Nick Shepherd

Last year I grew murasaki and stokes purple, both kept over 9 months.

Wild fruits are at the top of the list of favorites...persimmons and muscadines are amazing and well adapted to the weather fluctuations here.

What cultivars of muscadies do you grow?  I live in SE Missouri and have been unable to find a cultivar that will survive the winter.  They die to the ground then come back but fail to fruit.  I did purchase the two new University of Arkansas varieties to be delivered next spring, hopefully those will work.

Don't know if this is the right place to post this.
I have quite a bit of comfrey, would it be worthwhile to harvest a lot of it now, before a frost, and make tea.  Allowing it to ferment outside over the winter to be used next spring.  I'm in zone 7a so it would probably freeze, maybe solid for a short period, but most of the winter it would be liquid.  It wouldn't ferment much, if at all, at the cold temps but maybe startup early next spring in time to use it for transplants and seedlings.
Or would it be better to just chop and drop. add to fall leaves or just leave it instead of removing the leaves this late.

I have an american persimmon sprout growing in my yard, pretty little tree about 4' tall and it has 4 nearly horizontal well spaced scaffolds.  I was planning on grafting 4 or 5 scions onto this tree next spring but was wondering if scion orientation, horizontal vs vertical, will have any bearing on success.  I could probably bend the scaffolds to more vertically if I start now if it matters.  Would removing the central leader increase chance of success on the scaffolds?  All the persimmon grafts I have done were vertical, either central leader to upright limbs.

I have a question.  Every year I rake the leaves, mulch them with a mower,  wet them, pile them and allow to cold compost for.a year, then move the composted leaves to around my fruit trees.   How much would I loose if I just put the mulched leaves around my trees and skipped the composting for a year.  I am getting older and lazy, I would like to skip the second time I have to move them.  I realize it's better to allow them to compost for a year but when I move them I break up all those nice fungal hyphae.  How much is lost if I just compost in place, rake back mulch, apply leaves then replace mulch.

May Lotito wrote:I don't have elder on my property but they are abundant in the wild. I have seen people foraging by the road side ditch. Does anyone in the ozarks know how do the native elderberries compared to the named varieties?

In general I think the named varieties I grow are larger and the chymes ripen more evenly than the wild ones growing near my place. That said, most if not all named varieties are just variants that were collected and propagated from the wild.  The next new variety may be growing by your road side.

My elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) seemed to be declining in yield over the years, despite selective pruning.   I had read several places that they could be pruned to ground level and they would still produce a crop so in mid Feb 2024 I cut everything down to the ground.  They regrew vigorously but Yield for 2024 was essentially zero. This year I have a bumper crop.  I would caution someone considering this to not cut everything to the ground unless you are willing to lose the year.  I will probably prune to the ground again, maybe every 3-4 years but will only do 1/3-1/4 of my bushes every year.

Anybody use a dedicated garbage disposal?

thank you, that is exactly the info I was looking for.

I bench grafted 15 apple trees on EMLA-1111 and two pears on OF H87.  I did W&T grafts and the height varies from 3-4" to 12-14" above the roots, wherever the diameters matched.  I have read that EMLA111 grafts should be close to the ground, can I just plant the higher grafted trees deeper to achieve this, or will the 12-14" above ground be a problem?  
I currently have them planted in a "nursery" at the same depth that the rootstock was growing at,  with grafts anywhere from 3-14" above the soil, planning on moving this fall, will that be to late to plant deeper?
How about the pears, same questions, they both were grafted fairly high.