Growing with Stark Bro's

Asparagus — a healthy, tasty treat you can grow in your own backyard

Sarah — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:49:11 +0000

Once upon a time, many years ago, asparagus was grown for its medicinal properties and considered a delicacy. Today, asparagus is commonly available and a great source of vitamins and minerals. It also makes a great addition to your backyard garden.

Here at Stark Bro’s, we offer two varieties of asparagus:

Jersey Knight Giant Asparagus*, which is the green asparagus that you are probably most familiar with, and Purple Passion Asparagus, a burgundy asparagus that features spears, purple in color, from the moment they break ground. These stalks will turn green when cooked.

*not to be confused with “Jersey Giant” asparagus

Jersey Knight
Purple Passion

Purple Passion Asparagus Sprouting

Purple Passion Asparagus Spear

Planting and Growing Asparagus

The asparagus plants we carry are one-year roots which require 2-3 more years to mature. For the first couple years, your plant will feature tiny asparagus-like sprouts that may be lightly harvested as the plant becomes established. Harvesting is easy — simply cut the shoots just below the soil surface or just above the ground. The young asparagus shoots/spears are what get eaten most commonly because, once the buds along the shoots open, the asparagus plant will take on a fern-like appearance and become “woody” fairly quickly. It is commonly less appetizing once it reaches this point.

: Asparagus “Ferns”

: Asparagus Flowers

: Asparagus Planting

Asparagus is a perennial — a plant that sleeps in the winter and comes back in the spring. When it becomes dormant, you should cut the plants back to the soil surface and provide winter protection. For example, applying a layer of mulch will help avoid damaging deep freezes or extreme changes in soil temperature from taking place.

When we ship your asparagus, you receive a package of 10 bare-root plants that have been dusted with a fungicidal powder to avoid molding in transit. Each plant is a crown (center of the plant) with a long root system. There are many methods of planting asparagus, but remember that the crown remains toward the top of the planting hole.

Find out more about planting, growing, and caring for Jersey Knight Giant and Purple Passion asparagus in our Growing Guide Plant Manuals.

About the Author

Sarah grew up in sunny South Florida; but despite her ideal location for year-round gardening, her own growing adventures began when she transplanted to Missouri. Keen on research and analytics, Sarah is always expanding her garden knowledge; but the real challenge (and fun!) is her experiences– in the dirt. Sarah is the voice of Stark Bro’s on our social sites, where she communicates advice from the experts for everyone’s benefit. If you have a question or just feel like chatting, Sarah is your intelligent personal assistant who helps you grow your own! Connect with Sarah personally on Twitter, and say hi to her on Stark Bro’s Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

Shedding Light on Fruit Drop

Sarah — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:37:49 +0000

“Why is my fruit dropping before it ripens?”

Everyone delights in seeing the first fruit crop forming on their trees, but, if this fruit drops, so does your heart. Fortunately, you can take comfort in knowing that fruit drop — a premature shedding of young unripened fruit — is not uncommon or unheard of. In this article, we discuss some factors that may cause fruit drop and some things you can do to prevent this from happening.

Weather
Freeze, wind and hail can cause fruit drop and other damage to trees and fruit. No one can completely control nature or its quirks, but you can make efforts to protect your tree if unfavorable weather threatens. If you expect a frost or freezing temperatures in your area during the growing season, you can cover your tree with sheets and even wrap holiday lights around it for extra insulation and warmth. Supporting your tree with tree stakes, especially when it is young, can help prevent damage to the tree during windstorms. The best thing you can do for your tree is keep it in good health — regular pruning of damaged/diseased limbs, and making sure it gets the right nutrients found in fertilizers like Stark® Tre-Pep®. That way, even if the weather takes some fruit, the tree will still be around to keep producing for you for years to come.

Inadequate Pollination
Naturally, insufficiently pollinated young fruit will be shed. This can be caused by an inadequate presence of pollination helpers (like bees) during the bloom time of your trees. You may encourage a greater population of bees and other beneficials by companion-planting roses and other garden plants that will attract them (and add appeal to your home orchard) and avoid using pest control sprays while your tree is blooming.

Shedding may also occur if there is not enough overlap between bloom times of compatible pollinating varieties to develop healthy fruit. Additionally, if pollinators are planted too far apart, then pollination may be unsatisfactory for proper fruit production. Planting within 1/4 mile might work, but planting within 50 feet is ideal. You can read more about pollinators in our article: The Importance of Fruit Tree Pollination.

Pests/Disease
The presence of disease and pests like worms can cause fruit to drop even if ideal pollination and weather conditions are met. For controlling a wide range of pests, we recommend a spray like GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer. A combination spray like Bonide® Fruit Tree Spray or Bonide® Citrus, Fruit & Nut Spray will be effective for pest and disease control. Be aware that using pesticide sprays while your trees are in bloom may terminate bees and other beneficial insects, and some sprays may even cause fruit drop. Please follow the printed labels for each spray for recommended application times and intervals.

Overbearing
Trees that try to overbear, especially in their early fruit production years, may succumb to early fruit drop. Young trees are more prone to drop fruit, whereas older, established, developed trees tend to more regularly store and make use of their reserve food. This food is stored while a tree is dormant and is used in the production of fruiting buds that swell and bloom in the spring. If a tree has not developed a system to properly store reserve food, the fruit that forms will compete for nutrients to feed them.

