How do you grow your cherries? - Page 2

luigiwu · February 26, 2016

Starlight, regarding sunflowers, have you tried winter sowing? where you cut a jug or any container in half, fill with a bit of potting mix and sow your seeds? And when the time is right, they will grow on their own and you can transplant?

I have only so much room indoors to do starts and sunflowers were the bottom of my priority list. So I did it via winter sowing and it worked great.

clkeiper · February 26, 2016

keep them off the ground no matter how you grow them, in containers, raised beds or in the garden. You will never get the fruit if it is on the ground. I haven't found many "small" cherries. I use 6' cages if I have them for all of the cherries.

BackyardFarm · March 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

Several years ago I planted cherries in several 5 gallon buckets with yard dirt and placed them under shade trees.
Everything wrong right.

I ate cherry tomatoes all summer long and up into the fall.
Worth

I have done this as well. (You do what you can when you're broke and just starting a garden!) The nice thing about cherries is they are hardy little (hah!) plants that still get huge and can take a lot of abuse/bad gardening.

In 2014 the Sungold in the 5 gallon bucket tried to take over the front porch...grabbed passerby like some sort of Adams Family plant...so...yeah. Buckets/planters in 5-10 gallons can definitely work!

Worth1 · March 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

I have done this as well. (You do what you can when you're broke and just starting a garden!) The nice thing about cherries is they are hardy little (hah!) plants that still get huge and can take a lot of abuse/bad gardening.

In 2014 the Sungold in the 5 gallon bucket tried to take over the front porch...grabbed passerby like some sort of Adams Family plant...so...yeah. Buckets/planters in 5-10 gallons can definitely work!

I had good soil but I had them on pallets and cinder blocks to keep the fire ants out.
You can look at some 100 acre fields and south east Texas and see a mound in a one foot grid all over the field.

Worth

BackyardFarm · March 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

I had good soil but I had them on pallets and cinder blocks to keep the fire ants out.
You can look at some 100 acre fields and south east Texas and see a mound in a one foot grid all over the field.

Worth

Not fire ants but, my whole front yard was COVERED in hills last summer

And the ants bit my neighbor's dog and kid every time they were out there! And ME TOO every time I weeded the flower beds around the tree (not near the ant hills)!
I usually am pro-organics/low chemical and don't use stuff like sprays because I'm worried about them killing bees and good insects...but this spring I'm taking out some of the colony. Baits, sprays, powders. EVERYTHING.

Heck, if needed I'll even get my sister (who welds for fun) to pour some melted aluminum into the biggest hills for sculptures.

Deborah · March 1, 2016

Does anyone remember your father pouring gas down an anthill and then throwing a match?

Worth1 · March 1, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deborah

Does anyone remember your father pouring gas down an anthill and then throwing a match?

No but we had big red ants here that had huge mounds.
My father would pour gas down them and put a glass jar over the hole to hold the vapors in.
One time my two oldest brothers staked their youngest full blooded brother at one and built a fire around him.
They were mean.

Worth

Deborah · March 1, 2016

Gee. How dangerous. And creepy.

Gerardo · March 1, 2016

Some cherry plants are big and vigorous, such as Green Doctor's Frosted. I have 4 bumblebees growing in a large clay container (aprox 20 gallons) with a tall CRW cage. They are growing fast! Maglia Rosa is nice and compact, ideal for small container.

Starlight · March 2, 2016

Lulgiwu... I haven't tried winter sowing sunflowers before. It's kinda of hard to do winter sowing down here with the crazy temp fluctuations we have. Can't hurt to try it and see what happens.

Backyardfarm... Get you some grits. I use the Sunflower brand quick grits. Just sprinkle a good amount all over the top and around the hill. Let it sit there for several hours. You'll see the worker ants go crazy gathering it up and feeding the nest. Than go out and lightly water the any hill. A day or two later and the hill is dead. If I know it is going to rain than I grit around the yard the day before. No chems, no fuss, and cheap. Rarely do I have to treat even huge big hills twice.

I'm making sure I get the grits out now as not only are the ants out and about, but they bringing the aphids they overwintered back out to start feeding from. So when you take out the hive, you take out ants and aphids with no chems.

No I do not take out all my ant hills. Some ants are needed for pollination of flowers, plus the lizards have ants in their diets. Gotta take care of the lizards. : )

Gerardo... Dang ! A 20 gallon pot! The trash company just passed out all these huge new fangled trash cans to everybody. Of course our trash bills went up. Wonder if folks would let me have their old trash cans. : )

I just planted seeds of Maglia Rose. Pics looked nice of it that I saw on google.

I know this probably going to be a dumb question, but do the plants really need containers that big? Never having grown in a container that big before, I wonder do the roots use all the space and soil, or does alot of area get wasted?

Gerardo · March 3, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starlight

Gerardo... Dang ! A 20 gallon pot! The trash company just passed out all these huge new fangled trash cans to everybody. Of course our trash bills went up. Wonder if folks would let me have their old trash cans. : )

I just planted seeds of Maglia Rose. Pics looked nice of it that I saw on google.

