Finally spring and the Blue Honeysuckle are blooming

Well it was a long winter no doubt and there was some damage by mice and deer but so far things look pretty good in the orchard. I was surprised to find some plants really quite chewed up by the mice or voles but not a lot of stems stripped which means the tops will still bloom and bear fruit. This is one of the worst but it is in a group of Russian seedlings which are a disaster anyway!

 These are 5 cuttings of my plant number 51. I like the uniformity.

 Very nice shape. Worst weeds are the dandelions.

 This is a seedling of Nimfa. I think the one behind it is too but I did not check the tag. I seem to be able to pick them out in this randomized block.

Another good bloomer. Let the bees come!!

More later.

Bee n thinking about spring.

One of the issues most fruit growers is pollination of their fruit plants. Blue honeysuckle are particularly a challenge as they are self fertile and need pollen from another suitable plant from the species. One of the early possibilities is solitary bee species who are resident in the area and who emerge early in spring. One source of ideas is the Instructables web site. If you type in Solitary bee there are a number of simple housing projects which come up and are reasonable for anyone who is handy with a saw and electric drill. Here is a link to one that I thought was quite artistic.

Interestingly Lee Valley also now carries one made of plastic.

There are many resources on the internet regarding Mason Bees and others who might serve well in the early season pollinating process.

Here is what the result can look like!

 

 

How I hope this summer can be a good producer again!

Found this site with so many wonderful looking possible choices to build. Enjoy!

A few fall observations

Well I must apologize to anyone who is following this site because I just have not been posting here. The summer was disappointing to say the least as so many things did not go well. Though there was good fruit set and good moisture there was little production due to the Cedar Waxwings and high winds we ended up with about 2l of poor quality fruit from about 200 to 250 plants. The tallest plants seemed to really take a beating from the wind especially. The birds even climbed up under the netting to eat the berries. Bah!

So here is what is happening right now. I am watering new seedlings with drip irrigation and the big plants are getting some rainwave watering as long as we can.

 The rainwave is not very visible here but it is happening. With no rain it has been very dry and for some plants it has cause premature leaf drop.

 I still have more than 60 pots which need to get planted into the ground. These are about 4 years old in the pots so they really need to get their roots spread out.

Here is an example of the drying out in some seedlings which are seriously affected by the lack of water.

We are into a grey day so that is why these pictures are a little dull.

Nothing to report!!

Well this year was/is a disaster in terms of berry harvest so that is why you have not seen anything posted here! We got about 2 l off of over 250 plants and those were not really great berries. I think it is time to thin out the nursery and get it down to something we can manage with good netting to keep out birds and some kind of windbreak. The wind whipped the berries off of the taller older plants and the Cedar Waxwings just keep eating till there was nothing left. Even under the netting which we pulled over the rows! They would fly down to the ground and hop up into the bushes. Then if you came along they flapped about till they were on the ground and out they flew. Bah.
I did see someone on another blog talking about using the kind of row covering you would use in spring to protect the plants from frost and I think if we are here and there is opportunity to do that, we will buy some and try it.
Here is an example as sold by Lee Valley. Our problem is we have several row widths and heights to contend with but I think I would still try it!
I don't even have pictures.

Until next time.

Clayton

Seedlings starting! Wow.

Only one but here they come.

New post over at A Prairie Journal iin Saskatchewan

Did some seed planting today and there is a little info over at my Home blog. Here is a teaser.

Genes and Biodiversity

I received a query about Edible Blue Honeysuckle several days ago and in the conversation that ensued was asked my thoughts on the issue of paying royalties to breeders and plant protection issues.
My response with a little editing follows!

"I have struggled with that whole issue myself. But here I am, trying to do a little plant breeding, and I do not see myself as the end seller so where do I get something for my work!

Very few of us are really interested in going into the wild to select plants and then propagate them to sell. And the chances of finding good material in the wild is extremely rare.

So take the institute in this conversation(University of Saskatchewan). I know these folks personally and have had many conversations with Dr. Bob Bors. They have developed the first round on basically volunteer efforts and dedicated staff until just recently when they have begun to get some of this royalty money in and finally some grants for further work. So the fellow who plants 40000 plants gets a thriving business and the U of S gets not even a thanks for developing them unless there is a royalty or something like it. It really to me is a tough question because if we did not have good plants to choose from we would miss out on the experience of having them. And if we don't like it we are left with trying to find something in the wild that will suit our needs. So then we are robbing the biodiversity out of nature.

We could try growing from seeds but I can tell you that I have now planted about 500 plants and so far have about 10 that are worth keeping. Some of those seeds came out of the wild so even I have decreased the biodiversity of the natural stand somewhat although I did not get all the berries from the plants that produced the seed so that is a minimal invasion.

The genetics are only protected by honest people who see this as an opportunity to help the development process! There is very little to stop someone from taking cuttings and calling them something else and growing them and selling. Very few small organizations can afford to have something genetically proven to be their material so what is the likelihood of them ever following up.  This is already happening with at least two Russian varieties which are showing up on the market. The truth is very few people(read gardeners) will freely donate money to help further plant development.

The truth is if we go to the forest and remove plants or berries to some extent we are affecting the natural biodiversity. If we go buy a plant that has some "protected propagation rights" we are actually saving the biodiversity of the natural stands. Having worked in Barley breeding for a number of years, we seldom went back to the wild  for plant material to breed into the program. This is good! Especially if all that was taken in the first place was some seed and not the whole plant.

I have a friend who has bred Clematis for years. It cost him around $800 for registering (not sure 3 or 5 years) and he should have gotten some royalties from the sales. When it came time to renew he could not afford to pay the registration again. So every plant sold since then has returned him nothing! He has never even payed for the first registration! But people rave about his Clematis!

I do have problems with specific gene or rare plant or animal patenting (especially taking something out of nature) particularly if it is not self fertile but can out cross into other similar plants or animals. There is NO protection from these types of things in the natural environment and so the so called protected gene enters the natural realm and causes havoc; especially for farmers.

So buy two plants (Edible Blue Honeysuckle require 2 plants to cross pollinate), collect the seeds, grow them out and make your very own selections for the rest of the plants you would like to have. Or find someone who already is growing them and get seeds to grow from them."

This is a very small part of the whole question and there are many more angles to be considered.