shift trellis action

Here's a shot of the completed trellis system on the blackberries at New Dawn.  The first 4x4 posts were set in early November '12 and the last wires were pulled two months later.  I gotta give a big shout out to Chad Melvin, Jose Varela and Ian Maynard for their hard work helping me get this built.  The trellis is a LARS (Limited-Arm Rotating System) trellis developed by Herb Stiles from Va Tech University. 

Beautiful Fall color!

Look at the color contrast between the burgandy foliage on these young southern highbush blueberry plants and the winter weeds in the row middles. 

Blueberry plants have such gorgeous Fall color giving them a real ornamental value in any setting.

Heavy frost in late November '12!  Temps were in the mid 20's.  Blueberries really benefit from late Fall and Winter chill.  Any time below 45 degrees constitutes a 'chill hour' and it is an important factor in healthy blooming/fruitset in the Spring.

See how the frost accumulated more heavily on the western side (shade side) of the row.  It looks like snow it's so thick!

This closeup shows ice crystals on the bark mulch at least 1/4" long.  Amazing!

Late summer blueberry growth

The blueberry plants have put on a lot of new growth this season and are now generating flower buds for next summer's crop. 

Mechanical tiller insead of herbicide

Here's a closer view of the tiller keeping the blueberry middles neat and clean.

weeding the blueberry middles

Here comes the tractor down one of many blueberry middles, doing its bi-weekly job of weed and grass control.  No damaging herbicides are used on the farm here at New Dawn.  Instead, we use shallow tillage to keep invasive grasses and weeds in check.

the symbiotic circle

The 'Apache' blackberry plants have been in the ground now for only four months, but they are already establishing an interconnected system of thornless vines which are known as 'primocanes'.  These primocanes in Sept. '12 will flower in the Spring of 2013 and be transformed into what is known as 'floricanes'.  The flowers in May '13 will be pollinated by bees to produce berries in June.  The symbiosis between plant itself (primo-to-flori), insect and fruit is one of the main reasons why I farm organically.  This balance between each relationship is truely miraculous and makes me feel fortunate just to be a small part of it.