Yes there are a lot of Sea Buckthorn orchards just feeding the crows! The best approach (according to the University of Sask.) is to shake and collect the berries on a tarp. they attached a vibrator to the boom of one of those mini rubber tracked excavators it causes a bit of tree damage they say. Because the fruit when ripe has a lot of cling to remove from the stem, I heard they were trying to breed a variety with less cling so shaking would be easier. On my orchard I tried the more affordable attachment that goes on a portable reciprocating saw, it pinches the branch and shakes off the berries. The one I had whiplashed the branch off before all the berries shook loose. I've gone back to pruning to harvest. Once the trees are established they seem to handle the pruning and give the same amount of fruit the following year. To larry-gene I run my fruit through a juicer(auger type) and the seeds and some skins come out the solids section, like a lot of fruit, it clogs the screens though.

green_go - my sea buckthorn plants are doing well! I watered them regularly during their first year, and once or twice last year. They were very small plugs when they arrived, so they still aren't producing fruit, but they have grown many times in size, so hopefully soon! So I can't comment on the fruit. The varieties are Prozrachnaya and Lubipelskaya, and the male is Pollmix. Supposedly. That is taking their word on it; hopefully they are honest, and aren't just selling me Indian Summer or something(which is available anywhere). There have been some concerns/complaints over the years of the Saskatoon Farm being a bit dishonest in their advertising..if you read earlier in this thread, Konrad talks about that a bit. So I guess, take your chances, if you're willing! So far mine have done fine, but I can't promise that they got the varieties right! I also bought some Northline saskatoon's from them, and I have to admit, their bareroot plants have done better than my Smoky's and Martin's I had planted 2 years before the Northline's(from a greenhouse). Settled in very quickly, have been more vigorous, and started fruiting decently the first year. Maybe it is just the variety, but I have to admit they have done very well and they sent me generously sized plants. I believe they ship by greyhound, and some people don't like that. I had some roses shipped by greyhound once, and they had already sprouted and weren't looking that great by the time they arrived. (they did survive though) EDIT - I looked at this year's Saskatoon Farm catalog; it looks like they no longer have the sea buckthorn's available that I bought. Mine was a set of 3 plants, 2 female, 1 male, for $65(!!) and it was a separate listing from the 'regular' sea buckthorn listing(where you have to buy a minimum of 8 plants for 8-9 bucks/plant). So you would have to phone or email and ask what varieties they are offering. These may be the varieties they selected themselves, so possibly unnamed, but potentially nice quality.

Hi! I was just looking at this post today lol, nice of you to respond. It's still there, hasn't really turned into anything too much yet (the papaya is growing a bit slow so I'm not worried) but it still definitely has that swollen base. I took of one of the non-hermie flowers and tried to pollinate it with the anthers from that and my finger so we'll see. I think the issue with using soft water is they use sodium or something similar to make the water soft (operates on an ion exchange basis, where they exchange carbonates (calcium and magnesium) for salts (sodium and potassium)) and the problem is I don't want salt (sodium) to build up in the containers. Adding the acid also works on the carbonates but changes them into salts (notably gypsum when using sulfuric acid) and takes it out of the pH interplay. I'm just using normal city water to irrigate, it's just that high because the city pumps it from the ground, and our ground is made up of limestone (like pouring dissolved lime on the plants when I water). As for lowering the pH in soil, irrigating with acidified water will do that over time, the same as watering with high pH/highly alkaline water with lots of bicarbonates will raise soil pH over time. The sulfuric acid performs the same job as adding sulfur to lower soil pH, just quicker ;D So to answer your question my papaya flower is still there, I just added 2 oz or so of slow-release fertilizer to the pot (for micros and such) this weekend, and will be irrigating it with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) on a weekly basis. How're yours? :)

Cloud_swift is absolutely correct about trees and shade around your home. Color is very difficult in my house because I am surrounded by trees and hills. I have a very tall, steep hill (small mountain) directly behind my house (east) covered in huge oak trees, plus a covered patio, so I get NO direct light in my kitchen...the lights need to be on ALL DAY. Because of this hill, it is around 10-11:00 am before I get the direct sun coming over the hill top and the tree line. I have large maples at each end of my house (north and south) that provide wonderful shade, but again, the end of my house that is slightly north-east gets very little direct sunlight. There are huge pines, spruce, etc in front of the house, which block the evening sun. I do get some nice direct south-west sun in the afternoon at one front corner (office and bedroom), Just to give you some examples: Beiges and tans look dirty/murky in my home. Golden tans look dirty (I tried Believable Buff - terrible - looks great in good light). I have a true soft butter yellow in my DR (front of the house) which is beautiful day or night. Greens look good in my home. I have the feeling the currently popular grays will not look good in my home. I have the feeling the blue-greens or green-blues will look good (thinking Sea Salt, Wyeth Blue, Quietude, etc). Have never used dark colors and don't care for them, but I believe they would "show" well. The point I am making here is the outside greenery and the shade SIGNIFICANTLY factors into my paint colors. Hope this helps also.