: Several Young Fruit Form Along Branch

Often, the fruit that is dropped is malformed, with few seeds, which is another result of inadequate pollination and other environmental factors. This occurrence is commonly referred to as “June Drop”, which is natural, and also ideal, since the tree sheds what fruit it feels is not sufficient for reproduction. If there is too much fruit forming, “survival of the fittest” kicks in, and the tree drops fruit. If the competition for nutrients is between the young fruit and the tree itself, your tree will sacrifice the lot so that it can live to fruit another year.

Some trees shed the newly formed fruit to protect their branches from the stress of the added weight. If the fruit is allowed to remain on the tree, and it grows to its full size, the branches will break or bend down to the ground, which could be an invitation for pests and disease. The outcome is much more detrimental than simply having the underdeveloped fruit be shed to the ground.

: Overbearing Fruiting Limbs

If a tree is allowed to sustain a vigorous crop load, and a drop doesn’t occur, one result may be that the tree that bears biennially. This means the tree will have a bumper crop one year, where it produces an abundance of fruit, and then it will take the next year off to recover. Fruit bearing is a stress on the tree, similar to how childbearing is on a person’s body, so it is not unusual that, during this recovery year, your tree will not have a fruit crop.

To avoid fruit drop as a result of overbearing, we recommend thinning the young fruit before the tree drops it. In general, it is best to leave 4-6 inches between each fruit and break up any clusters that may form*. You may use small, sharp pruners to remove the fruit or simply pluck it off with your hands. If you pinch the blossoms off your tree before the petals drop and fruit begins to form, you will also be able to help prevent fruit drop.

*Cherry trees are less prone to dropping fruit so thinning out these clusters may not be necessary.

About the Author

Blooming and bearing problems — and how to solve them!

Sarah — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:38:32 +0000

“Why won’t my tree bloom or bear fruit?”

This is a common and frustrating question for any grower. You’ve planted your fruit or nut tree. It’s growing. It’s living. But it’s not bearing. While this can discourage a grower to the point of wanting to chop the tree down, you should go for the facts, not the axe! If your fruit or nut tree doesn’t bloom or bear, it isn’t unusual, and it can happen for a number of reasons. In this article, we focus on some of the most common issues and how you can address them.

1. Tree Development

If your fruit or nut tree is still too young, it won’t go into fruit-production mode. When you receive your tree from Stark Bro’s, it will be around 2 years old and will still need a few years before reaching its fruiting maturity. Check out our article, How Many Years?, for more information about how long it takes for different trees to bear.

2. Pollination

Fruit and nut trees require pollination to be able to set fruit. If your tree is not self-pollinating, it needs a compatible pollinator planted nearby. Also, pollination helpers like bees, birds and wind need to be adequately present. If your tree is missing these important elements, it may bloom profusely, but it will most likely never set fruit. Read The Importance of Fruit Tree Pollination to learn more.

3. Hardiness Zones

Each variety of trees has recommended hardiness zones for planting. You can find tips to help you find your hardiness zone by reading Fruit Tree Care: Planting in the Zone. Once you know what your zone is, you will be able to select fruit and nut trees that will grow in your area.

There are different things to consider when you plant in your zone:

Trees must be hardy to your zone for a chance to survive winters and summers.
Trees must get adequate chill hours to produce fruit. Chill hours are based on temperatures that stay 45ºF and below for hours consecutively during the tree’s dormant period. If the tree is hardy to your zone but does not meet its chill-hour requirement, its fruit production will suffer. As a general rule, most peaches and almonds have a low chill-hour requirement, most apples and walnuts are in the middle, and most pears and hazelnuts have a high chill-hour requirement.
Weather can greatly affect fruit production. If a late frost zaps your tree’s blossoms or young fruit, then it will not be able to produce a crop for you to harvest that year. If a drought or intense heat damages your trees and their blossoms or young fruit, you simply have to wait and hope for more favorable weather next year.

4. Soil Conditions

It is very important that your trees have the right balance of reserve food and soil elements. As you can see in the graphic, if this balance is off, it can have a negative impact on how your tree blooms or bears.

If a tree has plenty of reserve food but a shortage of soil elements, you may see a stunted crop of undersized, poor-quality fruit. You might even see no fruit at all. This can happen if your tree has tried to overbear, which may cause a tree to drop its fruit prematurely. It may also happen if your tree has experienced foliage-depletion, which can be caused by stress, weather or other weakening factors like animals, pests or disease. Identifying the stress factor and treating it can help to remedy the problem. You can perform soil tests to find nutrient deficiencies. You should also consider a regular spray schedule to control pests and disease.

A tree can also have an excess of soil elements but not enough reserve food. The tree will appear to be healthy and lush during the growing season, but it will not bear fruit (even if it is mature) since, in most cases, the tree doesn’t bloom. This happens as a result of “over-feeding.” If the soil provides plenty of nutrients, like nitrogen (either naturally or by adding fertilizer), the tree puts on vigorous vegetative growth that will delay the growth of fruiting buds. You can remedy this problem by holding off on fertilizing, pruning the roots or scoring your trees.

: Healthy and Lush Apple Trees but no Apples

Root pruning: Bring a spade or shovel out to the drip line of your trees. The drip line is where the tips of the branches are, but straight down on the ground. Take the spade or shovel and push it straight into the ground and pull it straight back out. Do not dig out any dirt. Move over a foot or two and repeat the process. You are essentially creating a dotted-line circle around your tree. That way, your tree should be encouraged to bloom during the next growing season.

