Gardening and Plant Thread

[Yandex Captcha Solver]

I'll have to spray the weeds down once it's mowed, I'm just happy to have it growing before the dry, hot months.

Not for sure if your aware, but if use your manure for the garden make sure you don't use Grazon for spraying. The manure will still have Grazon in it and will straight up kill a garden.

For anyone else getting manure for their gardens, make sure you ask your source if they use Grazon on their hay fields otherwise your gonna have a bad time. It'll take a year or so to get it out of the soil.

 

[LowlyPheasent]

For anyone else getting manure for their gardens, make sure you ask your source if they use Grazon on their hay fields otherwise your gonna have a bad time. It'll take a year or so to get it out of the soil.

Good info to know! I'll have to keep that in mind though I've yet to run into anything like this so far.

 

[Rakovnik]

Not for sure if your aware, but if use your manure for the garden make sure you don't use Grazon for spraying. The manure will still have Grazon in it and will straight up kill a garden.

For anyone else getting manure for their gardens, make sure you ask your source if they use Grazon on their hay fields otherwise your gonna have a bad time. It'll take a year or so to get it out of the soil.

I had no idea, thanks for the heads up because I was looking at that Grazon stuff recently. The cow pasture isn't fully set up yet but it'll have hot wire reels to section it off, I should be able to spray a section and keep them off of it for a while so I don't necessarily need the instant grazing ability. Right now I have a few gallons of Amine 400 (2,4-D) and Triclopyr for wooded plants, I've only used those on a pastures that are baled and it's sprayed long before baling.

 

[mydadtucksmeinmysleep]

Is it okay if I dig and transport natural calcareous soil from a riparian deposit to plant some rare endemic foxgloves? I’m worried about fucking up whatever is growing/living underneath when I dig.

 

[Honored guest]

I see a bit of talk about fruit trees in this thread, and I want to advocate for the pawpaw tree as a great option for anyone looking to get into orchards. Its a relative of the banana, but is native to the midwest and is very cold hardy. Its actually grows the largest fruit native to North America, and because it's native it has almost no pests or diseases if grown in the US, unlike eurasian fruits like apples, plums, etc.

It tastes like a tropical fruit, kind of like a mix between a banana and a mango, and I find it very tasty to mix the pulp into ice cream. I transplanted a few dozen I started from seed last year and all but 1 survived, though some had their stems die off and have sent up new shoots. They take 7 years to reach maturity and bear fruit, and will last for 30 years.

The only downside to the pawpaw is that you need to plant at least two trees of different genetic makeups, as they do NOT self pollinate. You will need to hand pollinate them when the time comes, but that literally just means buying a paint brush and transferring pollen from one flower to another.

View attachment 6042469View attachment 6042471View attachment 6042477

I've heard of pawpaws, do you know if anyone has developed dwarf varieties? or if its possible to graft them onto a dwarf root stock? I'm working on a dwarf orchard for myself and I'm always willing to try something new.

Is it okay if I dig and transport natural calcareous soil from a riparian deposit to plant some rare endemic foxgloves? I’m worried about fucking up whatever is growing/living underneath when I dig.

Whenever you dig up and move soil you're going to disturb some organisms. The biggest concern I would have when bringing something new into your garden would be potentially introducing new pests, but if you're gathering and transporting locally the risk shouldn't be that big. You also might want to look up your local/state laws in regards to waterways/rivers because some areas are really sensitive about people digging up river banks due to the potential disturbances to the ecosystem, and because assholes ruined things for everyone.

 

[LowlyPheasent]

I'm working on a dwarf orchard for myself

Is this so you can keep them indoors or are you a dwarf? If you have them outside, honestly you'd be better off going full size.

 

[Honored guest]

Is this so you can keep them indoors or are you a dwarf? If you have them outside, honestly you'd be better off going full size.

More of a space issue, I'd like to be able to grow a larger number of varieties in the limited space that I have. In a perfect world I'd absolutely grow standard size fruit trees.

