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January 6: How to Grow Fruit Trees
January 13: Growing Small Fruits in the Garden
January 20: How Cold to Kill Insects?
January 27: Helpful Resource for Landscaping
January 6: How to Grow Fruit Trees
Every once in awhile I will get a request for information on how to grow tree fruits and my first recommendation is to make sure to completely research the topic prior to planting the first tree.If you are going to plant a few trees, it can be fun. However, if you plan on a mini-orchard, it quickly becomes a pretty intense hobby.
Growing fruits at home can be very rewarding. You know exactly how the plants are treated and what pesticides, if any are used. A well-maintained tree can also provide a landscape plant for the yard.
There are several factors to consider before deciding to order a fruit tree from one of the catalogs or pick one up this spring from the garden store.
First of all, make sure you have the proper planting site. Fruit trees need full sun for best growth and fruit production.
They also like well-drained soil. Never site a fruit tree in a part of the yard that remains wet for any period of time.
Fruit trees should be sited in an area where there is good air circulation as well as a site that is relatively free of spring frosts. There is nothing worse than having a tree full of blooms only to be damaged by a spring frost.
Most resources say that fruit trees prefer a soil pH of 6.5. However, they will grow pretty good in our soil (pH 7.0 – 7.3) but you don't want it much higher than 7.3. Nutrient absorption decreases in many cases when pH goes up higher.
Another factor that is important is the question of dwarf, semi-dwarf, or standard size trees.
Most home orchards are better suited for dwarf or semi-dwarf trees. Dwarf trees growt to around 10 feet tall and semi-dwarf can reach around 15 feet. Standard trees will get at least 20 feet tall.
Think about picking the apples as well as the space that you have available when determining a size.
Some dwarf or semi-dwarf trees may need to be supported with stakes due to poor root anchorage.
Once you have located a good site for the tree, determine the cultivar that you would like to grow.
In the case of apples, I would urge you to look for cultivars that are resistant to apple scab. This is a common apple disease and requires regular fungicide applications to prevent.
In addition, apples require at least 2 different cultivars for pollination. In other words, you have to have 2 different types of trees for cross-pollination that leads to fruit development.
Apples are considered self-incompatible. This means that they can not pollinate themselves or any flowers of the same cultivar.
They need pollen from a different cultivar with different genes in order to have successful pollination.
The two different trees should bloom around the same time so that the pollen is available for the bees to work their magic.
Most resources have lists of apple trees that will pollinate other apple trees.
January 13: Growing Small Fruits in the Garden
Last week I mentioned issues regarding growing tree fruits. You might not have been inspired to develop your own home orchard, right? Growing tree fruits is a bit of effort but can be rewarding.On the other hand, growing small fruits in the garden is a bit easier and can be quite rewarding.
Small fruits include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and more. As with tree fruits, small fruits require a full day of sun and well-drained soil to thrive. Strawberries are relatively easy to grow. First determine if you want June-bearing or ever-bearing strawberries.
June-bearing have large fruits appearing in June. They bear only one crop per year. Ever-bearing plants will bloom and fruit off and on all summer. The fruits, however, are much smaller and fewer on the plant at one time.
Strawberries thrive if grown in a raised bed. In addition, you can control the pH of a raised bed a bit easier. This is important because they prefer a 5.8 to 6.5 pH. This is not normally found in our area.
Add topsoil to a raised bed and then test the pH. If you need to lower the pH, which is most likely the case, add soil or elemental sulfur per labeled directions.
After a few years, you will likely have to lower the pH again because our soils tend to go back to a high pH because of the limestone base. Therefore, for best results, soil test every other year.
Raspberries can be red, black, purple or even gold (my favorite). They too, are either summer-bearing (produce in the late summer) or everbearing (off and on all summer).
As with strawberries, drainage is important as well as pH. They like the same pH as strawberries.
One method of planting both strawberries and raspberries is to use a raised ridge method. It's better for drainage.
Avoid planting raspberries anywhere near fields of wild berries. These harbor diseases that can affect your cultivated plants.
Grapes can be fun to grow, especially if you like to make your own wine. However, they are a bit more intense than the above-mentioned fruits.
Again, full sun and well-drained soils are preferred. Make sure you provide lots of space as well.
Grapes can take up to 3 years to establish. They require trellising in order to fruit productively and minimize some disease problems.
Research the types of varieties and their uses before you determine what to grow.
Believe it or not, we can grow kiwi in Ohio. There are hardy varieties that can be established.
One important factor with kiwis is that they require a male and female plant in order to have fruits. The female provides the fruits and the male provides that pollen that is needed to fertilize the female flowers.
Plant hardiness is not as big of a problem as is bud or flower hardiness. They bloom early enough that they are sometimes affected by an early spring frost.
Notice I haven't mentioned blueberries? They are really tough to grow without a lot of additional work due to our soil pH. They thrive on acid soil and it's quite difficult to get them to perform in our soils. Try growing them in containers if you must have them!
Growing small fruits can be very rewarding to the home gardener. As with tree fruits, do your research before you decide to dig in.
January 20: How Cold to Kill Insects?
