On 15/11/2010 20:48, wrnchbndr wrote:
Thank you everyone for such great information. At my location, the
weather has been completely unpredicatable but tends to be a bit milder
than most of northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- think, upper East
Anglia but with summer humidity and more snow but no terribly low
temperatures. We are in a small microclimate here because of the
Deleware river. A very light frost was seen about a week ago. We
probably won't see snow until the first week of January. My soil is
mostly clay but the location for the sloes is very well drained and my
property is elevated from the surrounding area. There used to be a
couple of cherry trees nearby. I have been in touch with the company in
Oregon and last year they didn't have sloes -- they admit that Prunus
Spinosa is hit or miss. I will get in touch with the NJ Dept of
Enviromental Protection to be sure that I don't break any laws.

It may well be easier to find the right plant US "common" name and buy
it in the USA. I suspect your problem finding it is due having another
name on your side of the pond. A similar but slightly larger wild sour
plum in Japan is called ume (and again is used to flavour drinks).

I take it you are well aware that sloe bushes are rather spiny and a bit
rampant. It is used as a stock proof hedge where I live in North
Yorkshire and is hardy to at least -10C in our soggy wet winters. The
sloes are only worth harvesting after they have been frosted. Sloe gin
is good and aromatic but looks like pink paraffin in the early stages.

Regards,
Martin Brown