I know this probably going to be a dumb question, but do the plants really need containers that big? Never having grown in a container that big before, I wonder do the roots use all the space and soil, or does alot of area get wasted?

I've put large ind. slicers and cukes into that pot, there's something about it that produces great tomatoes. I wanted a large sprawling bush with tons of bumblebees and that's why I put 'em in there. It also gives you a little wiggle room for watering, but that's about it.
Post-mortems have been inconsistent, some plants really dig down and stretch their legs, others just seem to stay shallow. Hard to predict. Lately I've been trench planting them to encourage even bigger root systems both deep and at the surface, and a few I've culled and examined seem to be doing as intended.

Maglia is in a nursery pot that's about 3 gallons. It's a beauty, barely at 14 inches or so and it's already loaded up, almost behaves as a determinate with its early fruit setting ability.
Tenants for the companion 20 clay pot will be two Chinese origin yellow cherries, Green Dr's Frosted and Purple Bumble Bee Should be nice and colorful and flavorful.

The other cherries will be hanging ones and some of the micros. Plus there's other Eastern European ones for the fall garden.

Fun Fun Fun.

What's the word on Russian Mini Yellow?

Gardenboy · March 3, 2016

Been growing sunflowers for 20 years here in south Florida. They require full sun at least 8 hours and don't like any temps. below 50 degrees. Sunflowers do NOT like to be transplanted. Sow them directly where U want them. Their tap root is very long and doesn't like to be disturbed. Also the roots emit a chemical which kills everything around it...plant is alone away from other veggies or bushes if you are growing in the ground.

JLJ_ · March 3, 2016

We must grow different sunflowers -- I'd have to check varieties, but I grow neither the tiny ones nor the super giants -- flowers perhaps ten to fourteen inches across and stalks in the neighborhood of six feet, yellow or the redder colors.

We have cool weather here even in summer. They don't care. I've planted things growing up their stems. Worked fine. Not everything, as I recall the aphids liked the sunflowers and might have migrated to vines growing on them. But I certainly didn't keep the sunflowers any special distance away from other plants except to avoid creating unwanted shade. That could vary depending upon what local bugs like/hate sunflowers, but I don't think there's a lot of compatibility problem with the sunflowers themselves.

I always start sunflowers in trays to give them a head start on our short season and transplant them when I don't think they'll be snowed upon. I don't think I've ever lost one due to transplanting, and I didn't do anything special to protect them. I do usually put something like moist sphagnum peat moss around anything I transplant to give it some help getting established, but that's about it. I have just taken a trowel and scooped up volunteer sunflowers from where I didn't want them and poked them in where I did, and had them grow happily.

If we had a warmer climate, I'd probably sow them in place, just to minimize work -- and would probably sow them inside a 3 liter water bottle with top removed to protect the young sprouts from foraging birds (or other critters) who love to eat them or who dig them up accidentally when scrounging for worms and bugs.

But if sunflowers are proving hard to grow, and aren't being eaten or destroyed by something, or drastically over or under watered, I'd try a different variety, as they've been pretty rugged plants, here.

Bytor3068 · March 3, 2016

Not sure what type of ants you experience in Wisconsin...in Texas we deal with fire ants. A fast acting bait that I have had success with is Advion granules. Expensive but effective. I would walk around spot treating mounds on three acres...by the time I had got back to the first, I could see ants already harvesting granules and taking into mound. Next morning, a little cemetery of dead ants outside of mounds. Next day...dead.

Hint on using baits. They are no good wet. Avoid using if expecting rain. Ants need to be actively foraging. Test before applying. Sprinkle a little and if they start to grab it, go for it. Last but not least, you don't have to find the ants...ants will find the bait.

Good luck.

BackyardFarm · March 4, 2016

I don't know what kind of ants we have. I just know some of them bite!

I will try the grits first because I don't want to kill all of them if they aren't something like fire ants. Just the biters of the dog and kid. I'll sprinkle it where they like to play to get rid of the ants there and wear boots to do the weeding.

Any word on the Blue Ambrosia (pumpkin varient)? I got some too in the MMMM and my google-fu skills are failing me.

February 26, 2016	#16
luigiwu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: ny Posts: 1,219	Starlight, regarding sunflowers, have you tried winter sowing? where you cut a jug or any container in half, fill with a bit of potting mix and sow your seeds? And when the time is right, they will grow on their own and you can transplant? I have only so much room indoors to do starts and sunflowers were the bottom of my priority list. So I did it via winter sowing and it worked great. __________________ Subirrigated Container gardening (RGGS) in NY, Zone 7!

