Stump the Meteorologist

I got a chance to watch the Oz farm tour last night. That's quite a project! It's completely opposite of here. We have limited sun but unlimited water, you live in a frying pan. 

I'm curious where you got your cranberry vines. A few years ago I met a guy who was trying to grow cranberries commercially down under, but I haven't heard anything of him since.

Planting cranberries is a bit like planting an apple orchard. The plants can take 4 or 5 years to get established, but will produce berries for ever. Our oldest bog was planted about 100 years ago, but some bogs back in Massachusetts have been being harvested since well before the American Revolution (when Englishmen didn't even know there was and Ozhobbitland). So when you choose a location to plant them, think about someplace where they won't need to be disturbed for a few years.

When we used to plant new bogs by hand, the plan was to draw lines on the ground 6 inches apart to make a checkerboard, and plant a plug of 3 or 4 vines in each square. If the y grow well, in a couple years they will cover completely over the ground in a thick mat which holds dampness under the top canopy like the micro-climate you find within a forest.

Here's a closeup picture of some of our cranberry vines in bloom. You'll notice that it's impossible to tell where one plant stops and the next starts. That's the miniature "jungle" they like to make for themselves.

Good luck!

they look like mini fuchsias

They are lovely to look at & they look like they should have a perfume, the colour is nice, like cyclamen. I love cranberries, I eat bucket loads, on cereal, porridge, yoghurt, out of a bag even 

They do look nice, Dave, but you probably tell that I'm the uber practical type in all things edible (after a fashion). I want fruit! 5 years! Do you know how old I am? Almost as old as Mrs Figg.   

I'll try the bath idea I think, but plant more than Ive got now.

Do your bogs ever dry out completely?

Is that part of the process?

Or do you keep their roots wet all the time?

As to where I got them from - from Bunnings. And weren't cheap!

If I kept them in a sealed bath, would the water undergrown become stagnate after time?

And what would I fertilize with and how often?

And as to my competiton - the guy you mentioned has obviously gone missing. I know nothing.

Orwell wrote:They do look nice, Dave, but you probably tell that I'm the uber practical type in all things edible (after a fashion). I want fruit! 5 years! Do you know how old I am? Almost as old as Mrs Figg.   

I'll try the bath idea I think, but plant more than Ive got now.

Do your bogs ever dry out completely?

Never completely. It's always at least a little damp to the touch, and sometimes almost soggy. We grow in the native peat soil which wicks up the water from below with a little help from sprinklers at the driest times, but many growers grow in sand and manage their water more actively.

Is that part of the process?

No.
If the roots dry out, the plant sort of goes into shock and stops growing for that season. Speaking of which, do you have seasons? That could be important.

Or do you keep their roots wet all the time?

Yes.

If I kept them in a sealed bath, would the water undergrown become stagnate after time?

I'd guess not immediately, but I'd thing you'd need some circulation to the water, possibly aeration. Bear in mind we get about 3 meters of rain. I'm guessing you're somewhat less than that.

And what would I fertilize with and how often?

Using an organic soil if you can find it, like peat or compost will be a big help. Add nitrogen at times of growth, but not too much or the leaves will start to turn red and the plant will go into a coma. Potassium at somewhat less than nitrogen, the balance is more important than the actual amount. Phosphate at maybe half the nitrogen rate or less.  Micro-nutrients such as sulfur and boron depending on your specific soil and compost content.  Those are just some general guidelines.  I can't even guess rates, because everything is so different there. Try feeding them like something you know and just watch carefully for the very first sign of leaves turning red. Then STOP!

 

I guess I'll have to go wifi poaching again soon....

You'll notice I'm always one step ahead, Halfy. You must wait in pregnant anticipation for Cranberry Bath Two. Though it may need to be called "Big Pot in A Cooler Part of the Garden One" after discussing it with my Missus.  Gawd I  hate how practical she is at times! She just said to tell you she's the dream squasher in our family.   {{{  }}}

{{{I don't dare suggest she pose nude on the next vid to help get a ratings boost on Youtube... however practical I think the idea is!  }}}

well it is 41c I am surprised you all aint starkers anyway.

Mrs Figg wrote:well it is 41c I am surprised you all aint starkers anyway.

My Missus has forbidden me going nude - something about scaring the chickens - but I don't see why she shouldn't disrobe. I quite like her nude. And if you've got it why not flaunt it, I say? - and why not internationally if so? Amazingly, she forbids me from filming her in all her glory - whether openly or sneakily. She predicts a sad and very painful life-changing personal event would occur if I did so - something involving a rather sharp carving knife... As to me standing in as her international surrogate --- possibilty utilizing false boobies --- --- Well, she said that would be unduly cruel to my friends in Forumshire --- and anywhere else... She is a practical person and so I must defer to her wisdom on this -- especially as she is an experienced Food Technology teacher --- and chillingly deft with knives of all descriptions...

halfwise wrote:That sent tingles up and down my spine: shades of the Blair Witch Project.  That black pot symbolizes something sinister, doesn't it?

Is it really 41 C?  At that temp any pics you take are probably close enough to voyeurism as to make no difference.

I am video-poet and of course have absolutely no idea what affect my work will have on viewers.  

I also have no idea what you're talking about in your second comment, but I am aware you are American and, therefore, naturally peculiar.   

Oh dear... you have conjured up unbidden images, Halfy... oooooooooh dear.....

OK, I've checked out the Ozzy-cam report. I think the cranberries might enjoy hanging out with the strawberries. We have wild strawberries that sometimes try to party-crash the cranberry bogs (we yank them out mercilessly by the roots). How damp is the soil? You might not even need a black pot. If you bury the cranberry plants deep (or long i.e. in a shallow trench) so that only a couple or three inches are sticking out, all the vine that got buried and feels moist ground will put out new roots. In your climate you'll want a lot more roots underground hunting for water than leaves above ground sweating it off, just to maintain some kind of balance.

I'll be gone for a bit, but please keep me posted.

{{{{This is all just so WRONG!!!!    }}}}

So says a man (if he can truly be called a man) in a red long john body hugging suit and a green hat with a rather flirtatious feather!   

Thanks Dave. Maybe they will go into that strawberry bath after all - and to hell with the viewing pipe! I'll just water ém a lot! And leave a strawberry plant or two. Might even be a newly discovered Companion Growing situation - sighted in nature but not yet lighted on properly by the farming community . Oh well, I'll try anything once. {{{Some things twice with the right woman (or man); some things being so wrong they're worth trying twice (apparently)   }}}.

Can you grow suspiciously shaped cranberries in a bathtub? I bet Dave can.   

I've suddenly got this mental image of Cranberry Dave in a bath tub!   

With cranberries over him?- sort of like that famous still from American Beauty with the schoolgirl and the rose petals? Only hairier, older, and with cranberries.

 Exactly...

I hadnt thought of that, until you mentioned it!   

Its Orwells fault! He thought of it first and now we are all thinking about it!