[quote=Johnny Oxygen]WooHoo!
I got my berry bushes in the mail yesterday!
Bluberries, Rasberries and Blackberries. I’ve never planted these before. They come with good instruction but does anyone here have first hand experience with the do’s-and-dont’s of berry bushes?
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JO -
We are in our 3rd real year of blackberries. We have two Apache thornless plants and got about 4 quarts of fruit in our second year. Proper pruning is critical to a good crop. I learned the hard way that there are two types of pruning: Spring tip pruning and late summer cleanup pruning.
Tip Pruning - In early spring, cut back the canes to about 24". If the cane is shorter than 24", cut off an inch or so. This forces branching which will increase yield.
Cleanup Pruning: Blackberries only produce fruit on 2 year old canes and once it produces fruit, that cane won’t produce again. These need to be cut back to the ground late in the growing season after the cane has fruited. This will encourage growth of new first year canes which will produce the following year.
I didn’t prune correctly the first year and I had great looking canes, but since they had already produced fruit, all they did was grow leaves.
I did learn a few new tricks on managing strawberries. One of my goals has been a triple duty orchard - trees with berry rows below and run the chicken tractors down the rows. I was all set to plant last year and got the bones of the berries in and turned around to see the goats looking at me while chewing on berry plants. So, I just settled for the ones I saved to multiply back to some good numbers. While bidding my time, I have been talking to people on how best to manage large plots. Every now and then I get a byte to chew on and plant my determination to get the orchard done.
An older fruit producer told me he has a “central rows” planted and lets the runners spread out on both sides. This central row is in permenantly and once every few years he fertilizes and tills down the outter runner rows. That way he has no replanting to do. He keeps 3 acres of berries on a “U-Pick”.
Another old trick I heard - completely mow down non-producing berry plants and fertilize in the fall. They come back like new in the spring.
Another gent I met at a farming conference over winter said he is planting strawberries over 5 acres and plans to make $250K an acre (as if my appetite for strawberries wasn’t heightened enough).
Now here’s my problem - To get good berries when I had a small patch, I had to buy strawberry fertilizer and to do a serious patch would cost a fortune so I would like to learn to make my own natural fertilizer. When using straight manure on the small patch, all I got was mostly greenery. I want greenery, but I want loads of berries. Has anyone got a magic recipe to fertilize strawberries? It would be much appreciated -
EndGamePlayer
It also helps to know what canes have fruited (on second year-bearing varieties) if you tie a scrap of fabric to the canes in mid-summer, when they’re bearing, so you know which ones to remove in fall.
EGP, I get loads of strawberries off our June-bearing plants without putting much effort into fertilizing. I bought a big bag of cottonseed meal and a bag of bone and blood meal (pig) from the feed store two years ago, and I just sprinkle a 50-50 mix over the bed (not enough to completely cover the soil, if it were bare, but maybe 75 percent coverage) in the spring. Last year, in addition, I threw some mushroom compost that I’d picked up from a local mushroom farm in about the same thickness. I guess I’m a bit of a haphazard gardener, but it has worked well for me so far. I got the idea for bone, blood and cottonseed meal from Steve Solomon’s book, Gardening When It Counts.
His actual recipe for a complete organic fertilizer, which I clearly don’t follow, is:
4 parts any kind of seedmeal except coprameal (have no idea what that is)
Or 3 parts seed meal one part bone and bloodmeal/tankage/meatmeal (this is higher nitrogen and better for leafy crops in spring)
Blend with 1/4 part agricultural lime (I’m in the arid west and I don’t believe lime is appropriate here) and 1/4 part gypsum (or else double the lime), and 1/2 part dolomite lime.
For best results add 1 part of finely ground rock phosphate or 1 part bonemeal or 1 part high-phosphate guano and 1/2 to 1 part kelp meal or 1/2 part basalt dust.
I suppose I should investigate the advisability of adding these latter ingredients in my part of the world, as they may well be crucial for long-term soil health.
[quote=suesullivan] I got the idea for bone, blood and cottonseed meal from Steve Solomon’s book, Gardening When It Counts.
His actual recipe for a complete organic fertilizer, which I clearly don’t follow, is:
4 parts any kind of seedmeal except coprameal (have no idea what that is)
Or 3 parts seed meal one part bone and bloodmeal/tankage/meatmeal (this is higher nitrogen and better for leafy crops in spring)
Blend with 1/4 part agricultural lime (I’m in the arid west and I don’t believe lime is appropriate here) and 1/4 part gypsum (or else double the lime), and 1/2 part dolomite lime.
For best results add 1 part of finely ground rock phosphate or 1 part bonemeal or 1 part high-phosphate guano and 1/2 to 1 part kelp meal or 1/2 part basalt dust.
I suppose I should investigate the advisability of adding these latter ingredients in my part of the world, as they may well be crucial for long-term soil health.
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I have used this formula with good results on everything except Tomatoes, they need more “ummph”. Also, I have stored these components in individual trash cans for several years now (in a very high humidity climate) with no significant degradation or spoilage. I also use this mix in my wicking beds with good results.
