Karen Murphy

Southern Indiana here, Orange county. Member of Indiana Nut and Fruit Growers Association. Would love to welcome all of you to come to our meetings. Not permie exactly of course, but you can meet people who graft and there is a scion wood swap at the March meeting, usually in Indianapolis. 4 meetings a year at various locations. I don't get on permies.com much, but message me if you would like more info and I'll try to remember to check back here once in a while.

Thank you so much for those photos, really beautiful. You are certainly a very good ambassador for Siberia. You are right, when most people think of Siberia, we think of someplace very cold and forbiding. You have shown us that it is beautiful and productive. I am a member of Indiana Nut Growers Association and one of our members has traveled twice to Russia to different plant research stations. He was there just a couple of years ago and shared with us his experiences there.

If you are worried about his spraying, I would not plant any edibles as your hedge. Since he likes a formal look, I would go with an evergreen hedge such as boxwood if it will grow in your area. He still gets a nice view, it won't infringe on his property and you get a barrier. I see no point in aggrevating a neighbor, and if you work with him, perhaps he will see what things you are planting and will eventually 'see the light'.

People, please, research things a little. I know that not everyone grew up on a farm and has knowlege of these things. Many don't even understand what a hybrid is, and get all bent out of shape over utter nonsense. This grass is not GMO. It did not suddenly 'mutate' into some killing machine. Please. Drought stressed, or mechanically injured, or frosted, grasses of other types can produce cyanide which can kill livestock. So can wild cherry leaves. Or green potatoes, or lots of other things. It is mind blowing to me how many people have jumped on this without knowing a few basic facts. Livestock loss from this type of thing is nothing new, and has nothing to do with being a 'natural' vs 'hybrid' vs 'gmo'. There is so much mis-information going on in many different areas that it is getting disheartening.

I don't have the time to go into the whole hybrid/GMO question, but the short answer is, you are safe. Bad news, Lon Rombough recently passed away. Go to his website anyway, there is a lot of good info there. Just be aware that you can't order cuttings there, which is a shame. I got cuttings from him last year and was planning to order more. He also wrote a book on grape growing, and it is still available from the website, though you can buy it other places too. His son was going to try to fulfill the book orders, but I don't know about the status of that. Another good source of info is the North American Fruit Explorers. Many states also have fruit and nut growers associations that are wonderful sources of local info. In Indiana we have a wonderful group of people who are very knowledgeable and generous, and in March we have a scion swap where you can get many varieties that other memebers have donated. Many internet forums such as this are nice as far as they go, but to get the most reliable info, find someone local to you.