Scoring: This has the same result as root pruning. When scoring your trees, bring a small knife (like a pocket-knife) out to your tree. Locate a spot low on the trunk and cut a single horizontal line into the bark, only halfway around the tree. Move up several inches and repeat this, but halfway around the other direction. Do not let these lines connect to one another. See the animated image as a reference for scoring the tree.

: Demonstration of Tree-Scoring

5. Pruning

Regularly pruned trees are much more apt to produce quality fruit. Fruiting buds tend to form on limbs that have adequate air circulation and light infiltration, enabled by pruning. Learn about pruning tips and more in our article, Successful Tree Pruning.

You also have to make sure that you find the right balance for pruning. Heavy over-pruning can make a tree too vegetative, and under-pruning can contribute to overbearing and fruit drop.

6. Spacing

Fruit and nut trees that are planted too close to one another will compete for nutrients and light. If they are planted too close to buildings and other structures, they will have similar conflicts. Make sure you give your trees enough room to grow and flourish. For an easy-to-follow guide to tree-spacing, explore our article about Fruit Tree Sizes.

If you keep these instances in mind, then you will have a better understanding of why a fruit or nut tree does not bear. Nip a potential problem in the bud and exercise your patience (not your lumberjack-swing). Your trees will thank you!

About the Author

Miniature Gardening: A Great Way to Learn and to Grow

Guest Author — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:03:37 +0000

Miniature gardening is a born-again hobby that joins the creativity of crafting with the joy of gardening like no other hobby can. Your mini garden can be as big, or as small, as you like.

The right place.
You can grow a tiny garden on your desk at work or on your windowsill in the kitchen. You can create one as a “table-scape” — a place to escape to or a centerpiece for that special birthday or anniversary. Design one in your garden bed, and you can design the ideal garden to your liking, however big or small you want it to be.

Gardening in miniature involves combining true dwarf and miniature plants, small-leafed ground covers, a miniature patio and furniture, or tools and equipment that can create an enchanting garden scene all in miniature. From 4 inches to 40 feet wide, it is your own world to plant and enjoy.

The right plant.
To create a miniature garden that will last for years, choose plants that grow slowly and stay small for as long as possible. When searching for the right plants, keep in mind that the terms “miniature” and “dwarf” are growth rates, not the ultimate size of the plant. Be sure to look on the plant’s tag or in the plant’s listing to see how fast (or slow) it will grow.

True miniature and dwarf conifers are terrific trees for the miniature garden. They are available in four-inch pots and look like a “big” tree, but in miniature. Once they are planted in the miniature garden (remember: right place, right plant), the young plants can start to grow a thicker trunk, branches and canopy, and it will often be mistaken for bonsai — but without the need for pruning and other high-maintenance upkeep. For miniature bedding plants, find small-leafed ground covers that match the light, soil and care requirements of the chosen tree, and you have a great start to creating a fabulous miniature garden that will stay together for years.

The size of accessories you use depends on the size of the garden you are creating. For smaller gardens and centerpieces, a medium size (half-inch scale) is perfect. For pots 10 inches wide or more or for in-ground miniature gardens, use large (one-inch scale) garden accessories. The types and styles of items you place in your wee garden scene depend on what you like and the theme you are creating. It could be your dream garden or a recollection of your childhood playground, but it will always be your very own world.

Happy Miniature Gardening!

—

About the Author

Janit Calvo is an artist, miniaturist, gardener, and an entrepreneur with a joie de vivre that makes anything come to life. As a passionate creator, Janit has “shrunk” the world of gardening with Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center, a company she formed in 2001 after developing this unique blend of craft and gardening. She has supplied new hobbyists with miniature garden plants, products and information and, in her own way, she has created buzz for all things small.

Her work has appeared in the Seattle Times, Dig Magazine, Dollhouse Miniature Magazine, Lawn and Garden Retailer Magazine, and the Oregonian. She has won many awards for her miniature gardens, made thousands of miniature gardens of all sizes, conducted countless workshops and seminars and has taught thousands of people how about gardening in miniature. Janit has the only blog on the Internet, the Mini Garden Guru, that is solely dedicated to the joy of miniature gardening. Her monthly newsletter, The Mini Garden Gazette, is sent all over the world to thousands of followers and her Facebook Fan-Page is the biggest gathering of miniature gardeners on the Internet. Join the miniature garden movement through her popular website, TwoGreenThumbs.com, or chat with her on Twitter @TwoGreenThumbs, and start growing your own world today.

The Importance of Fruit Tree Pollination

Elmer — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:37:48 +0000

“Let me tell you about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees” — that tune would date some of us who were teens in the 60′s!

When you think about it, there have been a staggering number of important advances over the last 100 years in travel, appliances and communication. The field of gardening and growing has also seen some significant advances in our increasing knowledge and understanding of plants. Although there are varieties of fruit trees that were grown and named hundreds of years ago, there was still a great lack of understanding. If we knew then what we know now, we would be much further down the road of fruit production.

One of these significant developments has been learning more about today’s topic — the importance of pollination.

