Aronia Planting Guide Part VI - Pruning, Pest, Landscaping, Harvesting, and Yields

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Pruning

After establishment, the oldest stems should be pruned to ground in late dormant season. Restrict bush height & increase bushiness by cutting back upright stems.

After berries have dropped or been harvested prune to shape the plant. Pruning the Aronia plants while the plants are young will also encourage branching. The best time to prune is in the late winter or spring before growth starts. By pruning in the early spring just before growth starts. This means there is only a short time before new growth begins and for the wound sealing process to take place. It does not seriously harm plants in the long run to cut plants back so that they may produce a dense growth of new shoots This is called "pollarding". As the plants grow larger prune to thin the plant so all parts of the plant receive sunlight.

Pest

Japanese beetles and other insect pests generally will leave the aronia plants alone. Blueberry Croft farm and nursery has not had problems with Japanese beetles.

For long-term pest management, a good defense against Japanese beetle involves improving the soil in your property so that the beneficial micro organisms that live there are active and numerous. The micro organisms eat Japanese beetle eggs under the grass in around plant roots. Mulching and using aerated compost tea made using worm casting is a good approach to improving your soil and the number of beneficial micro organisms in the soil.

Aronia berries are more resistant to microbial invasion than other fruits.

Aronia berries will provide food for deer; rabbits and songbirds in the fall after the berries are fully ripe if left unpicked. Before they are fully ripe they are so bitter that songbirds will avoid them.

In summary the major pest are as follows

DeerRabbitsSongbirds (in the fall after fruit is ripe)Japanese beetles (usually not a problem)A few maggots from Spotted Wing Drosphila have found in a few berries in some sites. A possible solution is to try putting some traps with molasses, brewer's yeast, etc to try to lower populations around Aronia and other berry plants.

Landscaping

The practice of growing aronia as a landscape plant is increasing. One of the reasons is because it can handle both wet and dry soil in addition to being a very ornamental plant. It is attractive in each season and not effected by most diseases and pests. These are outstanding landscape plants. They have attractive white flowers in the spring and beautiful glossy green leaves all summer long. The dark berries in the fall at the end of the year and are a plus by providing healthy fruit.

Their ability to withstand wet situations makes aronia plants appropriate for growing along the edges of ponds, streams or other similar conditions. Aronia works well as a riverbank stabilizer, or in fields in the path of water runs to control erosion or in any large-scale planting in which a growing mass is needed. Aronia plants are especially useful in roadside ditches or a moist low tract of land that is a natural landscape feature or a human-created one. Consider using the cultivar Nero if you enjoy seeing heavy production of larger and longer lasting black fruits on a more compact plant 3 to 4 feet tall. If youare planning to have a productive plantation with high-quality fruit Nero or the taller growing Viking plants are good choices.

Harvesting

For more than 1/2 to 1 acre mechanical harvesting is more efficient, faster and less costly than hand harvesting.

Aronia fruit stay good for a relative long period of time and can be stored unharmed in the containers even for a few days. "This means they can also be shipped to customers' right after picking without refrigeration. This is a significant opportunity and benefit because it also makes it possible to deliver the fruit harvested from a large area to the processing facility all at the same time.

The processing of fresh aronia is not hard to accomplish. Although the fruit is soft their shock-resistance allows them to be stored for a longer time than other more fragile berries.

Fruit Yields

The second year after planting 2-year-old nursery aronia plants in the field they usually are reported to produce about 2 pound of fruit per plant. The third year after planting in the field they are reported to produce about 10 pounds of fruit per plant. The four to fifth year after planting they are reported to yields about 20 pounds of fruit per plant. Fruit production is reported to be as high as 35 pounds per mature plant. In terms of the growth of aronia plants the saying is "First they sleep, then they creep and then they leap".

At 20 pounds per plant, 1000 plants per acre would be expected to produce 20,000 pounds of berries.

Purchase your pesticide free aronia and blueberries from (Blueberry Croft Farm and Nursery). We understand both the theory and practical applications of growing aronia and blueberries. The farm is a reputable source for quality aronia and blueberry plants. Over 30 varieties of blueberries are grown and sold. Viking aronia plants are available for sale. Purchase your plants and get more information from http://www.blueberrycroft.com/. Get free S/H on orders of $75+. © 2011 May be reproduced in entirety with live link

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Aronia Planting Guide Part III - Planting Methods, When to Plant, Plant Spacing and Row Spacing

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Planting ideas

With poor soils it is recommended to prepare planting holes for each plant by adding composted manure, composed leaves, peat moss, pine bark fines or other compost into the planting hole.

When planting gently remove the plant from its container, keeping the root ball intact. Then carefully loosen the roots in the potting soil and around bottom and edges of root ball so the roots are free to grow out into the surrounding soil.

Planting Methods

Shovel
Bulb planter
Auger (a power auger making a 12 to 14 inch hole that can be filled with compost or other material can help where the soil is poor.)
Tree planter (on the right:tree planter in action) Of these methods the tree planter has been shown to be the fastest and easiest in soil with good drainage. Good drainage is essential so the drainage of the soil needs to be checked before planting. Poor drainage is one of the primary problems when growing plants. In soil with poor drainage raised beds should be used.
Raised bed machine. Where you have clay soil with poor drainage it is necessary to use raised beds to obtain needed drainage so the plant roots do not stand in the water. If the roots of the plant are in standing water they will drown and the plant will die. At some farms and nurseries raised beds are used because the soil is clay with poor drainage.

When to Plant

If you have irrigation and mulch you can really plant potted plants any time of year the ground isn't frozen.