 

[LowlyPheasent]

Ah, understandable. Hopefully that goes well!

 

[LowlyPheasent]

More of a space issue, I'd like to be able to grow a larger number of varieties in the limited space that I have. In a perfect world I'd absolutely grow standard size fruit trees.

I was just about to hop off but then I recalled you can Espalier some trees which is a technique in which you grow a tree up a wall/lattice/structure. It's more common ore in Europe. Depending on what trees you have this may help maximize space and get some more fruit off some of your trees. (I have 0 experience with this myself so outside of the idea I'd not be much help, but may be worth checking out.)

 

[SphinxItOver]

I've heard of pawpaws, do you know if anyone has developed dwarf varieties? or if its possible to graft them onto a dwarf root stock? I'm working on a dwarf orchard for myself and I'm always willing to try something new.

Just wanna give a heads up that young pawpaws want shade and only larger trees can handle direct sun. Because of this most breeders like to keep them in pots up to 5-7 years and you may wish to pick off the flowers for a year or two if you need to establish ones you buy. They have deep tap roots so I'm unsure if you're going to go the bonsai route or if you want a deep pot. They don't self pollinate either. Much like pecans you're looking at a long time investment so you might want to schedule that out in your tree plans. Totally worth it it my opinion, pawpaws taste great.

 

[Hepativore]

I've heard of pawpaws, do you know if anyone has developed dwarf varieties? or if its possible to graft them onto a dwarf root stock? I'm working on a dwarf orchard for myself and I'm always willing to try something new.

The domestication and named cultivars of Asimina triloba (paw paw) have only happened within the past century or so by backyard and hobbyist growers due to the lack of interest by commercial farmers because of how soft the fruit becomes when ripe, making it unsuitable for shipment.

There are no "dwarf" cultivars and because the paw paw does not have any closely-related species to use as rootstock there are no smaller species. However, paw paws are relatively slow-growing, so you would have a lot of time to plan out where to plant them.

Anyway, like most plants, you will need two cultivars to give you fruit for pollination purposes. You do not necessarily have to hand-pollinate them, but they are pollinated by various species of small beetles and flies. To increase the rate of pollination, you can empty fruit and vegetable scraps near the trees like apple cores or melon rinds and so on.

 

[McLean Deluxe]

I've heard of pawpaws, do you know if anyone has developed dwarf varieties? or if its possible to graft them onto a dwarf root stock? I'm working on a dwarf orchard for myself and I'm always willing to try something new.

They have not, but if your willing to trim them you could certainly keep the size down and probably still get some fruits. I've seen wild trees not much taller than a person that make a couple pounds of fruit. It would be an interesting experiment.

Anyway, like most plants, you will need two cultivars to give you fruit for pollination purposes. You do not necessarily have to hand-pollinate them, but they are pollinated by various species of small beetles and flies. To increase the rate of pollination, you can empty fruit and vegetable scraps near the trees like apple cores or melon rinds and so on.

Or use roadkill for pollination like me lol. I threw a dead possum in my orchard one year and it worked fine. I always just tell people to hand pollinate because I know that they will be grossed out by the alternative.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

My squash is starting to make flowers and we have a tree with a ton of cherries I'll be picking tomorrow.
I love cherries, so I'll be making a bunch of stuff with them, my first plan being to jar a bunch of them in syrup with a hint of brandy for my oatmeal and desserts and stuff.
EDIT:
I was looking through an old book on preservation I have and found this recipe:

My niggas, I am absolutely going to try this out because it sounds delicious. There is literally nothing listed here that I don’t love.
I can fruit a lot because waste not want not and homemade jams/jellies are miles above anything else, so if this goes well I may have a new go-to recipe.

 

[Hepativore]

Another fruit I will recommend is the Asian persimmon (Diospyros kaki) if you live in an area where you can grow them as they are very expensive in grocery stores and they are a delicious fruit that needs more recognition outside of the northeastern US where they are popular.