Pollination in the tree family represents sexual reproduction. Without pollination, fruit will not set and develop. During pollination, the pollen germinates after being transferred from the stamen (male) to the pistil (female). This pollination results in fertilization, and the seed develops. Normal fruit develops only after this has taken place. Did I mention bees play a huge role in the process?

Fruit trees fit into the following categories:
1. Self-Pollinating — trees that do not need another to complete the pollination process. Most apricots, nectarines, peaches and sour cherries are typical examples of self-pollinating trees. On our website, a self-pollinating variety will be depicted by this symbol:
2. Requiring a Pollinator — trees that need to be pollinated by another variety of tree. Most apples, pears, plums and sweet cherries are typical examples of this type of tree.

It’s also good to know that while some trees are self-pollinating, they might have greater success when they are cross-pollinated with another.

For optimal results from trees that require a pollinator, I recommend setting up a pollinating scheme. Here are a few things to remember:
1. Plant at least two viable pollen varieties within 50 feet of one another. See our apple pollination chart below for more pollen viability information. This chart lists different varieties of tree, their type of pollen, and the type of pollen they need for pollination.
2. Make sure you plant varieties that bloom in the same season. The apple pollination chart below lists seasonal blooming information and also lists the time of year different varieties will ripen. Early- to mid-season varieties bear the letter A for their pollen type on the chart and mid- to late-season varieties bear the letter B.
3. The key to proper pollination is timing. Any early-season variety will pollinate any other early-season variety, and the same holds true for mid- and late-season varieties. In an average season, the blooming of most varieties of a fruit type will overlap enough for pollination, but it’s best to avoid depending on a variety that blooms early to pollinate one that blooms very late.

Apple Pollen Chart

One more thing to note when dealing with the pollination of fruit trees is the difference between diploids and triploids:

Diploids have two sets of chromosomes — one from each parent — and are able to pollinate other trees. Most fruit trees fall into this category.
Triploids have an extra set of chromosomes that make them pollen sterile, meaning that they can be pollinated, but they cannot pollinate another tree. Jonagold and Starkspur® Winesap apple trees are two examples of triploids that come to mind. Both bear the letter C on our pollen chart.

There are several other important factors that go into successful fruit growing, and none of them are really hard to understand. We could discuss light, location, pruning, spraying, and many other aspects essential to fruit growing; however, without pollination, they’re all secondary discussions! So make sure your trees and plants are properly pollinated to ensure successful growing.

For additional information, visit our Growing Guide to read more articles and manuals, watch helpful videos, or ask our experts questions specific to your growing needs.

Tool Selection & Care

Guest Author — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:02:48 +0000

Pruning

It’s next to impossible to screw in a Phillips screw with a flathead screwdriver, yet there are always those determined folks out there who try to make do with what they have. For example, when it comes to working with tools in the yard, many growers just use what they have in their shed. I’ve learned the hard way that using the wrong tool will cost you unnecessary time, effort and money. I want to tell you why you should make sure you have the right tool for the job.

Using the proper tools helps to:

Get your task done in less time.
Limit trips to the garden center or store (to eventually get the right tool!).
Lessen wear and tear on your body and hands.
Maintain leverage to make cuts or digging easier.

Cleaning

Of course, when most shoppers are buying tools, they consider their immediate short-term needs, but it is also important to consider the long-term possibilities. They can be an investment in both you and your passion. So do yourself a favor — get the best tools you can afford. Here are some things to consider when making your selection:

Look for tools that are well built and durable; forged steel will probably provide the longest-lasting strength and durability.
Try to find tools that are designed to handle multiple functions.
Test the handles for ergonomics & comfort for the best fit
Check to see if manufacturers carry replacement parts.
Confirm that there is a lifetime warranty if the tools need repair.
For pruning tools, make sure they can be sharpened and that the cutting capacity is rated for the size limbs of your trees or plants.

Caring for your investment

Care

Once you’ve made your tool selection, you’re ready to get out there and use it. Let’s say you take out your nice new, shinny lopper which helps you power through the job like a real pro. But by the end of the day, you notice your lopper is now covered with sap and other debris. Before you put it away, it’s important that you take a minute to clean it.

Properly caring for your tools will help extend the life of them by:

Maintaining optimum performance
Leaving them less prone to rust
Preventing the spread of diseases from one plant to another

What to use and what not to use on your tools

With the right cleaning materials, you can help keep your tools working like new, season after season. And it’s easy! It doesn’t take rocket science to keep them clean.

Here is a list of the ideal materials to use:

A wire brush for cleaning off caked-on debris and sap
A moistened cloth or towelette with water to remove loose debris
Hose and water to remove mud and debris from tools like shovels, forks and hoes
Alcohol wipes to disinfect pruning tool blades
Sand paper to remove rust
A five-gallon plastic bucket of sand with oil to help remove rust and serve as a place to store them to prevent rust on tools like shovels and forks
A mild wood soap for removing hardened debris from wooden handles

Some materials to avoid using on your tools:

Harsh detergents and bleach – studies show they can break down or degrade the metal over time.
Steel wool pads — they can introduce extremely rust-prone metal burrs into the metal of the tool.

Dry tools off completely before storing, and apply a generous coat of machine or natural oil to blades, screws and moving parts to prevent rust and keep them moving freely.

Keeping your tools sharp

Maintenance

One of the most important things you can do for your tools is keep them sharp. Doing so will minimize the amount of effort required when using them, and it will also help you make cleaner cuts, get the job done quicker and reduce the risk of injury to you or damage to the tool.

