Author Topic: Somebody pinch me (Read 1034 times)

mike_belben · « **on:** July 03, 2020, 12:10:33 AM »

Either I'm dreaming, or i found one wild blueberry along the fenceline out in my woods this afternoon. Let me down easy if its some sinister prank. I never heard of a tennessee blueberry.

btulloh · « **Reply #1 on:** July 03, 2020, 07:30:20 AM »

Welllllllllllllllllllllllll . . . it doesn't look like like the blueberries I'm familiar with. I'll await further news from blueberry experts.

Sounds like you'd really like to have some blueberries. Seems to me they'd grow there if you planted some.

WDH · « **Reply #2 on:** July 03, 2020, 07:31:56 AM »

Vaccinium corymbosum. High bush blueberry. It is native to Tennessee.

btulloh · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2020, 08:31:09 AM »

Very cool. They look like they'd be easier and more convenient to pick than the low-growing ones we have here. Berries are bigger too. Nice.

As always, the FF is an educational experience. Thanks Danny.

mike_belben · « **Reply #4 on:** July 03, 2020, 09:53:46 AM »

Thats me racing off to go water them!

mike_belben · « **Reply #5 on:** July 03, 2020, 11:58:09 AM »

So i went and put some wire fence scraps around the one shrub pictured then poked around back in the bush for an hour looking for more of my new friends.

There are hundreds of young starts in the dense understory of an area i select cut and then coppiced a few times for the deer. Some have fruit at just ankle high and 2 others are waist high and quite bushy with no fruit or flowers, so ive got some learning to do now. Certainly changes my plans for that spot.

I also have wild grapes setting fruit and blackberries galore.

Banjo picker · « **Reply #6 on:** July 03, 2020, 02:51:43 PM »

WDH. Is that what we call huckleberries here in Miss? Banjo

Don P · « **Reply #7 on:** July 03, 2020, 06:03:13 PM »

I think of a huckleberry as a western berry but common names can be anything. We're right above the line where btulloh's rabbiteye blueberries won't make it so we have a row of domestic highbush berries of several kinds, If you do add more do that Mike, it'll give you a longer berry season.

They occur native here especially on the balds, the late fall already dropped their leaves, the shrubs front left and back by the wild pony are highbush berries. The ponies will come share your bucket if you set it down

. A friend was picking one side of a bush up there and heard a rustling on the other side of the bush, walked around to see who it was and decided the bear could have that bush.

WDH · « **Reply #8 on:** July 03, 2020, 08:05:52 PM »

Tim, same genus but I believe a different species but very similar.

nativewolf · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2020, 08:09:12 PM »

Quote from: Don P on July 03, 2020, 06:03:13 PM

I think of a huckleberry as a western berry but common names can be anything. We're right above the line where btulloh's rabbiteye blueberries won't make it so we have a row of domestic highbush berries of several kinds, If you do add more do that Mike, it'll give you a longer berry season.

They occur native here especially on the balds, the late fall already dropped their leaves, the shrubs front left and back by the wild pony are highbush berries. The ponies will come share your bucket if you set it down . A friend was picking one side of a bush up there and heard a rustling on the other side of the bush, walked around to see who it was and decided the bear could have that bush.

(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

Hey are the berries getting ripe on Mt Rogers yet?

Don P · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2020, 08:13:32 PM »

We're in berries but it'll be August up there. I tease some friends over there, that's Canada

Banjo picker · « **Reply #11 on:** July 03, 2020, 08:16:50 PM »

Quote from: WDH on July 03, 2020, 08:05:52 PM

Tim, same genus but I believe a different species but very similar.

Deer usually gets the ones around here...maybe squirrels too. Tim

Roxie · « **Reply #12 on:** July 04, 2020, 03:04:42 AM »

That is an awesome find Mike!

mike_belben · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2020, 01:26:47 PM »

Thanks roxie i am excited!

The kids and i went along on a hike with some other folks to a lake in the woods for a swim yesterday. Now that i have an eye for it, this same berry bush was EVERYWHERE, hundreds, maybe thousands of starts along a mile walk. in one section the trail wound between trees of blueberry. 10ft tall, 4" trunks and tiny fruit all over.

The mountain laurels always seem to be nearby and im assuming its that they like similar PH and soil type. I tested my soil yesterday at 6.8 so i think that explains the poor production and growth. I watered and fertilized some berries and grapes. will start putting coffee grounds around them to acidify.

I have about 8 dumptruck loads of chip and char from a charcoal gassifyer plant that my friend cleans out. Ive composted it and its now very loose, granulated and sandy from all the sand that sticks to log bark. PH is 6.0. My normal compost from grass, sawdust and food runs right at 7. I will see about adding sulfer to the char and establishing a blueberry orchard from transplants here in the yard. Blueberry wants to be down in the 5s for PH with full sun and good drainage in sandy loam.

Heres some of the grapes from my land, im hoping theyre a muscadine but havent looked at the seed yet. The ones next to the creek are large, up the hill 15yds theyre tiny so im guessing moisture is the issue.

And the biggest canker i ever saw, goes 3/4 around. Atleast a 45" DBH tree, this is 15 to 20 ft up.

WV Sawmiller · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2020, 12:00:45 PM »

The grapes in the top picture may be muscadines (Scuppernogs are cultivated ones) but the ones/cluster in the bottom are grapes. We used to call them fox grapes or possum grapes or such. There are many different species of them.

I grew up in N. Fla and we had huckleberries that got ripe in May and Blueberries got ripe in June. The huckleberries had a smaller seed and were smaller and much sweeter. 1/4" was a big huckleberry while a half inch blueberry was common. We had some gravel pits I used to fish in and bare sand around them. We'd find a big old gnarly blueberry bush as big around as your arm loaded with blueberries that you could pull up with one hand growing in the loose sand. I assume the high water table fed them as no nutrients in that sand. We also had one we called a winter huckleberry which had no flavor at all but birds and such liked them and the deer browsed the leaves and ate the berries and tips regularly.

mike_belben · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2020, 12:25:55 AM »

Thanks howard.

My understanding is scuppernongs are the wild grape of cape fear NC region thats become a domesticated winery production crop. I cut one of the bigger ones open but havent taken any time to ID it yet.

I have an IBC rainwater tote that i put into a small trailer i built, and hooked up a hose. Ive been watering the blackberries, and will start doing the blueberries and grapes with it next dry spell. I will idle the tractor along while the boy walks the hose. Everything is basically growing along my woodlot skid trail anyway so its pretty convenient.

While picking blackberries ive discovered several blueberry bushes at 6ft tall that arent really producing berries. Challenge accepted.

We ate some tiny ripe ones today and theyre delicious so it'll be a rewarding effort i think. Ive got killer blackberries too.

Roxie · « **Reply #16 on:** July 08, 2020, 05:47:48 AM »

Good thing I don’t live close by you, cause I would fight you for the blackberries.

mike_belben · « **Reply #17 on:** July 10, 2020, 08:22:08 AM »

Anyone recognize this one? Taken at a mountaintop rock quarry in dunlap TN. Probably 2000ft elev.

WDH · « **Reply #18 on:** July 10, 2020, 08:38:22 PM »

Ligustrum sinense. Chinese privet. Very invasive.

Banjo picker · « **Reply #19 on:** July 10, 2020, 09:13:24 PM »

Them possum grapes need a frost before you eat them if I remember right. Banjo

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Author Topic: Somebody pinch me (Read 1034 times)

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