After a rather cold spell in February, we were not exactly sure what to expect this past summer. We suspected that a low of -43F would cause some damage, either to above ground growth (in the case of blueberries, blackberries, and aronia) or to roots that didn't have sufficient snow to insulate. The results were somewhere in the middle. As for fruiting bushes and trees, there seemed to be little damage. Our North Star cherries flowered and produced some fruit. Blackberries and blueberries produced fruit, as well. Our aronia bushes tended not to fare so well. No flowers appeared on Nero or Viking. Our seedling aronia (unselected wild seedlings) leafed out above the snowlike, albeit rather late, and never flowered from those buds. We did get a small crop from flowers that emerged down low. The fact that we did not lose the growth above the snow was surprising. Less than a decade ago, the farm dropped to near -40F/-40C and that killed all growth above the snowline on the seedling aronia. They are definitely not -40 hardy, but they are so much more vigorous and productive than Nero and Viking that they easily make up for any tenderness.
What about the vineyard, you ask? Well, it certainly was not sayonara to Gewürztraminer and Müller-Thurgau. Both re-emerged this past spring and Gewürztraminer turned out to be the strongest grower of all vines over the summer. Definitely little if any root damage from the mid-winter cold. Another surprise was Rondo. Not particularly hardy, it survived about 10 inches/25 cm above the ground (but covered by at least a few inches of snow). We figured that its "-15F" hardiness rating would not be enough. Otherwise, we only lost a few small vines over the winter. They had struggled last summer and the low temps may have been the final straw.
Our hopes for success with the reportedly "very early ripening" varieties of Baltica, Skujuns 675, and ES 9-7-48 were dashed. Baltica was severely damaged the previous fall when it failed to harden off in time for the first freeze. It was rather late to emerge this spring and made very little growth the entire summer, ending the 2024 season...you guessed it...completely green once again. We will try a few experiments (mentioned below) in hopes of tricking it into early dormancy. S-675 seemed to harden off last fall, but none of that wood survived the winter. Ditto for ES 9-7-48.
Adding to the hardships of last winter, this summer proved to be wet (a good thing, since we didn't store much water) and cool. The farm only accumulated about 595 Growing Degree Days (10C)/1070 Growing Degree Days (50F) Frost-free season was 133 days and the freeze-free period was 145 days. Overall, a bit on the cool and cloudy side, but of an average frost-free season. Keep in mind that the earliest ripening grapes require a 125 day growing season and about 650 Growing Degree Days (10C). Many vines struggled to grow this year, though there were a few standouts. Gewürztraminer, Totmur, Riparia-64, Marechal Foch, and Price displayed the same level of vigor as they have in warmer years.
Similar to fall of 2023, we recorded "periderm videos" every two weeks starting in early August in an attempt to track the hardening off process in each vine. The cool and cloudy fall seemed to delay periderm formation in many vines that had previously done quite well (such as Arthur and Petite Pearl). This year we documented strong periderm formation in 8 selections and those will be the focus of our work going forward, since a lack of fall periderm formation means a useless vine. Those eight included: Alpha, Pilgrim grape, Riparia-64, Totmur, Gewürztraminer, Marechal Foch, Price, and Amur-6 (a V. amurensis seedling with very high potential for the farm). It is interesting to note that our favorite wine is an off-dry Gewürztraminer, though it is highly unlikely we would ever get ripe enough fruit to make wine from this cultivar. Maybe an expensive greenhouse is in order just for that reason???
We will be running trials in the vineyard in 2025 in an attempt to encourage periderm formation on Baltica that will include: (1) covering with a tarp for 12 hours each "night" for two weeks near the end of July/early August, (2) covering the ground with plastic to keep the soil drier (it is often saturated from August 15th through early September), and (3) special pruning techniques that inhibit growth beginning in early August.
We will also be planning to move the vines (yes, one more time) on the terraces from the center of each terrace to the toe of the terrace above. This location puts the vegetation closer to the soil surface (the sloping surface between the flat portions of each terrace) where there is more heat. This area also tends to have less air movement, as the sloping ground forms a pocket. We will be placing weed block on the sloping surface behind the vines to increase heat and rain runoff. All this work will require removing the trellis posts we spent so much time and effort installing, but from what we've seen the trellises won't really be necessary - at least not for several years, if even then. The vines just do not get large enough to require much support.
Our Wild Treasure and Chester blackberries survived well under a thick layer of leaves and leafed out vigorously in the spring. We had been using floating row cover as a form of light protection on Wild Treasure over the last decade, but have come to realize that it simply isn't enough protection against the cold before a thick enough snow cover develops. After two years of severe crown damage on our 12-year-old "mother" Wild Treasure vine, we decided to try piling leaves on top this fall. Last fall we covered a potted Wild Treasure vine with leaves and it produced 6 berries off a very small plant. Of course, they tasted spectacular! Who knew that you could keep a Zone 7 blackberry plant alive in Interior Alaska for more than a decade? While exploring the weedy blackberry patch, we discovered a Marionberry, thornless Loganberry, Black Diamond, a second Wild Treasure, and two Tayberries that had miraculously survived two years of drought and the winter of -43F. I think we are supposed to continue growing blackberries. Serious effort will be needed to discover how to keep the canes alive over winter, so we can provide fresh and local, super tasty blackberries to neighbors - if they make it in from the patch, hmm...that may be even tougher.
In terms of fruit harvest this fall, we harvested blackberries, currants, a few gooseberries, aronia, serviceberries, and about a dozen "seedless" apples. Literally, there were no seeds in any of the apples or apple/crabs. Apparently, the weather was too cool for pollination to occur, but enough hormones were produced to grow "apples" on Shafer and Parkland. And, of course it was a bumper crop on wild raspberries this summer with all the rain. Even grabbed a few Cascade Gold raspberries off of a couple of plants that have spread. This variety has a citrusy taste that is unique, but the canes aren't particularly hardy. It has a tendency to spread, rarely emerging from the same place more than once. Probably a nutrient issue.
So, what about our hardy annual flower trials? Well, they went spectacularly! We had started sweet William, feverfew, rudbeckia, and campanula (actually 2 yrs old at this time) and covered them with 6 inches of leaves in the fall. This past summer They all grew well and many bloomed. The campanula was massive! The bees were so busy around it - with 2 or 3 in each flower. We also had our staple delphinium and yarrow blooms. A few buckets of flowers went out for sale, even though we weren't able to grow our usual assortment of tender annuals that we've grown in past years. We cut all of them back this past fall and again covered them with leaves. Will be interesting to see how many return next spring.
As we prepare for the new year, our thoughts are on the possibilities of growing buckets of blackberries and aronia, making wine from "estate-grown grapes" (blackberry wine isn't bad either), and gracing the windowsill with a nice bouquet of fresh flowers. Sure beats "visions of sugar-plums"!