However Ideal times to plant are: Early Spring and Early Fall

Irrigation is almost essential in establishing plants. (An exception may sometimes be in the late fall or early spring planting). Late fall is often a good time to plant because it gives the plants time to establish strong roots during the fall, winter and spring before the plants must endure the hot weather in the summer.

Plant Spacing and Row Spacing

Commercial Production Planting

Historically, commercial plantings of aronia were done in a line of closely spaced shrubs, leaving enough room to drive a tractor and equipment in between the rows of mature plants.

Row Spacing 12 to 15 ftPlant Spacing 24 to 36 inches

About 1070 plants per acre can be grown with a spacing of 3 feet between plants and 12 feet between rows. This practice is commonly used in Europe for machine harvesting.

Note: When determining the row width, you should measure the width of the mowing and hay making equipment to be certain it is suited to work in the row of that width when plants are mature.

For more than one acre mechanical harvesting is less costly than hand harvesting.

One should keep in mind that closer spacing of plants within the rows for machine harvesting will double the amount of fruit production for the first few years and more than make up for the higher cost of planting the plants more densely.

Hand Planting

This method can work if you plan to harvest small acreage by hand, or use a self-propelled harvester requiring less row width.

Row Spacing 10 ftPlant Spacing 4-6 ft

You should not plan on hand harvesting if you plant more than 1 acre. For more than one acre mechanical harvesting is more efficient and less costly than hand harvesting.

One form of hand harvesting is to let groups from organizations such as youth groups to harvest berries to raise money. Nonprofit groups can pick aronia berries on the farm to raise money for their worthy causes.

Purchase your pesticide free aronia and blueberries from (Blueberry Croft Farm and Nursery). We understand both the theory and practical applications of growing aronia and blueberries. The farm is a reputable source for quality aronia and blueberry plants. Over 30 varieties of blueberries are grown and sold. Viking aronia plants are available for sale. Purchase your plants and get more information from http://www.blueberrycroft.com/. Get free S/H on orders of $75+. © 2011 May be reproduced in entirety with live link

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Aronia Planting Guide Part V - Drip Irrigation, Precipitation

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Irrigate Efficiently Using Drip Irrigation

The annual demand by aronia plants for water is reported to be 32 inches of rain or more spread evenly throughout the year. (I must say this seems a little low to me).

An efficient irrigation system may be a necessary requirement. The sprinkler is generally an inefficient system. Sprinklers can deliver a large amount of water in a short period but at the same time large amounts of moisture is lost due to evaporation. Sprinklers however may be the ideal choice for watering when establishing alfalfa. Alfalfa is relatively drought tolerant, but its growth does depend on the availability of soil water. If there is little or no irrigation water, annual yields will be low.

Sprinkling can help serve as frost/freeze protection for vineyards during bud break and early shoot development in an occasional early spring frost to save a crop but is generally not cost-effective.

The cost of materials, installation, and development of a pond or other water resource generally make it not cost-effective. In addition aronia plants bloom late in the spring usually avoiding the threat of frost so the need for spraying is minimal.

Drip irrigators and soaker hoses are able to deliver a low volume of water over a long period using individual emitters directly at the base of the plant, losing little water to evaporation or runoff. They work well for irrigating aronia plants. Drip irrigation can maintain good moisture levels in the root zone of the plant.

Precipitation

In Southern Wisconsin at an aronia berry farm the average annual precipitation is 36.5 inches. This amount compared to an average of 51.9 inches at the aronia berry farm in central Kentucky is much lower... The average annual precipitation is 32.6 inches in Missouri Valley, Iowa at an aronia Farm. The annual demand for water by aronia plants is said to be 32 or more inches of rains spread evenly throughout the year. Thus the locations mentioned, should in most seasons have sufficient rain for the plants. However drip irrigation should still be provided. This is particularly true in the hot dry summer months when fruit is actively developing. Long periods of hot dry windy weather can affect the yield and the quality of fruit. Aronia plants need regular irrigation to grow well depending on the rainfall, typically every week or two during the growing season.

Aronia shrubs are some of the best at surviving well in very wet winter soils, often caused by slow drainage or continual seepage, and dry summer soils.Because of its root system structure, aronia is successfully grown in soils with low- and high-level ground waters.

In times of drought, the use of gray water can help ease water usage for watering plants. Gray water should be free from food scraps, oils and bleach.

Costs of drip irrigation

A drip irrigation system typically cost about $1000 to $2500/acre in 2012 not including a water source.

Benefits of drip irrigation

The drip irrigation system is usually needed particularly for the hot dry months of July and Aug. Some benefits of drip irrigation include: Drip irrigation benefits include the following.

It reduces water requirements compared to spraying. Drip irrigation can exceed 90 percent efficiency whereas sprinkler systems are generally 50 to 70 percent efficient.It increases plant growthIt causes new canes to developIt increases berry sizeIt increases fruit productionIt increases harvest window

Expected yields

One grower reports that he was averaging 2 lbs/plant in 2 years with the help of a drip system. This is in accordance with other reports. The yield should increase every year thereafter. In the third year a yield of 10 lbs per plant could be expected. In the 4th and 5th year a yield of about 20 lbs per plant can be reached.

Purchase your pesticide free aronia and blueberries from (Blueberry Croft Farm and Nursery). We understand both the theory and practical applications of growing aronia and blueberries. The farm is a reputable source for quality aronia and blueberry plants. Over 30 varieties of blueberries are grown and sold. Viking aronia plants are available for sale. Purchase your plants and get more information from http://www.blueberrycroft.com/. Get free S/H on orders of $75+. © 2011 May be reproduced in entirety with live link.

View the original article here