February 26, 2016	#17
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	keep them off the ground no matter how you grow them, in containers, raised beds or in the garden. You will never get the fruit if it is on the ground. I haven't found many "small" cherries. I use 6' cages if I have them for all of the cherries. __________________ carolyn k

March 1, 2016	#21
Deborah Riding The Crazy Train Again Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: San Marcos, California Posts: 2,562	Does anyone remember your father pouring gas down an anthill and then throwing a match? __________________ "The righteous one cares for the needs of his animal". Proverbs 12:10

March 1, 2016	#23
Deborah Riding The Crazy Train Again Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: San Marcos, California Posts: 2,562	Gee. How dangerous. And creepy. __________________ "The righteous one cares for the needs of his animal". Proverbs 12:10

March 1, 2016	#24
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,598	Some cherry plants are big and vigorous, such as Green Doctor's Frosted. I have 4 bumblebees growing in a large clay container (aprox 20 gallons) with a tall CRW cage. They are growing fast! Maglia Rosa is nice and compact, ideal for small container.

March 2, 2016	#25
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Lulgiwu... I haven't tried winter sowing sunflowers before. It's kinda of hard to do winter sowing down here with the crazy temp fluctuations we have. Can't hurt to try it and see what happens. Backyardfarm... Get you some grits. I use the Sunflower brand quick grits. Just sprinkle a good amount all over the top and around the hill. Let it sit there for several hours. You'll see the worker ants go crazy gathering it up and feeding the nest. Than go out and lightly water the any hill. A day or two later and the hill is dead. If I know it is going to rain than I grit around the yard the day before. No chems, no fuss, and cheap. Rarely do I have to treat even huge big hills twice. I'm making sure I get the grits out now as not only are the ants out and about, but they bringing the aphids they overwintered back out to start feeding from. So when you take out the hive, you take out ants and aphids with no chems. No I do not take out all my ant hills. Some ants are needed for pollination of flowers, plus the lizards have ants in their diets. Gotta take care of the lizards. : ) Gerardo... Dang ! A 20 gallon pot! The trash company just passed out all these huge new fangled trash cans to everybody. Of course our trash bills went up. Wonder if folks would let me have their old trash cans. : ) I just planted seeds of Maglia Rose. Pics looked nice of it that I saw on google. I know this probably going to be a dumb question, but do the plants really need containers that big? Never having grown in a container that big before, I wonder do the roots use all the space and soil, or does alot of area get wasted?

March 3, 2016	#27
Gardenboy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 784	Been growing sunflowers for 20 years here in south Florida. They require full sun at least 8 hours and don't like any temps. below 50 degrees. Sunflowers do NOT like to be transplanted. Sow them directly where U want them. Their tap root is very long and doesn't like to be disturbed. Also the roots emit a chemical which kills everything around it...plant is alone away from other veggies or bushes if you are growing in the ground.

March 3, 2016	#28
JLJ_ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Wyoming Posts: 759	We must grow different sunflowers -- I'd have to check varieties, but I grow neither the tiny ones nor the super giants -- flowers perhaps ten to fourteen inches across and stalks in the neighborhood of six feet, yellow or the redder colors. We have cool weather here even in summer. They don't care. I've planted things growing up their stems. Worked fine. Not everything, as I recall the aphids liked the sunflowers and might have migrated to vines growing on them. But I certainly didn't keep the sunflowers any special distance away from other plants except to avoid creating unwanted shade. That could vary depending upon what local bugs like/hate sunflowers, but I don't think there's a lot of compatibility problem with the sunflowers themselves. I always start sunflowers in trays to give them a head start on our short season and transplant them when I don't think they'll be snowed upon. I don't think I've ever lost one due to transplanting, and I didn't do anything special to protect them. I do usually put something like moist sphagnum peat moss around anything I transplant to give it some help getting established, but that's about it. I have just taken a trowel and scooped up volunteer sunflowers from where I didn't want them and poked them in where I did, and had them grow happily. If we had a warmer climate, I'd probably sow them in place, just to minimize work -- and would probably sow them inside a 3 liter water bottle with top removed to protect the young sprouts from foraging birds (or other critters) who love to eat them or who dig them up accidentally when scrounging for worms and bugs. But if sunflowers are proving hard to grow, and aren't being eaten or destroyed by something, or drastically over or under watered, I'd try a different variety, as they've been pretty rugged plants, here.

March 3, 2016	#29
Bytor3068 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Gulf Coast of the great state of Texas Posts: 9	Not sure what type of ants you experience in Wisconsin...in Texas we deal with fire ants. A fast acting bait that I have had success with is Advion granules. Expensive but effective. I would walk around spot treating mounds on three acres...by the time I had got back to the first, I could see ants already harvesting granules and taking into mound. Next morning, a little cemetery of dead ants outside of mounds. Next day...dead. Hint on using baits. They are no good wet. Avoid using if expecting rain. Ants need to be actively foraging. Test before applying. Sprinkle a little and if they start to grab it, go for it. Last but not least, you don't have to find the ants...ants will find the bait. Good luck.

March 4, 2016	#30
BackyardFarm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Wisconsin, zone 4b Posts: 360	I don't know what kind of ants we have. I just know some of them bite! I will try the grits first because I don't want to kill all of them if they aren't something like fire ants. Just the biters of the dog and kid. I'll sprinkle it where they like to play to get rid of the ants there and wear boots to do the weeding. Any word on the Blue Ambrosia (pumpkin varient)? I got some too in the MMMM and my google-fu skills are failing me.