You can use a sharpening stone or file like the Corona AC 8300. Make four or five passes on the cutting side of the blade and one pass on the non-cutting side to remove the burrs. It takes only a few seconds but will help keep your tools cutting like new.

This might be most important for pruning tools, but don’t forget that sharpening your shovels and hoes using the same principles will help you cut through hard soils and roots easier, too.

Selecting the right tool for the job can make or break your success with garden and landscape activities. Don’t you owe it to yourself to take the time to select the right one, and to properly care and maintain it? You’ll be glad you did!

About the Author

Chris Sabbarese  is a self-proclaimed DIY gardener and landscaper, second generation Corona Tools loyalist, and the official “voice” of Corona Tools’ social networks. He has a passion for working in the yard met with a “geekiness” for great tools, which intersects with a fascination of social networks. Chris connects with growers from all walks of life as the administrator of the weekly Twitter discussion, #treechat and co-moderator of #landscapechat. Connect with Chris of Corona Tools on Twitter.

Hardy Kiwi – Try it at Home

Guest Author — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:16:19 +0000

Issai Hardy Kiwi

My garden constantly changes. I move plants as if they were furniture, add new gardens and try new plants. Over time, I’ve found my success rate is a lot higher if I study plant options thoroughly before bringing new plants home. In anticipation of spring, I’ve been reading up on growing hardy kiwi. And lucky for me, I happen to know a farmer or two, and I was able to confirm a lot of what I read with a farmer who’s grown it.

Compared to fruit we know from our grocery stores, hardy kiwi is a smooth-skinned, smaller and sweeter version of the kiwifruit. Hardy kiwi is a robust vine with pretty deep green leaves. Once established, the plant can outlive your mortgage, but it may take several years to mature before bearing fruit. Depending on the variety and age of the vine when you buy it, you’ll see fruit between 1 and 5 years. My farmer bud said the yield the first year will be less than following years. He also confirmed that while most varieties need both male and female plants to produce fruit, the ‘Issai’ Hardy Kiwi is self-pollinating. Issai also tends to bear fruit earlier than some varieties.

Hardy Kiwi via Joe Archie

As with most fruits, hardy kiwi likes full sun (at least six hours a day) and well-drained soil. About the only way to make a kiwi unhappy is to plant it in wet soil. Consistent moisture will help produce the best yield with the best flavor. Drought, early in the season, can cause blooms to drop and a prolonged dry spell in late summer can cause the fruit to fall before it is fully ripened. Mulching will help hold moisture in the soil and keep down weeds.

Like grapes, kiwi vines need support. Start out by growing the vine vertically with stakes. The vine grows rapidly, between 10 and 20 feet per season, so it can quickly cover an arbor or a pergola. You can also build a ‘T’ shaped structure. For easy harvesting, consider growing the kiwi 6 or more feet off the ground. Once the Kiwi reaches the top, train the vine to grow horizontally. Create a trunk by trimming off the lateral branches on the vertical section toward the end of the first season.

Fruits will reach full-size by mid-season, but will not fully ripen until late in the growing season. They will keep longer if picked just slightly before fully ripe and refrigerated. Hardy kiwi will ripen on a counter or windowsill.

Truly a multi-tasking plant – producing fruit and looking good doing so – hardy kiwi is a perfect addition to the home garden as we transform our yards from attractive to both pretty and useful.

About the Author

Laura Mathews

Laura is a garden writer and photographer. She writes online content for gardening websites, writes for gardening publications and blogs for three gardening blogs. Her interests are local food, organic gardening, backyard homesteading and native plants. She assists gardening related clients with social media. And occasionally, she’ll offer a solicited opinion as a garden coach.

You may read more from Laura on the Punk Rock Gardens Blog and the Proven Winners Blog and connect with her on Twitter.

Demystifying the Loganberry

Sarah — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:05:59 +0000

Loganberries

It’s a Blackberry! It’s a Raspberry! It’s a — Loganberry?

The loganberry has leaves like a raspberry, fruit-appearance of a blackberry, and a flavor that is a marriage of the two.

In the late 1880s, in Santa Cruz, California, in the yard of horticulturalist James Harvey Logan, an accidental discovery was made: Logan attempted to create a new, better, cultivar of blackberry by crossing two different varieties, so he planted many cross-pollinated seeds from his berry patch. Much to his surprise, he also ended up with a cross between his “Red Antwerp” raspberry and “Aughinburgh” blackberry. Logan discovered this was a new variety of fruit (later called “Loganberry” after him) when one of the many seedlings from his plantings displayed unique characteristics as a plant and in its fruit.

Some Loganberry Characteristics:

Loganberry Size

Plant is incredibly trailing; its strong canes will grow vine-like along the ground
Fruit ripens early (extends berry harvest if you have blackberries & raspberries)
Fruit forms/ripens inconsistently (some ripe fruit and unripe fruit on the bush at once)
Ripeness is determined by color; fruit does not pull away from core even when ripe

In your yard, you will be able to enjoy a bounty of berries between mid-summer and mid-fall. Loganberry seeds are smaller than those of both its blackberry and raspberry parents and are soft and not very numerous. Berry usage proves to be very versatile — great for crumbles, fresh-eating, jam, juice, pies, salads, syrup, wine, etc. Loganberries may be used in any recipe that calls for blackberries or raspberries.

