Another newbie question,
I have a blackberry plant, I just planted it last year, and the leaves are
red or rust color right now. Does this happen during cooler weather or is
the plant making an effort to ask for a more acidic level?
Hoping someone can help,
Thanks,
Inger
Southern California
Sunset Zone 11
USDA Zone 8
Inger, Here in zone 5, my blackberry leaves begin turning red in late
September (and then turn brown and fall off altogether), so it sounds to
me like they're just responding to cooler temps.
Sheryl Highsmith
shighsmith@vines.colostate.edu
Fort Collins, CO
Zone 5
Inger Robertson
|
| Another newbie question,
|
| I have a blackberry plant, I just planted it last year, and
| the leaves are
| red or rust color right now. Does this happen during cooler
| weather or is
| the plant making an effort to ask for a more acidic level?
|
| Hoping someone can help,
|
|
| Thanks,
| Inger
| Southern California
| Sunset Zone 11
| USDA Zone 8
Inger; don't know about the acid requirements of blackberry, but i can
tell you that you don't have cold enough weather to hurt the plant. it
is prolific in the pacific NW. can't get rid of it where there is a lot
of moisture. you may want to look at this problem in your dry area. don
Greetings, newbie!
About your roses--you should have a soil test done to determine whether or
not your soil is truly iron deficient. Many many things could cause your
rose's leaves to yellow. About the aphids--if you're squeamish, blast them
off with a spray of water, and if you're not squeamish, you can just
squish them. I leave the carcasses at the scene of the crime with the idea
that it will make the ones I missed head for the hills. Otherwise, if you
just leave them, aphid eaters will appear like magic and chow down on
them--as long as you aren't using any substances that might deter or kill
the beneficials.
About the blackberries (first, I must grip my cranium hard because the
idea of someone planting blackberries on purpose makes my head spin--but
then again, you don't live in the PNW!) they are deciduous plants, so
don't worry about the leaves just now. They do fruit on the previous
year's canes, so don't prune them until after they fruit, then cut out all
the canes that bore fruit the current year, leaving the new ones for next
year. (Our approach is to slash, chop, mow, dig, rip, etc. etc.--and we
still have TONS of blackberries every year! And they certainly are
delicious.)
Diane Ridout, Instructor, ACP.............................................
Kwantlen University College, "Talk
PO Box 9030 doesn't
Surrey, BC, Canada cook rice," they say.
Tel: (604) 599-2964 Voice mail 9837.......................................
Thanks everyone,
Thanks for the info on blackberries,
As for planting one, we always want what we don't have. It won't spread
too far away from the water source, so I believe I am safe against take
over. As for the color change, it's been so long since I've seen that it
looked strange to me. haha Unfortunately things don't get cold enough for
trees to change to anything but yellow and dried brown. Very boring in
fall. I'm hoping the leaves will fall off soon, because warm weather is
very close.
As for the roses, I am getting away from the poisons for aphids, so
hopefully in a few years, the kind bugs will be able to help with the
problem. I have been using the squish program for a year now, I'm just
concerned because there are so many on the new growth at this time. I
don't want to harm the fragile growth.
********************
Thanks,
Inger
Southern California
Sunset Zone 11
USDA Zone 8
Inger Robertson wrote:
Dear Inger
Regarding your aphids. I do agree the "squish" method can be damaging
to delicate foliage. I myself far prefer the squirt method. If the
shoot is supported with a hand behind, I find one can use quite a sharp
jet of water and cause no damage. It also cleans the shoot very well,
leaving neither live insects, corpses nor the sticky honeydew which can
encourage black mould to grow over the leaves.
I have found sulphur very effective for acidifying soils., but it can be
overdone. I would try about 1/4 pound of the ground sulphur to one
square yard to start with and see what happens. If it is going to work
you should see results in the new growth in two to three months.
As to watering I wonder whether it is possible to store rainwater. This
would at least be about neutral ( or possibly acid, if you have
industrial pollution).
Moira Ryan
