My first post here...
I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. It is not on any restricted or envasive species list. Unfortunately, there are no nurseries that can provide me with cultivars in the US.

To be honest, my main goal is to be able to make my own sloe gin. I did this year after year while I lived in the UK and its delightful stuff and a great gift during the holidays. Sloe gin from any shop in the US has no relation to the real thing.

I have a need for a garden hedgerow and I'd like to include sloes in its composition. Its location would serve as privacy, security, and decorative landscaping. I'd really like to cultivate this hedgerow from a number of different species in a strategic effort to yield a continuous change of colours through the course of a year. I'm hoping that members of this forum would know of a number of plants that could co-exist and work together to create a unique structure.

This thread is getting long but there are a lot of different aspects to this adventure and its quite likely that the answers that I'm looking for will come from little bits of information from many different people -- or not.

The primary information that I can't get here in the US is how to grow sloes. In the UK, such a thing is hardly worth asking because the stuff grows naturally and little effort is needed to acquire what is often considered to be a nuisence plant -- who would want the stuff? I've tried many different ways to germinate from seed with no success. Recently, I found a source in the UK who can ship me 13 to 18" cultivars and the cost of these seems reasonable. Should I pursue this? When would be the optimum time to start these? What is the best way to plant them -- soil preparation, spacing, care and feeding... Can anyone recommend a better place to ask these questions?

Googling on "Prunus spinosa US" gives this
where in the USA can you get black thorn berries (sloe berries)?
which seems to answer a lot of your questions, including a supplier in Oregon, which would save any problems over restrictions on import of plant material (I suppose it may have been you who asked the question in the first place!)

Here, I would plant young bare-rooted (ie supplied without a big ball of soil and a container) plants about 12 to 18 inches high in the dormant season, ie October to March. I'd expect 95+% of them to take without any further attention.

But - I've always planted them on a moisture-retentive clay soil. On a soil which becomes dry in the summer, they would benefit from watering during their first summer. I don't know whether you have any small mammals which like to chew bark - you might need to provide protection.

In article ,
wrnchbndr wrote:

I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have
been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false
starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I
believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than
anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according
to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. ...

No problem, but be warned that your climate is NOT the same. However,
sloes are not delicate plants ....

The primary information that I can't get here in the US is how to grow
sloes. In the UK, such a thing is hardly worth asking because the stuff
grows naturally and little effort is needed to acquire what is often
considered to be a nuisence plant -- who would want the stuff? I've
tried many different ways to germinate from seed with no success.

I suspect that, like many such plants, the seeds germinate erratically
over many years.

They tend to grow in poor, well-drained soils. A quick look at
distribution maps indicates that they won't like really hot,
dry summers, but that shouldn't be your problem. Like many other
plums, a late frost (i.e. when they are in flower) will destroy
the crop.

They will crop only in an informal hedge, as they fruit on old
wood (again, like other plums), but can be pruned to shape ad lib.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Bob Hobden wrote:

A normal mixed hedge in the UK would include... Hawthorn (Crataegus
monogyna), Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Hazel (Corylus avellana), Common
Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), Field Maple (Acer campestre) together with
an occasional crab apple, wild damson, wild cherry, elderberry etc.

And most importantly, bullace, black and gold.

Assuming it can be done legally (and there are a *LOT* of restrictions
on the importing of live vegetable matter, I could post any number of
sloe stones, or this year for that matter, any number of sloes - they're
growing like grapes this year.

If you keep the hedge thick, it can be cut. There's one local to me
which is kept trimmed, and from which I picked more than twenty pounds
of fruit two or three years ago.

--
Rusty

On Nov 14, 4:40*pm, wrnchbndr
wrote:
My first post here...
I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have
been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false
starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I
believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than
anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according
to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. It is
not on any restricted or envasive species list. Unfortunately, there are
no nurseries that can provide me with cultivars in the US.

