Hi everyone! Regardeng BLACKBERRIES, we, on the opposie side of the pool, have the same problems of OVERWINTERING the canes and the flower buds. Admittedly I yet have no own experience as I got interested in blackberries only this fall when discovered the existance of the new thornles and prolific varieties. So I read all that was worth reading in the Russian and US internet, especially the rather high-profile specialised forums of our blackberry enthusiasts.. I discovered that throughout Russia and Kazakhstan which both have areas with very serious frosts blackberry growing in those is nevertheless quite successful. Maybe someone here would benefit from their experience same as e.g. you grow plums of Russian origin such as ptitsin and fofanoff. Apparently Blackberries can bring huge yealds in climates with very low winter temps, even downing to -40C for rather ptolonged periods. The TECHNIQUE below allows overwintering without much problem. Plus some easy principles to follow. 1. All blackberries need to be laid down and covered for the winter, preferably after the first frost when the land is frozen. To ensure that this task is easy and hassle free: 2. Choose thornless varieties only. Those with thorns are said to be hell to lay and cover. 3. In early summer watch for the new canes (primocanes) to emerge. As soon as a shoot reaches 15-20cm carefully bend it 90 degrees and secure with a metal peg. When the cane grows another 40-60cm, secure it parallel to the ground with yet another peg. After it reaches 1 m let it grow as it will but better tie to the lowest string of the trellis Which gets them out of the way. Do not tip the ends as this would increase the leaf mass. Do the bending for all the emerging primocanes. 4. In autumn at the time of first frosts when all the fruiting canes have long been cut down lay the primocanes in lines stretched along one side of the trellis. Peg them to the ground, cover with two layers of 60g/m2 thick white non-woven fabric and secure all sides to the ground with no holes. This is said to help greatly even if serious frosts come before the snow. In milder and wetter climates they also put a plastic film layer on top of the fabric, leaving however the end bits open so there is always air circulation. The advice here is to experiment as all natural circumstaces differ. 5. Take off the cover layers gradually, and completely only after all danger of frost is over. By then the canes are likely to bear some yourg leaves and side shoots, but this is ok. Raise them carefully as the canes of come varieties are brittle, and tie to the trellis. 5. Winer frosts may not be a problem for blackberries, but summers need to be warm or hot. The shorter and milder/cooler the summers, the earlier fruiting varieties should be chosen. 6. Floricane varieties like PA Freedom in cooler and shorter summer climates may very sucessfully fruit if treated in the same way as other primocanes, i.e. as above, in a two-year culture. They would be one of the earliest to perform. If you have any questions do feel free to write me, I will try to help with more information. cathpetro at gmail dot com.

Yes, I harvested seeds from it last fall by pulling the seeds out of the fruit. I have stored them in the fridge for the last year not knowing what to do with them. I don't know if they would be viable any longer. I may just scatter them on the ground outside near the other plant and let nature take it's course. These new seeds will be treated according to the information I have found on Solomons Seal and Winter Sowing. I am also considering dividing the root. It says to do it on plants that are several years old. Mine is at least 4 years old. Thanks, Bruce

Our 5 year old came running upstairs to our room yesterday morning yelling that there was a "really big bird" in our yard. Our yard backs up to a small park where a few hawks (red-tail and coopers) and some owls (great horned and screech) frequent. Anyhow, I finally spot the thing and see spots on it's belly and for a moment thought it was injured (it was hopping on the ground near some bushes). So, I get the binoculars out and it's a juvie red-tail trying to get a squirrel in the bushes! Very cool to know that they're breeding successfully here. There's also a couple squirrels with problems that need culling (one with a giant abcess the size of a golf ball on it's shoulder, one with part of it's talk missing etc). Hopefully they get eaten before they have to try and suffer through our tough winters (WI).

Hi Cori, Thanks for the tip on the pollinator. I usually get somewhere between 500-600 chill hours in S. San Jose, sometimes more depending on the year. I've never had any troubles getting my Baby Crawford peach trees to produce fruit in my backyard, even though the stated chill hour requirement is 800 hrs. I'm sure having the other peach varieties helps with pollination quite a bit. With respect to chill hours, the only fruit variety which I think really DOES need the rated chill hours (or more) are cherries. Most of the other stone fruits, like peaches, apricots, plums, etc, if you're in the ballpark of the necessary chill hours, they'll produce fruit. My experience is the chill hour requirement is a rough gauge, not a hard and fast rule, but others may have experienced something different. The BC blossoms are pinkish-white, definitely not the deep red of Red Baron. You can get easily get BC from a lot of places - Peaceful Valley Farm, Bay Laurel, etc. I have loamy clay soil in my backyard and Citation tends to do well for me with this soil, which is the predominant peach rootstock I have (some are on Nemaguard). Baby Crawford does naturally tend to produce a somewhat smaller tree, so if I had to do it over again, I would have gotten the BC peach trees on Nemaguard, but I'm happy with what I have. Getting the Cal Red peach tree is another matter all together. I've been trying to get a Cal Red peach tree for at least the last 5-6 years. To my knowledge, it's only grown by Burchell Nursery and has historically only been available to commercial orchards. The Cal Red is listed on Tomorrow's Harvest website, which I believe is the retail arm of Burchell, but the tree is not in stock - they did not produce any trees last year, and may not produce any for the foreseeable future (I've inquired and I keep checking every year - lol). https://www.tomorrowsharvest.com/store/fruit-trees/peach-freestone.html