It's always a challenge this time of the year to come up with topics for a gardening column.However, 2 people in the Agricultural Agencies building gave me an idea by asking the same question on the same day: "How cold does it have to get in order to kill insects?"
Of course, the answer to this question is not an easy one-liner! There are many variables that determine the survivability of an insect.
Insects have a way of surviving winters despite cold temperatures. Think about it; if they didn't, there would be an awful lot of instinct insects given some of our past winter temperatures.
Some insects spend the winter in a dormant state called diapause. Others remain active. You may have a few that appear in your house on a warm sunny day.
There is one buzzing about the office as I write this. Where is the fly swatter?
Insects that spend the winter in diapause tend to withstand colder temperatures than those that remain active. One source noted that some can tolerate temperatures as low as -94F.
If I would have answered the above question with -94F, I might have gotten a raised eyebrow. Actually, if I had answered it with -94F, I wouldn't have to explain it; however, we wouldn't have learned anything, so on with the lesson.
Some insects also have their own "antifreeze," similar to the stuff that we use in our automobiles. These compounds are called cryoprotectants and protect them from death.
As I mentioned, there are other variables that affect winter survivability. These include size, moisture, nutrition, temperature, and stage of growth. In addition, species have individual characteristics that relate to survivability.
Bodies of insects are made up of water; the larger the insect, the more water in the body and vice versa. Insects with lower amounts of water can supercool to colder temperatures. For instance, ants survive colder temperatures easier than grasshoppers.
Insects that are partially dehydrated may survive easier. Studies show that the freezing point of a housefly is lowered by 50 degrees after dehydration.
Another study actually found that a dehydrated African chironomid could withstand temperatures below -274F. That answer would have really blown my colleagues away!
Interesting enough, an insect with an empty stomach actually survives lower temperatures than an insect with a full stomach. Food in the stomach holds water that can freeze and promote the growth of ice crystals.
Temperature can be a problem for insects but it depends upon the duration and intensity. Exposure time to cold also becomes an issue. If exposed long enough, some insects can die at moderately cols temperatures.
Some insects overwinter as eggs, some as larvae, some as pupae, and some as adults. This also affects how they survive winter temperatures. In general, species overwinter in the stage that ensures their longevity as a species.
Some insects build a protective structure to help them survive. For instance, butterflies and moths may overwinter in a cocoon.
The really smart insects do what some Ohioans do – move south or migrate for the winter. After this past weekend, I was ready to go anywhere just to find some sunshine!
January 27: Helpful Resource for Landscaping
This past week I attended the Ohio State University Nursery Short Course and the Central Ohio Environmental Trade Show. Wow! Let me assure you the industry is alive, well, and truly growing.There were over 100 educational programs and an entire Columbus Convention Center full of trade show booths full of new and great plants and other products for gardeners.
Talk about hankering for spring – trade shows are so unfair and such a tease.
You see, the vendors start preparing for the winter trade shows by taking flowering trees and shrubs into a warm greenhouse in order to force them into bloom. It looks like spring on the trade show floor. Add to it the smell of hyacinths and I am more for it.
I had the opportunity to meet with one of the speakers and pick her brain on landscape design. Her name is Jane Bath and she is quite interesting and a lovely woman from Atlanta, Georgia.
She is known as one of America' premier landscape designers. She has designed more than 4000 landscapes, including residential, commercial, and retail sites and public gardens.
Jane has been featured in Southern Living and on the cover of Southern Heirloom gardens.
Some of you might recognize the perennial dianthus called 'Bath's Pink'. Jane was the one who found the plant. It is still ranked in the top 10 perennial dianthus to grow in the US.
Jane has just released a new book on landscape design called The Landscape Design Answer Book from Cool Springs Publishing.
I am excited about this book because it is one of the first "user-friendly" landscape design books.
There are 300 important tips that affect your landscape design. It might sound overwhelming but she actually takes design questions and boils them down to 300 solutions for a wide range of situation.
You will most likely find the answer to your design challenge in Jane's book. She breaks the chapters into the design elements that you focus on during the process and helps the homeowner to understand these elements as well as how they fit into the overall picture.
There are also pictures and drawings to help explain the elements even further.
My favorite chapter in the book addresses an important factor that we often forget when designing the landscape – Chapter 8, Having Fun.
This chapter discusses grass and kids and how to design a landscape that includes the entire family.
That reminds me of an early mistake I made in planting flowers when my children were younger.
I planted impatiens approximately 15 feet from the basketball court. If you have ever planted impatiens, you know how delicate they are. Enough said…..
I love how Jane introduces Chapter 8. "Many children have fond memories of where they grew up – but never remember a perfect landscape with a perfect lawn. What they remember are walks in the woods, grilling hamburgers, picking flowers for a favorite teacher, or sitting around the outdoor fireplace roasting marshmallows. A little landscape planning will make for a lifetime of memories."
What a great thought for entering into a landscape design challenge when you have children. Make it user-friendly!
Jane's book is available on line and will soon be in book stores. If you are landscaping a new home or renovating your existing landscape, this is a very helpful resource.
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