So what makes your tomatoes sing?
I love this site!
Where else can you learn how a nuclear reactor works AND get advice for your berry bushes?
[quote=suesullivan]So what makes your tomatoes sing?
[/quote]
Non-radioactive phosphorous and epsom salts…
A little bonemeal and they can play the banjo too…
[quote=suesullivan]So what makes your tomatoes sing?
[/quote]
I wish I knew.
I should qualify that this fertilizer mix does seem to work fine for the first set of fruit, but we have a long growing season down in here in Tejas and my tomatoes invariably develop nutrient deficiencies after a few months. Top dressing with more of this mix doesn’t seem to help. I haven’t been able to decisIvely determine the specific nutrient deficiency, despite using this excellent online reference. I have to grow them in wicking beds to supply them with enough water during the heat of the summer, so this year I changed out the soil in the beds. Maybe that will help.
Any suggestions?
Thanks…Jeff
Thanks for all the good recipes! I have the Gardening When it Counts book and have added to the Solomon Recipe: Boron (reduce insect & pest problems because I see the Amish throw old laundry soap on gardens) and Rock dust.
So, to add to that, since we keep animals in the barn and “harvest” manure in the spring, over winter I add: Lime, Kelp (given to the animals and WOW does that make a difference in their health!), Diatanaceous Earth to reduce insects & improve health, mushroom spores, calcium (given to the birds for good eggs) and of course, feathers come from the birds.
Per Sue’s post - I ordered a couple different phosphorous sources - bone meal and greensand. I think I will test to see if either produce a difference in production on fruits and veggies.
Footnote- Last year the apple trees finished blooming and I started seeing some brown leaf spotting. I looked it up and I diagnosed that it looked like a boron deficiency. So, I started by giving each tree boron & fish emulsion. I must have given them too much because the trees bloomed - again! I don’t know how it affects tomatoes, but you might want to try a few plants with it.
EGP
JAG,Increasing potassium and decreasing nitrogen will induce/enhance fruiting. My understanding is this is true of al fruiting plants. Source: I learned about this at the University of the Virgin Islands Aquaponics Course I took a couple of weeks ago. You probably can’t reduce nitrogen with your mix, but you should be able to add potassium. Try it and let me know if/how it works. Cheers,
FB
Just connecting a few dots…
In the event of a serious radioactive screwup… maybe adding large doses of Potassium and Calcium would minimise strontium or caesium uptake in plants.
Analogous to the KI treatment for humans… if you have a potassium deficient plant, it’ll absorb every atom of potassium (or strontium) it can get it’s hands, err roots on.
If it’s saturated and surrounded by loads of the genuine article,… not so much… ?
The main thing is to avoid K, or Ca deficiency.… swamping just adds an extra dilution factor.
Seems intuitively sensible… shrug
Wonder if this has been tried on contaminated land before… eg farms around Chernobyl…
see: http://www.avocadosource.com/tools/FertCalc_files/liebigs_law.htm
ps I have no interest in singing, or talking, or banjo-playing tomatoes… if only out of respect for the Intellectual Property rights of Monsanto and Time-Warner… 
http://www.oecd-nea.org/rp/chernobyl/c06.html
In some podzolic soils, lime in combination with manure and mineral fertilisers can reduce the accumulation of radiocaesium in some cereals and legumes by a factor of thirty. In peaty soils, sand and clay application can reduce the transfer of radiocaesium to plants by fixing it more firmly in the soil. The radiocaesium content of cattle for human consumption can be minimised by a staged introduction of clean feed during about ten weeks prior to slaughter. A policy of allocating critical food production to the least contaminated areas may be an effective common sense measure.
So, the most available source of potassium (for me) is potash from my wood stove. Calcium is available from the bird manure. So again, all things on a sustainable farm work together.
To be safe- I might grow more root crops for less contamination or grow more under cover, even though we’re in the northern mid-west.
Anyone else changing garden plans for safety reasons?
EGP
[quote=Farmer Brown]JAG,
Increasing potassium and decreasing nitrogen will induce/enhance fruiting. My understanding is this is true of al fruiting plants. Source: I learned about this at the University of the Virgin Islands Aquaponics Course I took a couple of weeks ago. You probably can’t reduce nitrogen with your mix, but you should be able to add potassium. Try it and let me know if/how it works. Cheers,
FB
[/quote]
Thanks FB,
I think I read somewhere, maybe in Gardening When it Counts, that if you minimize K you get a smaller but more nutritionally dense fruit/vegetable with higher protein levels. As I only grow paste-plum tomatoes that I mill into tomato sauce, I haven’t provided much K in my mix because I want them to be “meaty” in texture. Perhaps I need more K for plant health.
I really don’t believe I have too much N, and my seedmeal sources should be a fairly slow acting source. I was actually thinking I needed more N, at least in the initial vegetative growth stage. I guess I will vary the fertilizer mixes on several plants and see how they respond.