Loganberries store well for a few days in refrigeration and can also be frozen for longer keeping. Kids love eating them! And with their culinary versatility, “too many berries” will never be an issue. (However, dyed fingers and face-painting may be unavoidable. )

Bear in mind:

Canes are very trailing, so trellising is highly recommended
Thorned plants have soft spines (like raspberry), not spikes (like blackberry)
Thornless variety was discovered as a “sport” from thorned parent plant (1933)
Plant demonstrates “hybrid vigor” – outperforms parents (plant vigor & fruiting)
Displays vigorous growth habit – follow these pruning instructions (under Care & Maintenance)

About the Author

The Science of Grafting

Elmer — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:00:02 +0000

Ever wonder why you can’t just pull out the seeds from an apple at the store and grow your own tree? Well, you can, but the tree will never replicate the apple you removed the seed from! Here’s why…

Seedling Trees

Most apple trees are not self-fertile; they need another apple variety to pollinate the blossoms and produce fruit. So if you had a Honeycrisp™ apple tree, you would need something like a Golden Delicious variety to cross-pollinate it. From one tree to the other, the male flower pollinates the female flower (usually helped by bees, insects, wind, etc.). This is called sexual reproduction. And should a tree be self-pollinating, it’s still receptive of other pollen and has tree-family history.

The fruit of the Honeycrisp™ tree will be actual Honeycrisp™ apples, but the seeds carry the traits of the other parent tree (in this case, Golden Delicious), plus the genetic history of all past generations in its family tree. If you were to plant a Honeycrisp™ seed, the resulting apple tree could display dominant or recessive characteristics from this lineage. It will not be a true Honeycrisp™ apple tree, and it won’t bear true-to-name Honeycrisp™ apples. In fact, it might not even produce fruit worth eating!

For this reason, seed-grown trees (seedlings) are unreliable to be true-to-name. Even when deliberate crosses are made by plant breeders, the results never come out exactly the same. Breeders select plants to cross-pollinate that show the most promising characteristics for new varieties. It is said that Luther Burbank made 700 deliberate crosses of Orange Quince and Portugal Quince just to produce the selection Van Deman Quince!

Grafted Trees

Then we have grafted fruit trees. Grafting involves taking a scion or bud chip from the desired parent tree (say, a true-to-name Honeycrisp™) and literally placing it onto another tree or a chosen rootstock. The grafting piece (scion) and the rootstock are calloused (or knitted) together. All suckers are removed from the rootstock, and the Honeycrisp™ scion is allowed to grow, thus maintaining its true identity. This process is called asexual (apart from sex) reproduction. Since only one parent is involved in this process, the grafted tree will be true-to-name. And a true-to-name tree bears true-to-name fruit!

Most rootstocks are grown from cuttings, which makes them also true-to-name. The rootstock determines the final, mature size of the tree. We can graft a true-to-name apple to different rootstocks and can end up with 5 or 6 different mature tree sizes. (This is where dwarf, semi-dwarf and standard sizes come in.)

Most Stark Bro’s trees are either grafted by splicing the scion and rootstock together, or budded by placing a single vegetative bud onto the side of the rootstock and wrapping it with cellophane tape. The results of grafting and budding are the same.

Seedling Vs. Grafted

So what’s the practical difference between a grafted and seed-produced tree?

If you were going to plant 10 seedling pecans or black walnuts, these would more than likely be the results:

They would all have different growth habits.
At harvest time, there could be 30 days difference between the first and the last tree.
Some trees might bear in 7 years, others might bear in 20.
Who’s to say how large, or quality, the nuts would be?

In short, you really don’t know what the outcome will be.

A grafted tree is consistent, with a reliable history of characteristics. It has a track record!

It blooms at a certain time.
It bears fruit at a certain time.
You know whether the tree bears early, is disease resistant, or is susceptible to certain problems.
You can expect the fruit to be a certain size and quality, i.e. true-to-name. (“A tree is known by its fruit.”)

Because of these differences, I will always recommend you plant grafted or budded trees. It’s worth the investment to know exactly what you’re getting!

Got Land? Grow Berries!

Guest Author — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:26:43 +0000

Mixed Berries

We completed the purchase of our home four years ago. The idea of owning land (5 1/2 acres) was exciting, but at the time we were more excited about the house. We spent countless hours organizing house plans, furniture, and the decor of our investment. Little did we know our biggest investment was the land itself! Living on a mountain gave us great views, but the best-kept secret was the wild blackberries and raspberries growing on the side of the mountain and by the logging roads that stretched to the bottom of our land. With a little clearing of brush, moving of dirt, and many cuts and scratches from wild brambles, starting our own berry farm became a reality.

Triple Crown Thornless Blackberries

After we had cleared some land, rows of blackberries, wine berries, and raspberries started to appear. We formed raised beds using fallen logs, mountain dirt, and tree chippings, and then transplanted as many berries as possible. We started to look into purchasing other berries, such as Triple Crown blackberries (which are much easier to pick and prune), as well as an assortment of blueberries. The same procedure of creating raised beds took place for those blackberries; with a digging bar and shovel, we punched the rocky ground to create holes for our blueberries.

