Spring 2023 has arrived! The floricanes are now being quite industrious putting on buds, blossoms and fruit. I estimated last years Primocane harvest at 60# plus and was pretty happy. I think here in about a month I will start the floricane harvest that could be 200#!
And talk about perfect timing, the honeybees I ordered last fall have arrived and they have already found the blossoms!
While fruit is piling on at the top, new primocanes are coming in at the bottom. I'm really loving these plants!
Week 30 and I'm back on schedule! Did some cleanup this week getting errant canes either tied to a wire or weaved in a bit to keep them out of the walk way. I also weeded the patch and cleaned up some of the dead leaves. Last three pickings have been >5 pounds every 3 days, and it looks like that many on for tomorrows harvest.
Now, about the brown and dying leaves. I contacted a gentleman from Southern Louisiana I had met in a wine making forum, and asked his opinion on the situation as he has been growing this variety for about 4 years. You can note from the above picture how the leaves are dying at the bottom of the plants while putting fruit at the top. Much to my relief, he said this was normal! He thought it might be the primocanes transitioning into flurocanes, which sounds about right as the canes with the dying leaves have become much more woody. Only time will tell for sure, but I'm not worried about it now.
Ciao,
I believe this is week 29 for the plants, and they continue to spawn new canes and new fruit. The last couple of pickings are giving about 2#/day but it varies a bit from week to week.
Some of the canes are getting a bit unruly, in part from my own neglect in keeping them tied. Some of the leaves are looking a bit tired as well so I think I'll give them a little calcium nitrate this coming week.
This is the reason for my recent neglectful behavior; my first batch of Blackberry wine! 26#'s of blackberries should give me around 2-1/2 to 3 gallons of wine! Between this and 300#'s of muscadines picked and frozen, and so far about 15 gallons of muscadine wine fermenting away, I have managed to stay quite busy while literally enjoying the fruit of my labor!
Ciao,
No pictures this week, I up to my armpits in muscadines right now and for the next couple of weeks my focus is in wine making!
Week 26 and the plants have slowed down to about a half-pound per day. I see lots of green berries for the future though. I am seeing a lot of dying leaves and fear that in my desire to have a nice tidy line between grass and planting bed, I may have sliced through some feeder roots. Note to self; stop doing that!
Ciao,
Week 25 and I get about a pound/day of fresh fruit on average, picking every two or three days. The birds are getting quite a bit of fruit but there is plenty for everybody now so I'm good with it. Keeping up with the canes is getting tough because it's hard to find an open wire to tie them too! I look back over this blog each time before writing an update and month to month pictures really tell the tale.
The muscadines next door seem to be pretty happy and I just stuck 10#'s in the freezer. Me thinks I'll have 400 pounds ripening over the next three weeks.
I've started pulling out my wine making equipment, I think I'm gonna need it.