To be honest, my main goal is to be able to make my own sloe gin. I did
this year after year while I lived in the UK and its delightful stuff
and a great gift during the holidays. Sloe gin from any shop in the US
has no relation to the real thing.

I have a need for a garden hedgerow and I'd like to include sloes in its
composition. Its location would serve as privacy, security, and
decorative landscaping. I'd really like to cultivate this hedgerow from
a number of different species in a strategic effort to yield a
continuous change of colours through the course of a year. I'm hoping
that members of this forum would know of a number of plants that could
co-exist and work together to create a unique structure.

This thread is getting long but there are a lot of different aspects to
this adventure and its quite likely that the answers that I'm looking
for will come from little bits of information from many different people
-- or not.

The primary information that I can't get here in the US is how to grow
sloes. In the UK, such a thing is hardly worth asking because the stuff
grows naturally and little effort is needed to acquire what is often
considered to be a nuisence plant -- who would want the stuff? I've
tried many different ways to germinate from seed with no success.
Recently, I found a source in the UK who can ship me 13 to 18" cultivars
and the cost of these seems reasonable. Should I pursue this? When would
be the optimum time to start these? What is the best way to plant them
-- soil preparation, spacing, care and feeding... Can anyone recommend a
better place to ask these questions?

--
wrnchbndr

Sloes are something you collect from the hedges. Have you no hedges in
Jersey? I have dozens of the damned things, they are a dangerous
weed, they seed everywhere, I think the birds must distribute them.
You may be sorry you imported them :-)

On 11/15/2010 07:22 AM, Rusty Hinge wrote:
Assuming it can be done legally (and there are a *LOT* of restrictions
on the importing of live vegetable matter

Yes, it is very onerous to import plants into the US. be very careful
that your source has the appropriate phytosanitary certification. I
believe they need to be sent with the roots washed. The bottom of this
page has some explanation of the problems involved.

http://www.esveld.nl/codes/engels/hven.htm

-E

On Nov 15, 12:54*pm, Janet wrote:
In article 20b3fd2b-f4ce-4e9f-b2c6-
, says...

Sloes are something you collect from the hedges.

* *Only blackthorn hedges.You won't collect any sloes from other hedges.

*Have you no hedges in

Jersey? *

The OP is in NEW Jersey.

Probably not; blackthorn and other hedges are a historic feature of
British land use, climate, and native plants, not US

* *Janet.

Jeez. Why is he posting here I wonder? There won't be much advice we
can give that's relevent.

On Nov 15, 1:51*pm, Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/15/2010 07:22 AM, Rusty Hinge wrote:

Assuming it can be done legally (and there are a *LOT* of restrictions
on the importing of live vegetable matter

Yes, it is very onerous to import plants into the US. *be very careful
that your source has the appropriate phytosanitary certification. *I
believe they need to be sent with the roots washed. *The bottom of this
page has some explanation of the problems involved.

http://www.esveld.nl/codes/engels/hven.htm

-E

You don't want to be importing this dangerous weed to the US.
Blackberries for example were taken to Australia. VERY bad move.
You have lots of European stuff over there which was a very bad idea,
from European grasses in the prairie to sparrows and starlings. We
have your blasted squirrels over here. Forget it.

"Judith in France" wrote in message.

Jeez. Why is he posting here I wonder? There won't be much advice we
can give that's relevent - -

There may be - some posters who have extensive knowledge (not me) have
lived in many parts of the World and can advise.


Yes --- and if you read his header post, he clearly explains why.

Pete

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.

harry wrote:

Sloes are something you collect from the hedges. Have you no hedges in
Jersey? I have dozens of the damned things, they are a dangerous
weed, they seed everywhere, I think the birds must distribute them.
You may be sorry you imported them :-)

You seem to have something against blackthorn. They do *NOT* seed
everywhe they can be worse than that though if you don't cut off the
suckers...

--
Rusty

harry wrote:
On Nov 15, 12:54 pm, Janet wrote:
In article 20b3fd2b-f4ce-4e9f-b2c6-
, says...

