How does Firelight hydrangea do in Zone 3b/4a?
ostrich
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luis_pr
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My Backyard planting experience (so far) - Zone 4a/b Quebec, Cana
Comments (62)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....See MoreMy Backyard planting experience (Part 2) - Zone 4a/b Quebec, Canada
Comments (55)Mat, yeah I have 2018 and 2019 to write up. I have all my notes. Just have to find time. I checked out Pepiniere casse noisette website. They do not list their rootstocks anywhere that I can find. What rootstocks are your pears, peaches, apricots on? Honestly, a lot of what they are selling, at least in apricots, peach, nectarines seem to me to be VERY marginal for their climate. In many case they mention useful for growing in pots but if that is the case how are they propagating for sale? I don't want to disparage them without information but my impression is they might be reselling . You absolutely need to be buying based upon root-stock. For apples I am not only buying on Bud118 as it has best cold hardiness and is vigorus for our short seasons - Bud9 is just too slow. Train and prune to keep the size you want. Pears on OHxF87 or 97 and prune/train. I have found PAW-PAWs to be marginal in 4b - still 3' tall after 5+ years. Blueberries don't like my soil so Haskasps and Currants are much better. You have better options than Indigo Gem, Aurora is good though. Pink Lemonade is like a zone 5/6 plant, I see little chance of it surviving. Both Whiffletree and vigneschezsoi are good options. Be aware that a 1-2 year old bare root grape vine will bear fruit 1-2 years faster than the same year rooted cuttings you will get from vigneschezsoi. If you are only buying a couple might want to spend a couple extra $$ to get fruit a whole year or 2 earlier. Somerset and Trolhaugen are good. Had a couple Brianna this year, not enough to really say. Get Bluebell as well. I suggest 10-15' between vines. Can go closer but I am of the hack back 90% every year and then let grow. Trollhaugen can put out 12-15' of growth in 1 year alone - plant closer and you have to keep on top of canopy thinning to avoid overgrowth. Apples and pears will benefit from bagging with ziplocs. Grapes I bag with Organza bags when starting to turn color. So far I am loosing 99% of stone fruit (plums) to plum curlico and the rest to birds/racoons (can't bag plums - they rot). All peaches die. Trying apricots but no fruit yet. Don't get too caught up on types of fruit. Buy something disease resistant on a hardy, vigorus rootstock then topwork as you get enough branch structure. You will then be able to test fruit to see what you like or not within 3 years of grafting. My crabapple is now up to 65+ different apples grafted to it....See MoreFire light Hydrangeas review
Comments (49)GHo/Lovemy. Circling back on this thread..... I did my * 2022* pruning on the youngest LL today. The interior canopy has the strongest branching / new wood comes really strong and will hold the blooms all season vert. On some of the younger branching, it rained the other day and it's raining today. I surveyed what stems I will want for next year to continue forming the framework *which will get cut down some in spring*, and I removed the beautiful bloom off of it. The blooms filled up 1/3 of the garbage can. Siggghhh I did not do this in former years and let Dwarnisim choose it's course. What happens IME is stems stay weighed down and don't recover. They remain either in the funky downward curve (either curve down or it does this downward curve and then a U turn back up) instead of being nice straight and vert. I do this as once the bloom is cut, instead of the stem being weighted down and not recovering later in the season, the stem reverts back vert. Also, it's also -pre mitigation- should that stem snap later in the season with the continued rains in fall and the heavy bloom I kinda consider this my early -2022- pruning/shaping strategy. Don't do it on everything, just things I want to aid in shaping....See MoreOld wood vs New wood for a few hydrangeas I just bought
Comments (8)Timing of the flowering will depend heavily on location. In luis' very southerly location hydrangeas may well bloom in spring but further north, they won't start blooming until later into the summer. In my area - pretty far north - the only hydrangeas blooming before the end of June are those purchased already in bloom from nurseries or greenhouses!! And with a later overall boom, it is tricky to tell old wood flowers from those produced on new wood. There is no lapse between the two but rebloomers or those that flower on new wood as well will continue to produce flower buds (broccoli) late into the season, often continuing to bud and flower as late as October. Two extremes of location - two very different bloom cycles :-) Most others wll fall somwhere in between these two....See Moreostrich
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