Scott Billups

Has never robustly fruited before. Last year was the first time I saw even small fruit. All shriveled.

These are wild cherries, so I don't know what to expect. I hear these wild cherries will commonly come in small, but at least healthy fruit.

Blooms were sparse, and only at the tips of the branches.

Leaf growth is strong. It's putting on new branches and leaves like a champ. The soil around the roots is covered with a riot of diverse and healthy green plants. I expect the soil life to be robust, so I expect the cherry should have lots of access to sugar and micro-nutrients.

Hello Everyone,

I have 4x Black Cherry trees, all are volunteer trees!, about 5-years old.

I am in U.S. Zone 5B, New Wngland, zip code 01072

The soil started as a construction site (sand, clay, silt, but no carbon and no bio-life) 5 years ago. Over 5-years, lots of succession plants, the soil is looking much darker / healthier / and alive.

Every year, the Cherry Trees bloom. I see polinators visiting the trees.

Later in the season (end-July), I see tiny fruit, but I ALSO see a lot of dead, black, shriviled, failed cherries.

I ALSO see failed leaves, at the tips of these branches, right next to the failed cherries.



Is this still just bad soil?

Do I have a pest problem? Fungus?



Thanks for your help.

I don't see any reviews of the Dragon Heater cores.

https://www.dragonheaters.com/j-tube-rocket-heater-cores/

Does anyone have experience with these pre-made cores?

Are they good, bad, mixed?

Thanks.

I do it all the time here in Western Ma.

While the wet clothes are also warm, I put them outside on the line. The ice-cold air is also very dry, so while the water in the clothes is still liquid, it evaporates quickly.

Once the water in the clothes freezes, the rate of evaporation plummets. It'll stay that (whatever it is) level of frozen water in the clothes for a long while.

I typically bring my clothes back inside to thaw, and if needed, put them back out to dry more.

Sometimes, the second trip outside isn't needed (close enough to dry to leave inside to finish).

If the back-n-forth doesn't appeal to you, you can leave them outside in the cold. The sun hitting frozen clothes creates microclimate that melt & evaporate the water in the clothes, very slowly (a day or so).

Yes, freeze-drying laundry works!

I'm not sure where else to post this, but I came across a free webinar I think many people will be interested in.


Webinar: Farming for Biodiversity: Designing Pollination Systems to Sustain Native Wildlife

https://www.nofamass.org/events/webinar-farming-biodiversity-designing-pollination-systems-sustain-native-wildlife

FREE  --  28-Jan-2020



The instructor is based in the Northeastern United States, in Massachusetts, and I am sure the class will be geared towards that ecosystem.

Hello All,

Thanks for your feedback.

Definition clarification:
I believe a berm is when I add mound of material (drop a tree, add strawbales, and pile-on some soil. No digging of a ditch/trench.
A swale is when I dig a channel/ditch/trench, and make a pile of soil on the downhill-side, to collect surface-running water, stop it, and let it sink in to the soil.

Do berms (adding material only) diver sub-surface water movement in the soil?




Here is a sketch of my situation:
Water is flowing down a gentle slope.
All water is sub-surface (water movement is in the soil).
The water pools on my driveway, freezes in the Winter, and makes the driveway hazardous.
The water also flows right at my house (basement), and I'd like to divert that.


What I want to do is drop a few trees, pile-up some straw bales, and add some covering dirt (make a mound, potential Huglemound)
Let the mound divert the water away from my driveway, and away from my house (basement).

Do berms (adding material only) diver sub-surface water movement in the soil?



The photos show how the water has flowed on to my driveway (in the rocks), and frozen. The flow is sufficient to cover the rocks and make it slippery.

Is there any guidance on when NOT to use swales?

My situation:
1) I live on 6-acres of forest, on an 8% slope hillside.
2) My soil is 3in of tree-droppings (loam), + 3in of black soil, + all the glacial till you could ever want (sand, rock, & clay)

My problem:
I have water running down the hill, through the loam and soil layer (not over-surface), ending-up on my driveway. In the winter, that water freezes and turns my driveway into an ice-rink. Also, this water is running towards my house, and my foundation drainage system is having to work to keep my foundation dry. I would like to divert the under-surface water flow.


Question:
1) Do swales divert under-surface water flow? Or do they only divert over-surface flows?
2) When making a swale, do I need to dig & displace the loam & soil to make a trench, or can I just build-up more soil (drop a tree, and add soil or strawbales) to do the same job?

I looked, but I didn’t see my question in any other forum.

Thank you all!

-Scott