Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

thanks! this is what I wanted to know IN ADVANCE.......................

I don't have enough sunny space and really would like to grow a fruit tree but it seems like not such a great idea.

I DID order some currants and gooseberries............and have strawberries and blueberries..............so hopefully these will prosper.

I've never grown currents or gooseberries, let me know how you like them. I predict the strawberries will do well. They are tolerant of a lot of conditions. Blueberries, OTOH, are pretty fussy about their soil. If they like your soil, they will do great, if not, they may take years to die but will never thrive. Raspberries and blackberries are quite easy too. If I wanted a truly "no fuss" berry patch, I'd go with strawberries and everbearing red raspberries. Then every fall, after the leaves drop, mow everything to the ground and add about 6 inches of hay or straw. Remove any weeds that make it through and thin out the plants if they get overgrown, and pick strawberries in June and Red Raspberries in August.

 

[dheltzel]

I replaced it because it went from 105 to 89 in my incubator. It wouldn't hold the temperature. The only thing I was able to hatch with it was leopard gecko eggs and they were a lower temperature that it held fine.

Sounds like one of the parts was bad for sure. I hope this thermostat works, but I don't like a 5 degree fluctuation in temp.

 

[barbiegirl]

It warms up to 100 degrees and then turns off and then falls down to 95 before it turns back on. I didn't set any eggs so I am not loosing any eggs. The only incubator I was able to hatch chicken eggs from is my silkie. It is too cold out yet to let her sit. This morning it was 27 burr.

 

[LisaYolkUm]

I've never grown currents or gooseberries, let me know how you like them. I predict the strawberries will do well. They are tolerant of a lot of conditions. Blueberries, OTOH, are pretty fussy about their soil. If they like your soil, they will do great, if not, they may take years to die but will never thrive. Raspberries and blackberries are quite easy too. If I wanted a truly "no fuss" berry patch, I'd go with strawberries and everbearing red raspberries. Then every fall, after the leaves drop, mow everything to the ground and add about 6 inches of hay or straw. Remove any weeds that make it through and thin out the plants if they get overgrown, and pick strawberries in June and Red Raspberries in August.

My family had currants and gooseberries in this area .............and I love them ..............so I thought I would get some. There are different types yet I ordered what I think seem like the ones I remember eating as a kid.

My strawberries are in containers..........of different shapes..............and I took them into my unheated sunroom over the winter. I am not sure how they will do but I hope they will do well.

I have one blueberry in a large pot that I also took in. It looked like basically a stick all winter but now its outside and getting leaves and growing. It is the kind of plant that does not need others to pollinate............and I want to get some more for containers because.........my sunny spot is my deck.

I do have a red raspberry patch in the ground and it gets raspberries .........most go to the birds...........this year I might cover it with netting so I may have more. I have not really given it much attention...............I just cut the expanding plants down with the lawn mower........and the regular plants got a hard pruning prior to winter...............hope that was okay? I like your idea of the straw for the winter............

mowing everything down............is that too much though? you seem very knowledgeable so I value your opinion.............

 

[LisaYolkUm]

I wonder if I can transplant the raspberry new shoots that arise this spring...............or would it be better to transplant later...........??? I am thinking spring is better than hot summer or winter because they may not get their roots well established...............

I will google that too...............I could expand the raspberries!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Gunner and Heidi's new pen.
I also got my first turkey egg. I think it is fertile.

It's not fertile anymore, it's dinner!

Annie:

Whats really funny is when the second generation moves in, you'll love the older girls more....my two cents....

I'll have to report back on that in the future, but it seems likely...

when I first witnessed this "'sunning" behavior----I was a little worried too..............now I see them as just in a state of bliss!

kinda funny how initially I thought they were ill or dying and then realized it was more like bliss!

Indeed!

thanks!  this is what I wanted to know IN ADVANCE.......................

I don't have enough sunny space and really would like to grow a fruit tree but it seems like not such a great idea.

I DID order some currants and gooseberries............and have strawberries and blueberries..............so hopefully these will prosper. 

I transplanted some wild currants from a relatives home last year, we shall find out if they took soon!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

This is the scene I came home to tonight...

4 chooks outside of the crate, one in. I think the inmates are running the asylum now.

Can you spot the parrot in the background?

 

[1stACT]

You know you've gone over to the dark side when you look for worms and bugs just to feed your chickies!..........

I have to admit_ I've gone over to the dark side. It was very fun

 

[dheltzel]

mowing everything down............is that too much though? you seem very knowledgeable so I value your opinion.............

Mowing it all works on strawberries because their crowns are at ground level and they grow new leaves each spring.

Mowing raspberries means no spring crop, but the everbearing ones produce a second crop in August or Sept on new growth. This second crop is generally much smaller, but with all the plant's energy going to the new growth instead of making spring berries, that crop is much larger. Mowing it all prevents the pain (literally, those things have thorns) of proper pruning by hand, which in my experience gets neglected.

 

[dheltzel]

I wonder if I can transplant the raspberry new shoots that arise this spring...............or would it be better to transplant later...........??? I am thinking spring is better than hot summer or winter because they may not get their roots well established...............

I will google that too...............I could expand the raspberries!

yup, dig them as soon as you see them and get a substantial chunk of the roots and underground stem, you aren't going to hurt the mother plant. You can probably dig up a big plant from near the center of the patch and break it up into many individual shoots to plant. The surrounding plants will fill in the spot you dug from, or plant one of the shoots back in there for a replacement.