Toka
Plum – Superior
Plum – Kahinta
Peach – Harrow Diamond
Peach – Empress
Peach – PF24c
Chum – Kappa
Chum – Convoy
Chum – Sapalta
Haskasp – Tundra
Haskasp – Aurora
Haskasp – Honeybee
Haskasp – Borealis
Currant – Ben Cowan
Currant – Ben Sarek
Currant – Titania
Josta Berry
Saskatoon – Northline
Saskatoon – Smokey
Elderberry – Wyldwood
Elderberry – Bob Gordon
Black Raspberry – ?
Purple Raspberry – Royalty
Grape – Sommerset
Grape – Reliance
Grape – Pink Pearl
Grape – Polar Green
Grape – Earliblue
Grape – Catawba
Grape – Concord seedless
Grape – Montreal Blue
Grape – Mars
Grape – Vanessa
Grape – Petite Jewel
Blueberries – Chandler
Blueberries – Northsky
Blueberries – Toro
Blueberries – Patriot
Blueberries – Pinklimonade
Blueberries – Duke
Cherry – Romeo
Cherry – Cupid
Cherry – Juliet
Cherry – Crimson Passion
Cherry – Evans
Blackberry – Prime Arc 45
Blackberry – Prime Arc Freedom
Seaberries
Kiwi – Kolomitka
Kiwi – Kens Red
Kiwi – Arguta Anna
Kiwi – Arguta
Mulberry – Montreal Black
Plumcot – Taylors Gold
Strawberry – Albion
Strawberry – All Star
Rubarb – Victoria? (crown has been propagated in family for +80 years over 4 different moves!)
Rubarb – Strawberry Red
Heartnut – Imshu
Heartnut – Campbell CW-3
Medlar – Giant Breda
Medlar – Royal
Gooseberry – Black Velvet
Gooseberry – Tixia
Gooseberry – Poorman
Paw Paw – Seedling
Paw Paw – Campbell NC-1
Fall 2015 Report
We had a good growing year with the exception of a -2.4 C frost on May 23 which killed my apple, plum, sour cherry, grape and haskasp flowers. The remainder of the growing season was good with warm temperatures and sufficient rain to keep everything well watered but not soaking wet.
All the Bud9 apples planted this spring from Whiffletree survived and put on between 6-12” of growth. It was supposed to be on antonovka rootstock +/- Bud9 interstems but signals got crossed and everything arrived on Bud9 so due to my wet soil I have planted numerous antonovka seeds next to each tree and will try to grow my own rootstock in place to graft over in spring 2017.
Pear – Hayatama (Planted May 2014 from pepiniere ancestrale – died back to graft union – has sent up 2 x 3 foot shoots which I will see how they do this winter)
Pear – Northbrite (Planted Fall 2012 – always has been struggling – not much dieback but this year put up 2 feet of growth so hoping roots are taking hold) Green Barn
Pear – Kenko (Planted Spring 2013 – never grew well and keeps dying back to graft union – this year put up 5 feet of growth so hoping roots are taking hold) – Green Barn
Pear – Taylor Apple (Planted Spring 2013 – never grew well and keeps dying back to graft union – this year put up 3 feet of growth so hoping roots are taking hold) – Green Barn
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