For the last 10 years, our intent has been to increase fruit production for fresh product and wine. It has taken most of that time to find what grows well and produces fruit that is in demand. We continue to work with currants, raspberries/blackberries, serviceberries, and honeyberries. Now that the most desirable varieties have been identified, emphasis has shifted to propagation. Some things, like currants, are very easy to propagate. Just stick a dormant cutting into the ground in early spring and keep watered. Others require a more complex approach and even then, they are hard to propagate. However, we have been experimenting with the use of peroxide and water to encourage root formation on cuttings that appears to have some promise. We successfully rooted aronia cuttings last summer using this method and look forward to trying it with honeyberries and serviceberries this coming summer.
We already have enough serviceberry bushes for a decent harvest, however they are not in the best location. Next summer should be an opportune time to move about 12 Northline serviceberries to the food forest and also propagate more. This variety remains relatively small and compact, making it easier to harvest the full crop while standing on the ground. Not to mention its size will make it easier to drape bird netting over to protect the crop from hungry critters. Another variety on the farm is Smoky. This variety can get quite tall and can form a living fence to trap snow before it forms drifts on our road. We are looking forward to its dual purpose!
Our blackberry patch has been neglected for several years while our attention has been focused on developing a vineyard. We desperately need to reinvigorate the blackberry patch! We are somewhat concerned because it was cold for a few weeks with very little snow cover in late October and early November of last year. This could have damaged the crowns on our Wild Treasure, even though they were covered by frost blankets. While it is unlikely that our largest Wild Treasure will be killed outright by the cold, there could be enough crown damage to delay new growth in the spring by several weeks.
Wild Treasure is one variety that we really need to propagate to get a decent amount of production. Winter cold results in quite a bit of damage, and greatly reduces production. We continue to experiment with different overwintering techniques in hopes of finding one that offers more winter protection. While we were out covering them this fall, we pulled one cane out of the ground that had tip-rooted. It is not uncommon for the canes on Wild Treasure to force themselves into the ground and begin forming a crown. These never survive the winter, as they do not form mature crowns by the end of summer. Out of curiosity, we cut that tip off (with about 12 inches of cane) and potted it up inside. It still has green leaves, so we are hopeful that it will successfully root and form a crown. We have tried rooting green cuttings in the past, but they usually just rot and never form roots. Instead, if we let the plants naturally tip-root, we can let the plant do the difficult work of producing roots on a green cane. Then we can cut off the starts, pot them up, and bring them inside to over winter. This method could yield a large number of new plants in a short period of time.
Several years ago, we received a couple of wild-seedling aronia bushes in the mail. Since that time, one has really stood out as a strong grower and producer – even with our cold soils. This year the berries were quite plump and much sweeter than our named cultivars. Aronia really need to stay on the bush until the first frost to make sure they are ripe. Unfortunately, the birds really like these (just what berries do they not like on the farm?) once they start ripening up. We picked about a cup of aronia berries off this bush and have been snacking on them for a couple of months. Aronia bushes also put on quite a fall display with orange and red leaves that add visual interest around the farm. We experimented, quite successfully, with rooting aronia cuttings in peroxide and water last summer. So, we will repeat the process on more cuttings next summer to increase our stock of aronia bushes.
Next summer looks to be quite busy between expanding the vineyard terraces, growing flowers to sell, and propagating fruit bushes. We will also be focused on removing the thousands of saplings that have taken over a large portion of the lot and establishing a manageable grass cover. So much to do and so little time!