How was the UVI course?
Thanks…J
You can supplement bulk staples which offer a limited menu with commercially packed air-dried or freeze-dried foods, packaged mixes and other supermarket goods. Canned meats are a good selection. Rice and varieties of beans are nutritious and long-lasting. Ready-to-eat cereals, pasta mixes, rice mixes, dried fruits, etc. can also be included to add variety to your menus. Packaged convenience mixes that only need water and require short cooking times are good options because they are easy to prepare. The more of these products you include, the more expensive your stockpile will be.
The following is an easy approach to long-term food storage:
- Buy a supply of the bulk staples listed previously.
- Build up your everyday stock of canned goods until you have a two-week to one-month surplus. Rotate it periodically to maintain a supply of common foods that will not require special preparation, water or cooking.
- From a sporting or camping equipment store, buy commercially packaged, freeze-dried or air-dried foods. Although costly, this is an excellent form of stored meat, so buy accordingly. (Canned meats are also options.) Another option is to purchase dry, packaged mixes from the supermarket.
- Rent A Car Brasov
Hi there,
Chris, one word I’ve never heard you say is “permaculture” - the design system formulated by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren (of Tasmania and Australia, respectively) in the 1970s.
When you asked that farmer if there was a “shortcut” to knowing how to farm and he said no, he was right in many ways. However, a person could easily spend ten years reinventing the wheel rather than gaining a holistic perspective from folks who have done a LOT of work in the same areas you are discussing in these forums.
Now, clearly, a well-intentioned person with clear ideas about where they want to get will seek out and learn appropriate information and do it with a good degree of efficiency. So it is theoretically possible to learn all of the information in the permaculture design course without ever hearing the name permaculture. But the question is, if you hear of a holistic design system created precisely for the purposes you discuss in your forums (invisible financial structures included), wouldn’t you feel obligated to at least look at it?
I just wanted to tell you about this, because ever since I heard about Crash Course I’ve noticed significant parallels between your goals and that of permaculture (surviving the next 20 years, for one).
The permaculture principle of cooperation: Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems and of future survival.
I urge you and anyone else reading this to at least check out permaculture if you haven’t heard of it. It distinguishes itself by having the tendency to eliminate the need for money rather than try to make more all the time. You can’t eat money, and any food or drink you use money for (by definitiion) was not produced by you.
“The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them.” (from Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual)
Peace and love,
Steve.
[quote=permalove]Hi there,
Chris, one word I’ve never heard you say is “permaculture” - the design system formulated by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren (of Tasmania and Australia, respectively) in the 1970s.
When you asked that farmer if there was a “shortcut” to knowing how to farm and he said no, he was right in many ways. However, a person could easily spend ten years reinventing the wheel rather than gaining a holistic perspective from folks who have done a LOT of work in the same areas you are discussing in these forums.
Now, clearly, a well-intentioned person with clear ideas about where they want to get will seek out and learn appropriate information and do it with a good degree of efficiency. So it is theoretically possible to learn all of the information in the permaculture design course without ever hearing the name permaculture. But the question is, if you hear of a holistic design system created precisely for the purposes you discuss in your forums (invisible financial structures included), wouldn’t you feel obligated to at least look at it?
I just wanted to tell you about this, because ever since I heard about Crash Course I’ve noticed significant parallels between your goals and that of permaculture (surviving the next 20 years, for one).
The permaculture principle of cooperation: Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems and of future survival.
I urge you and anyone else reading this to at least check out permaculture if you haven’t heard of it. It distinguishes itself by having the tendency to eliminate the need for money rather than try to make more all the time. You can’t eat money, and any food or drink you use money for (by definitiion) was not produced by you.
“The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them.” (from Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual)
Peace and love,
Steve.
[/quote]
Steve -
Welcome to CM.com.
We have Chris’ back on this one. These two are on topic.
https://peakprosperity.com/forum/definitive-agriculturepermaculture-thread/15715
https://peakprosperity.com/forum/square-foot-gardening/18771
Pulled from here: https://peakprosperity.com/forum/consolidated-list-links-existing-preparation-threads/27912
Very much looking forward to anything you can add to the Permaculture (or any other) thread.
Again, welcome.
BTW - have you watched Crash Course yet?
This weekend was an exciting one in our in our area here in central Virginia Joel Salatan of Polyface Farm hosted Field Day over 1700 farmers from all over attended. Graham Merriweather released his new documentary " American Meat". For any of you that are raising chickens, hogs or grass fed beef sustainably this is a have to see . I have been using Joels eggmobile for two years for our hens and it works well.
I spoke with Graham after the viewing his next stop is Iowa to show the film sometime later in the year.
Here is a link to the film trailer and Polyface blog .http://polyfaceyum.blogspot.com/
A big thanks to volunteer Martha, who has translated this article into Ukranian.
Not sure how many native Ukrainians we have on the site, but if you want to read the above post in your mother tongue, now you can. Click here for the Ukrainian version.
Thanks, Martha!
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