On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 22:35:09 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

bluechick wrote:

We had lots of rain early in the spring when the plants were flowering
but then went into a dry spell, then we thought we might need to build
an arc. It's been literally feast or famine where rain is
concerned. We've had very little rain the last two weeks but had a
sprinkle today. I was afraid this would be like last year when so
many berries dried up on the canes. Even with the uneven rains this
has been a much better year.

We've had a lot of rain here , and it's been fairly well spaced out to
benefit the plants - my garden has exploded . The sorta-cultivated wild
blackberries here are loaded , though for some reason the berries are small
. Blueberries are apparently being snatched by wildlife as quickly as they
ripen , because I sure as hall ain't gettin' any . I need to check the
muscadines , but if anywhere near 50% of the flowers make fruit we'll be
almost literally knee deep in fruit . I was out in the woods today marking
trees for firewood easier to tell the dead ones this time of year and I
don't think you can go anywhere this side of the creek and not have
muscadine vines in sight .

We sorta cultivated some of our blackberries too, the ones near the
garden and they've benefited from runoff from the garden. They are
very plump and we have to pick them every day. I don't know why more
birds and other wildlife aren't getting more of the blackberries but
they're stealing our blueberries every chance they get. We did
get bird netting but too late, I'm afraid.

I wonder why your blackberries are small? That usually means they
haven't had enough rain, as far as I know. Are they sweet? Ours were
small and tart last year but are plump and sweet this year. I wonder
if all the ran we got when the flowers were blooming and when the
fruit was first developing made a difference in the sweetness.

We have several muscadine vines here and many have tiny grapes but the
wildlife can have them. I grew up with a big muscadine arbor out the
back door and I think I had my permanent fill of them back then.
We've asked the neighbors to pick the muscadines when they get ripe
but I think it will be like the blackberry situation: they want
someone else to do the pickin'. I hope you have great luck with your
muscadines. Maybe the wildlife will see the error of their ways with
the blueberries and will share the grapes.