Fruits and small fruits

Fruit Trees & Fruits Pricing

In the spring of 1971 I sat in Dr Denison's class on small fruits. I wore an oversized English plaid cap and drove an orange bicycle to class. Most of the people in the room felt I fit the description of a small fruit. Those were lean college days. We could stretch a chicken into 4 meals and chipped beef on toast was my favorite entree. Kip's cooking had just about passed by her one hot dish containing 2 ingredients. (Peanut butter on toast.) I dove into strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, rhubarb, boysenberries, cranberries and blueberries like they were my favorite foods. Here are my tips on the above.

Strawberries-You can get more fruit out of a spring crop of June bearing strawberries than you can off an entire season of ever bearers. But since most people are looking for an extended harvest we see more people planting ever bearers than June bearers. I say mix em up. A general planting distance is 12 to 18 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart. Planting depth is critical. The crown which is the little gap above where the roots start must be planted at ground level and not too shallow, and not too deep. Fertilize strawberries when you plant them and through out their first growing season. You are supposed to keep the fruit pinched off of them the first year, but I don't see anyone doing that. So glean a few. Strawberries are not fertilized the spring they are to bear or you will get a bunch of top growth and not much fruit. You are to pick fruit in June and then fertilize. Some people put cow manure on their strawberries. I prefer cream and sugar.

Rhubarb - "Never touch another man's rhubarb" quote the riddler from the movie Batman. It might be good advice. I think a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie should go here. You should plant rhubarb 3 feet apart. It likes a lot of organic matter in the soil, so use some Omogro compost in the planting hole. The bigger the hole the wider the roots. When I was at ISU I read through a lot of the interesting horticulture books. My favorite was the Red Cross Book of Planting Fruit Trees. You were to use 2 sticks of dynamite for every hole. That sounds like a planting project I would have enjoyed immensely.

Red and Black Raspberries - should be planted 3 to 5 feet apart in rows 6 feet apart. Set red raspberry plants 1 to 2 inches deeper than they are in the pot and black raspberries 1 inch deeper. I like to leave the soil a little loose and water them in with a solution of root stimulator fertilizer water.. After fruiting each year cut out the old canes and leave the new vigorous ones . These new canes are the ones that are going to set fruit the next year. .In the early spring cut the canes back to 2 1/2 feet. . For best results use a lime sulfur dormant spray in the spring as a cleanup for anthracnose disease. Make sure you trash any old wood you prune from your patch as the disease can easily over winter on cut canes that are just lying around. Fertilize in the spring with Fertilome Start and Gro.

Blueberries are tough in our area. They need an acid soil which we do not have. They need a soil with a ph of 4.0 to 4.5. You will need a large hole with equal parts of peat moss, Omogro, black dirt and a soil acidifier such as Ironite. We sell a small ph test kit for $1.29. You will need to make sure you have the right planting hole ph if you are to succeed. Mulch the plants every year with 3 to 4 inches of peat moss.

Grapes It is hard to believe that Council Bluffs Iowa once had a thriving grape industry. The wine of choice was named Betty Anne. We have the soil and climate to grow some good grapes. So what happened to the industry? When farmers were able to begin killing broad-leafed weeds in their corn, they sprayed up the whole state with 2,4-d. No one knew at the time that grapes cannot get rid of the toxin. Any concentration gets stored up and the net result is a stunted or dead grape vine. Today stringent laws keep farmers from spraying volatile products and must not spray on windy days. We are seeing the reemergence of the grape industry. We sell some good northern varieties. Unfortunately the seedless varieties are not real hardy around here.
For information on how to prune grapes Clikc Here

Peaches are not going to make the prettiest tree around these parts, but the fruit is the best ever. Spray in the early spring with lime sulfur spray. Expect the tree to have dead branches now and then and look deformed and ooze sap. That's what peaches do in Iowa. Peaches are self pollinating.

Cherries grow well here if they are the tart varieties like North Star or Meteor. Everyone wants to plant sweet cherries but most of them require 2 varieties and one of them usually dies. We sell a sweet cherry variety called Mesabi which is sweet, hardy and self pollinating. Tart cherries are self pollinating.

Apples use to be a mainstay of Iowa until the Armistice Day freeze of November 11th 1940. The temperatures soared that late fall day and fell to frigid temp in a short span. The quick change in temperatures and the fact that the trees were not completely dormant caused tree trunks to explode. Iowa orchards have made a strong comeback. A trip to the Ditmar's apple orchard in Council Bluffs is always a fall treat and they have the best apple cider around. Apples require two varieties for best cross pollination. Prune apple trees in the winter or early spring. There is no need to paint off any wounds, they will heal better left alone. Remove any water suckers in the tree and open up the center by removing branches that will allow for better light penetration into the center of the tree. If the tree has broken branches or had too heavy a load on it the year before you may need to do some pruning in those areas as well. Spray apple trees in the early spring with dormant oil as a cleanup spray for over wintering insect eggs. Do not spray the tree while it is in flower as you will kill the bees that are trying to pollinate your tree. We have a real bee problem in that more and more bee hives are disappearing in this country do to some unknown biological or environmental pressures. Use Fertilome fruit tree spray every 10 to 14 days to ensure some tasty good apples in the fall.

Pears trees grow well around here. Plant 2 varieties for croass pollination.

Plums I am not always the wizard of the plum thicket, but the genus prunus is native to Southwest Iowa and that is usually a good sign. They tend to pick up some of the same maladies as the wild plums so keep your pruners handy. Plums and ornamental plums can get a black knot like growth on their stems which most people want to remove. Make sure that you cut way back to good green wood when removing any infected branches and dip your pruners into a 10% Clorox solution.

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