Sloes are something you collect from the hedges.
Only blackthorn hedges.You won't collect any sloes from other hedges.

Have you no hedges in

Jersey?
The OP is in NEW Jersey.

Probably not; blackthorn and other hedges are a historic feature of
British land use, climate, and native plants, not US

Janet.

Jeez. Why is he posting here I wonder? There won't be much advice we
can give that's relevent.

NJ's climate isn't that far off our - - - weather.

--
Rusty

"wrnchbndr" wrote in message
...

My first post here...
I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have
been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false
starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I
believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than
anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according
to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. It is
not on any restricted or envasive species list. Unfortunately, there are
no nurseries that can provide me with cultivars in the US.

To be honest, my main goal is to be able to make my own sloe gin. I did
this year after year while I lived in the UK and its delightful stuff
and a great gift during the holidays. Sloe gin from any shop in the US
has no relation to the real thing.

You wouldn't care to tell us how you make sloe gin, the husband of one of my
cousins used to do it, but sadly he has passed away so I can't ask him.

Alan

On 17/11/2010 21:32, alan.holmes wrote:
. uk wrote in message
...

My first post here...
I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have
been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false
starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I
believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than
anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according
to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. It is
not on any restricted or envasive species list. Unfortunately, there are
no nurseries that can provide me with cultivars in the US.

To be honest, my main goal is to be able to make my own sloe gin. I did
this year after year while I lived in the UK and its delightful stuff
and a great gift during the holidays. Sloe gin from any shop in the US
has no relation to the real thing.

You wouldn't care to tell us how you make sloe gin, the husband of one of my
cousins used to do it, but sadly he has passed away so I can't ask him.


I've made it a few times now. I also experimented by making sloe rum and
sloe vodka. Surprisingly the sloe rum turned out the best of the three.
None of the drinks tastes anything like the alcoholic drink it is based
on. I think maybe the rum one turned out best because it had the highest
alcohol content. Here is how I make them:

Take 8 ounces of fresh picked ripe sloes. Rinse them to remove any
detritus etc. Leave them in soak for half an hour. A few little grubs
might emerge from one or two of the sloes, just fish them out, don't
worry about trying to sort out the few sloes that may have little grub
holes in - they won't hurt you. Drain and dry the sloes by rolling them
on kitchen paper. Place into a freezer for a couple of days. The
freezing and subsequent thawing helps to break the pulp down so the
juices can percolate out better. I think it also helps to reduce the
bitterness of the sloes but I don't think that is necessarily an issue
for making sloe based drinks as making other sloe products such a sloe
cheese.

Take a 70 cl bottle of rum/gin/etc and empty the contents into a jug.
In the empty bottle carefully tip the 8 ounces of frozen sloes into the
bottle. Add 4 ounces of ordinary white granulated sugar. Now pour back
enough run/gin/etc to reach the bottom of the neck of the bottle.
Turn the bottle a few times to help the sugar to dissolve. The bottle
will get quite cold and damp as moisture condenses on it. When the
bottle has warned up again after a few hours dry it off and attach a
sticky label marking the contents and date.

Place the bottle in a dark cool place. Turn the bottle once each day for
a few weeks then once per week. Allow the bottle to stand for several
months before drinking. Ideally a year if you can wait that long. You
will notice that after the first few days that the colour of the drink
changes to pink then a deep red. Don't let daylight get to the bottle or
I think it will turn the colour from red to brown.

The drink is very nice. It baffles me how rum (which I detest) can
change into something so pleasant to drink.

Note: I think the high sugar content is necessary to help draw out the
juices from the sloes - they are key to putting the delicious flavour
into the drink.

After a year there will be some light sediment at the bottom of the
bottle along with the sloes. Carefully decant the sloe rum/gin into
another bottle. You can get the last part of the bottle by putting it
through a coffee filter paper which takes out any sediment.

You should have a red, clear, sweet and very potent liqueur. None of
your guests will guess what it is.


--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

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