Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:
...
Important note: The commercial hybrids that do well in Florida's
humidity do not go dormant during our mild winters and must be
defoliated chemically.

holy crap!

Yep; protective "space suit" required. Not only that but,
although, they technically are resistant to mildews, the plants still
receive frequent prophylactic sprayings with some type "mildew-be-gone"
stuff.
Not surprisingly, money's the motivation. In '02 and 03, I
participated in the day-to-day operation of two adjacent family berry
patch operations, located a short walk down the road from me, while they
concentrated on expanding their blueberry operations and diversifying
into blackberries. At that time, a well run berry farm could ==net
$20,000/acre in an approximately 3-week harvest.
It's premium fruit destined, primarily, for the Asian market. When
north Florida and south Georgia berries come in, beginn in late April or
early May, the market drops like a stone and those local growers who're
willing to buy the insurance (and who're willing to put their plants at
risk) open their gates to "pick'em your damn self".... Frankly, most
don't do that, judging the return not to be worth the risk; they just
hedge the plants as described and carry on.

the "pick your own" places up here do pretty well
though some do hire pickers for some of the season
so they can make pies, jams, fillings, ice-cream, etc.
one guy i talk to here or there says that it's very
hard for him to find people to pick.

the hours i spent picking in the past i can believe
him. this season is going to be pretty interesting
with the repeated hard freezes/frosts. i think the
one last night took out a lot of blooms here.


Yikes! Gotta go get some eggplants and peppers into the ground.
They're straining at their pots. Don't wanna ruin their cheery
dispositions, now, do I? I'm 'way behind this year. Just spending too
much time on this Internet thingie....

har!

planted second round of onion seeds,
watered and weeded yesterday, today looks
nice again so i'll be back out once it
warms up a little more.


songbird