I don’t believe that the frost will ever come early enough here to coincide with picking my sloes. The plants are thriving but the schedule of seasons is different. The fact that they are growing fast and self propagating tells me that they enjoy New Jersey but it might be that they don’t want or need to give me a lot of fruit. I’m not a gardener but I’m eager to learn and put a little effort into this pursuit. Neem oil worked great for the aphids following the instructions on the bottle. I know that I’m cultivating something that is akin to a very large weed for most but it’s something special to me and I appreciate all of the help I can get.
OK, maybe I should revise that to 90% sure it’s lack of water at the critical time!
We get violent rainstorms throughout summer too, so it would seem we have had enough water, but we’ve also had some short-lived but intense heatwaves and if I dig down six inches the soil is dry as dust. Even the berries in the hedgerows are pretty shrivelled this year and as for the ones on open land.. This is definitely lack of water!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Wow. Your sloes look just like my sloes - hmmm. You describe exactly the rain situation here. Lots and lots of water but with a few long intervals between the storms. Very encouraging. So once the fruit is damaged by lack of water, it continues to hang but is destined to be defective - it just isn’t obvious at the time. Next year I’ll contrive a watering schedule. Except for when I planted, I have never watered my sloes - the plants have alway seemed happy. I have a plan.
Well I think that’s the cause then and eminently solvable with additional water as soon as you see the berries swelling. A good tip is popping bags of the berries in the freezer for a week, that works the same as frost by intensifying the flavour. Best of luck for next year 😊
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I have two full pints of sloes in the freezer now. Jam will need to wait until next year. Washing and putting the sloes in the freezer wet assists in breaking the skins so you don’t need to prick each one. The story goes that you should prick each one with a silver needle but I’ve never tried that - maybe I should.
I think the fact that you say the soil is poorer and quite free draining is also a big factor. If that's coupled with lack of moisture at the appropriate time, that won't help. If you can keep improving that soil structure with added compost, rotted manure etc, that will help with retaining it. Having the clay further down is useful, but not if it isn't in good condition, so the organic additions will help with that. I've never had a problem with aphids on them, but we don't get a lot anyway, as I don't grow lots of susceptible planting that attracts them. The sweet peas get some, and this year it was very humid and damp in August, so I've had an infestation recently. That's not the case most years. I don't get problems at all with the blackthorn. As I said, I'm currently removing mine, and cut off the last of the trunks last week. The main framework will stay for the climbers that are replacing it. There were loads of healthy sloes. Sorry! I expect the birds will take them. They're no use to me as I don't drink. I used to give them to my sister. I still have a couple of pieces in one corner of the back garden. I can't really access that, so I don't know if there's sloes on those.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I’m growing sloes solely for the homemade sloe gin which is well received at Christmas. Making it is simple and foolproof but it’s something very unique that cannot be purchased at a liquor store. I pass a bottle over the fence to my neighbor and it buys me forgiveness for not keeping my grass cut as often as I should and the sound of my motorcycle when I come home at night. I started making sloe gin many years ago when I lived in Norwich. I miss many things about UK and came very close to retiring there.
Hello @Wrenchbender 😊 so you’re a former neighbour of ours … which bit of Norwich? We’re the near the marshes and not far from the UEA. Very good sloes around here. No wonder you miss them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I wish you well with it all @Wrenchbender. If you're having some bother with pests etc, that can often happen when plants are stressed, so it might just be the general conditions. You can put some photos on too as that can often help with ideas and advice.
Hopefully, a bit of extra help with the soil will see an improvement in future. You can't change how your climate works, so it's often about trying to work with it, and amend a few things to get the result you want. The soil is, by far, the most important thing to look at. If it's in good condition, the plants will be able to cope better with periods of drought, or the opposite situation with long periods of wet weather.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I was a young man back then and lived with my girlfriend near the city center in her flat and commuted to RAF Lakenheath every day. Mousehold Heath had a great sledding trail. I checked out maps on my iPad and could not remember our address. It’ll pop in my head one of these days. You could drive fast on the A11 if you left early in the morning. It was worth living away from the military base as the town of Brandon had long ago become fed up with the yanks. Away from the military base the people were wonderful. Maybe I was escaping my own countrymen. I learned to holiday every year in Spain or the Greek islands. We eventually purchased a house in Thetford near the priory but they reposted me a year later. I tried my best to negotiate a reassignment back to your wonderful island but ended up stuck in New Jersey for the last 12 years of my career. I brew a good ale and have taught myself to make fairly decent Indian food. We do not have huge spring rolls or anything like a good donor kebab to pick up after the pub. Even the fast food in the UK was real food.
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We get violent rainstorms throughout summer too, so it would seem we have had enough water, but we’ve also had some short-lived but intense heatwaves and if I dig down six inches the soil is dry as dust. Even the berries in the hedgerows are pretty shrivelled this year and as for the ones on open land.. This is definitely lack of water!
I've never had a problem with aphids on them, but we don't get a lot anyway, as I don't grow lots of susceptible planting that attracts them. The sweet peas get some, and this year it was very humid and damp in August, so I've had an infestation recently. That's not the case most years. I don't get problems at all with the blackthorn.
As I said, I'm currently removing mine, and cut off the last of the trunks last week. The main framework will stay for the climbers that are replacing it. There were loads of healthy sloes. Sorry! I expect the birds will take them. They're no use to me as I don't drink. I used to give them to my sister.
I still have a couple of pieces in one corner of the back garden. I can't really access that, so I don't know if there's sloes on those.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hopefully, a bit of extra help with the soil will see an improvement in future. You can't change how your climate works, so it's often about trying to work with it, and amend a few things to get the result you want. The soil is, by far, the most important thing to look at. If it's in good condition, the plants will be able to cope better with periods of drought, or the opposite situation with long periods of wet weather.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...