There is an American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), but the American species is very slow-growing and takes an average of a decade or more to reach bearing age. You also need both a male and a female tree to get fruit as American persimmons are dioecious unlike most fruit trees.

I also recommend the black mulberry (Morus nigra) as their fruits are delicious and a lot of people are not aware that mulberry fruits are edible and delicious as they mostly think of them as messy trees that attract birds and leave purple stains on sidewalks. Their fruits resemble and taste like blackberries even though they are unrelated.

Currants such as the European black currant (Ribes nigra) and the European red currant (Ribes rubrum) make excellent jam and desserts, although the cultivation of black currants is banned in some states in the US as it has been unfairly scapegoated as being a host for white pine blister rust fungus, which has caused some states to ban them because of how the disease has affected the lumber industry.

Finally, I have always liked the "grape soda" flavor of Concorde grapes, but they are notoriously full of seeds. I know that there is a seedless cultivar of Concorde grape that is unrelated to the true Concorde grape but is said to taste similar. I never got the chance to grow the seedless Concorde where I used to live but I have heard good things about it.

Has anybody here tried growing the seedless Concorde cultivar?

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

My squash is starting to make flowers and we have a tree with a ton of cherries I'll be picking tomorrow.
I love cherries, so I'll be making a bunch of stuff with them, my first plan being to jar a bunch of them in syrup with a hint of brandy for my oatmeal and desserts and stuff.
EDIT:
I was looking through an old book on preservation I have and found this recipe:
View attachment 6061692
My niggas, I am absolutely going to try this out because it sounds delicious. There is literally nothing listed here that I don’t love.
I can fruit a lot because waste not want not and homemade jams/jellies are miles above anything else, so if this goes well I may have a new go-to recipe.

Bro this cherry relish is biblical.
Pic tax:

Now, I thought I had raisins at home and I didn’t. We will somehow survive.
I also used apple cider vinegar, so it’s like this mix of apple butter and cherries and pecans, it’s so fucking good.

 

[3deadniggers]

Has any one had success growing veg in milk cartons? It seems a good way to use space that gets lots of sun but doesn't have enough soil to plant anything there.

 

[Rakovnik]

I've been busy baling hay. Barns are nearly full, wagons are full, and I still have more to bale. I found out we are baling a slightly larger area at my horse farm neighbors but I haven't got to that yet.

Has any one had success growing veg in milk cartons? It seems a good way to use space that gets lots of sun but doesn't have enough soil to plant anything there.

I use the bottom half of water jugs when I run out of starter trays. I'm not sure how growing out the plant would go. Maybe if you left he container whole, use a funnel for dirt, and plant in the hole on top it should have enough room for the roots.

 

[Honored guest]

Has any one had success growing veg in milk cartons? It seems a good way to use space that gets lots of sun but doesn't have enough soil to plant anything there.

The plasitc isn't UV treated so it would become brittle and fall apart, if you're lucky it would last a season. 1 gallon jugs would just be large enough to plant a smaller herb like basil in them. I would be little concerened about microplastics, you might want to look up what kind of plastic is used in making them and if it is safe for growing in. Some plastics may be safe to store food in, but degrade when exposed to the elements.

 

[AnOminous]

Some plastics may be safe to store food in, but degrade when exposed to the elements.

AI says high density polyethylene and low density polyethylene are suitable for plants. The first has a triangle with a 2 in it and the second has a triangle with a 4 in it at the bottom. I'd still probably throw it away after a season though.

I've also used some kind of ecohippie bag planter you just fill with soil. It worked pretty well for peppers and basil.

 

[Bassomatic]

Over at pops for dad's day, we picked lettuce, washed and ate. It was the best part of the meal, and dinner included some lovely lamb. But it tasted like something. I just put a tiny bit of evoo and red wine vinegar on it, with some black pepper, fuck coating such a leaf in heavy ass Russian dressing or some shit.