In the past, we spent hundreds of dollars at local “pick your own” farms. Trying to eat healthy has always been a goal of ours, and it takes a lot of berries (and money) to drink fruit smoothies every morning! As we realized the similarities between our place and those farms, we came up with the name “Hobby Berries”. Our main intent was to plant as many berry plants as possible on our own land, to keep us healthy and save a little money. Sooner than later, our land started to look like some of the pick-your-own berry farms we encountered in the past.

DeWayne's Berry Rows

Now that Hobby Berries looks more like a farm, we have a lot more to maintain than we did four years ago when we bought the land. The “we” is just my wife and I, so berry picking becomes pretty intense during parts of the year. Right now, the biggest maintenance is keeping the grass mowed and the berries pruned, but other obstacles will surely follow once spring comes around again. Along the way, we have invested in plenty of tools and equipment to make life easier; but the biggest investment has been time spent outside, learning about our land and the resources it provides.

Some of my friends think we are crazy for growing so many berries — as of now, we have 375 planted in rows — but we feel it’s better than watching television all day. Granted, we have 5 ½ acres to grow this many berries, but at the same time, we have six pots on our patio with blueberries, and we plan to line the driveway with ten more blueberry plants. So in reality, you don’t need acres of land to grow berries, there just needs to be an adequate amount of time and space dedicated to nurture them as they grow. Our adventures in berry growing started by accident with wild berries (which are great), but if you are thinking about growing you own berries, I definitely suggest “tame” ones!

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About the Author

Hello, my name is DeWayne Harrell. In the “real world”, I work with elementary school kids all day as a librarian/media specialist, and I coach high school basketball. But after the school bell rings, I am trying to grow as many berries as possible on my five acres of land. In my spare time, I think about education, basketball, and berries. The berries are far more relaxing, and healthier. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter!

Pre-Pruning Fruit Trees

Stark Bro's — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:46:01 +0000

Why do we pre-prune our bare root fruit trees? What can possibly be beneficial in shipping a tree this way? Elmer explains all in this latest Growing with Stark Bro’s video.

Stark Bro’s bare root fruit trees are grown for 2 years in our nursery rows. The first year, we bud or graft them. The second year is when the trees put on a mountain of growth! After this second year, we dig up the trees to ship them to you. The digging process can break many of the tree’s feeder roots. The result? An imbalance may occur between the huge top growth and the roots’ ability to support it. This imbalance can heighten the effects of natural transplant shock. Pre-pruning our bare root fruit trees brings the balance between the roots & top growth back into proportion… ensuring the best chance for survival and transplant success. The pre-pruned growth will bounce right back once the root system is firmly established!

Watch how Elmer prunes:

The top is cut down to about 2/3 original height.
His cuts are at 45 degree angles.
Each cut is about 1/4 inch above a bud.
All cuts are made above buds in an outward-facing direction.

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When it’s been a weird winter…

Sarah — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:02:28 +0000

We can’t control the weather, despite how much we’d all really like to!

Winter Warmth & Drought

Some areas may experience drought conditions in the winter (little to no rain), but as long as a thorough watering was applied to new trees at planting time, you should not need to worry about watering your dormant outdoor trees in winter.

If your best judgment suspects that the conditions are severe enough, you may give your new trees an additional drink. We recommend a gallon of water per new tree, once every 7-10 days during the *growing season* (if rainfall does not equate to this). Adjust accordingly during dormancy, when trees do not require as much water. Water in the early morning, to give the water time to soak down to the roots before the warmer temperatures of the day.

Winter Warmth & Dormancy

Many of you might also be experiencing an unusually warm winter, and your dormant trees and plants (which are supposed to be sleeping) may be showing signs of breaking dormancy. This is especially common in the warmer areas of the South and in plants with comparatively low chill-hour requirements., like cherry and peach trees.

Bud swell and break

Fruit trees and fruit-bearing plants show signs of breaking dormancy with visible bud-swell (the buds get larger and develop a greenish hue) and then bud-break (buds open and start to become new foliage). If your trees and plants think the unseasonably warm weather means it’s spring, they could begin to experience these changes. If the temperatures fluctuate between unusually warm by day and down to freezing at night, it could damage those buds.

But not to worry! If you simply prune back to the next dormant bud (ideally, to one pointing in a direction away from the tree, for structure) it will help prevent freeze-damage to the tree’s new growth before spring actually arrives.

As a note– If buds are damaged, it does not necessarily mean the death of the tree or that the damage is permanent. More realistically: you may lose a fruit crop that year (if the plants are mature and fruit-bearing). The trees could also experience stunted-growth, or in some serious cases become susceptible to disease.

About the Author

An American Thanksgiving

Guest Author — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:55:46 +0000

photo - wayne's eye view

[Guest post by Andrew Odom]

It has been a number of years since the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag gathered to celebrate the colony’s first successful harvest. In fact, it has been 391 years as best we can tell. And while our modern celebrations are as much about Macy’s department store and Stovetop stuffing, there are still dots on our landscape that take this one day of the year to truly give thanks for their homes, their crops, their families… their harvest.

Within ten months of landing on Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims had constructed seven houses, a common meeting room and three storehouses for their harvested goods. After a long, hard winter in which a number of settlers died of either hypothermia, complications of frostbite, malnutrition, pneumonia or other illnesses due to unfavorable conditions and ill-equip, there was much to be thankful for.

photo - ReneS

Despite what some would like to think, our ancestors were not vegans or foragers or even purveyors of tasty tofu. They were meat eaters; and in 1621, eating meat meant hunting, killing and dressing it yourself. Being settled in the bay area, duck and waterfowl were more than likely the meat du jour. Roasted over an open fire, the freshly plucked ducks were often heralded in these meals of thanksgiving. The children were involved in more tedious activities such as grinding corn and sifting oats. And there was no shortage of hot or tedious work as the first Thanksgiving was to ultimately last three days providing food for nearly 150 people; pilgrims and natives combined. Other foods may very well have included Concord grapes and other fall-hardy varieties, as well as pastries and pies made from rich, juicy plums.

In looking back on this part of the thanksgiving story, I am quickly reminded of how we give thanks today. Oftentimes we take our harvest for granted. We take little time to reflect on the farmers and ranchers who populate the groceries across the nation. Instead we focus on how many buy-one-get-one coupons we can collect, and how we can get by with canned foods rather than fresh food that takes time, passion, and a bit of luck to produce. We say grace and as we fold our hands, quickly lose sight of the battered hands that work the earth and pluck the spoils so that we may gather together with our cranberry sauce casseroles, our squash soufflé, and our “just like moms” apple pie. Even I am guilty of so quickly forgetting the effort it takes on my own small farm to raise and butcher a chicken for what seems like such a short meal.

As our pilgrim forefathers sat down to a banquet of the Earth’s bounty they had little to thank more than the Wampanoag people and their leader, Massasoit. For like an old farmhand or a wise grandpa, Massasoit and his tribe taught the pilgrims to hunt deer, catch eel and grow corn. According to legend, Massasoit even sent food donations to the pilgrims to help them survive that first winter.

We don’t know the words to the thanksgiving prayer that included (what history calls) an otherwise savage group of natives and their adopted family of rag-tag pilgrims. But I like to think it sounded something like, “Thank you Father. For each man that gathers here today represents a family. He is both son and dad. As he was provided for so shall he provide. We are joined by our brothers who, while they may wear a different skin, are brothers no less. They have graciously shown us how to be stewards of this land and preserve the very gift of humanity. And as we enjoy the harvest, the very fruits of our labor, we ask that in this next year – like trees – you allow our roots to grow deeper and our limbs to grow stronger.”

May the season of harvest fall richly upon your family this year as it has on the Tiny r(E)volution.

About the Author

Bigger does not always mean better. Progress does not always mean forgetting our roots in order to forge a new future. First with anotherkindofdrew.com and then tinyrevolution.us, social media junkie, blogger, photojournalist, and hobby farmer Andrew Odom has spent much of the last few years rediscovering the lost art of living, growing, and being truly happy. Connect with Andrew and his wife Crystal on his blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

10K Missouri Gardens

Meg — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:43:29 +0000

Show your Missouri Garden Pride in the 10,000 Garden Challenge! Since April 2011, the Missouri Department of Agriculture has been working hard to get 10,000 Missourians committed to growing a garden. And you can help, whether you grow fruit, flowers, vegetables, natives, or ornamentals.

For every 1,000 people that sign up for this challenge, AgriMissouri will hold a drawing for a $500 gift card to Tractor Supply Company. Everyone who registers with an email also gets a voucher for free admission to the Missouri Botanical Garden and a buy-one, get-one pass to Powell Gardens. Communities with the most gardens will also win awards and be entered into a drawing for free Missouri native trees from Forrest Keeling Nursery.

As the oldest nursery in Missouri, Stark Bro’s is proud to promote and stand behind this project. We know you are growing and want to help our home state reach its goal! For every 100 of our customers who register their gardens, we will have an additional drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Stark Bro’s.

All you have to do is:
1. Register at AgriMissouri.
2. Let them know what and why you grow.
3. Enter the referral code STARKBROS!

AgriMissouri does not share your email or information. This is all part of a broader effort to get more people gardening and enjoying the fresh, wholesome food that can only come from growing you own.

Thank you for helping Missouri grow!

How To Dig a Perfect Planting Hole

Meg — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:51:00 +0000

The better a foundation, the better the end results. That’s true not only for buildings and ideas, but also for trees! Make sure your fruit trees get off to the best possible start by giving their roots a great place to grow. Elmer walks through the easy steps of digging the perfect planting hole: the foundation of success for any fruit tree grower.

Growing an exceptional tree starts with the simplest thing: a good planting hole. Dig a great hole, grow a great tree! Today I’m going to show you how to prepare the best planting spot for your fruit tree.

Materials

We’re only going to need 4 things today:

A brick of coco-fiber potting medium (which we include in all of our Stark Bro’s Tree Kits)
A bucket
Some warm water
A good digging shovel

There are 3 things your fruit tree will need from the soil: air, adequate water drainage, and nutrients. To make sure that our soil can meet all 3 of these needs, we’re going to amend (mix) it with coco-fiber medium. Soak your coco-fiber brick at least 15-20 minutes before planting, to ensure that it’s loose and mixable with the soil.

Digging the Hole

Now we’re going to dig our hole. For a 2-year-old tree from Stark Bro’s, I recommend digging a hole that’s AT LEAST 2ft. deep by 2ft. long by 2ft. wide. A perfectly dug hole should give the roots enough room to spread out comfortably. Now you have a great start to any fruit-bearing tree or plant: all-natural, soil-enriching coco-fiber and a roomy 2x2x2 ft. planting hole. We’re ready to plant!