North Dakota

Fielding Questions: Pineapple plant fruiting in ND, horseradish care, peat alternative

Published

8 months ago

October 21, 2023

Fielding Questions: Pineapple plant fruiting in ND, horseradish care, peat alternative

Q: I’d love to share some of the two pineapples I just harvested today in Mercer County, N.D, – Jessie Krieger.

A: When I hear of pineapple plants producing fruit, I visualize plantations in tropical Hawaii. And so, Jesse, you caught my immediate attention when you said you enjoyed homegrown pineapple in Scranton, N.D. I’ll let Jesse tell the tale.

“The photos are from August 2019 when I harvested my first pineapple fruit, which was about the size of a store-bought one. I started the plant from the top cut off a pineapple we purchased from the grocery store, and it took three years to grow the plant from start to finish.

A pineapple plant has developed a flower.

Contributed / Jessie Krieger

“During the December before it fruited, I set a couple of ripening apples beside the pot and covered the very large plant loosely with plastic, which supposedly would trigger blossoming with the apple’s ethylene gas. It worked and by mid-January a spike with a tiny pineapple came up.

“The plant stayed in the house until May, and then went into my greenhouse. I fed it with Miracle Gro and by the end of of August, the fruit was fully ripe and very sweet.

“I then broke the top of the pineapple apart and rooted seven little pineapple plants from it. This set has taken the past four years to produce fruit, because the tops were so much smaller than the one I rooted the first time. All of this year’s fruit were a little smaller, but followed pretty much the same timeline – blooming in January after the apple ethylene gas treatment and ripening in the fall.

“The pineapple plants were repotted twice, going into a larger deck pot the last time. Each plant produces one fruit and several plant suckers at the base. “

Thanks, Jessie, for an inspirational story, and you’ve proven that pineapple tops can be rooted and brought to fruiting, even though the upper Midwest isn’t exactly the Hawaiian tropics.

Q: Is it okay to cut horseradish leaves down to a couple inches this time of year? They are getting pretty unsightly. – Todd B.

A: Horseradish leaves can be cut down in autumn to an inch or two above ground level, but wait until frost has killed the leaves, or the plants appear to be going dormant. The roots of horseradish make their greatest growth in late summer and early fall, and if the leaves look healthy, they continue to feed the roots.

If you’re planning to harvest the horseradish roots this year, delay digging until late October or early November. It can also be dug in early spring.

Q: I’ve been using peat-based potting soil for container gardening for over 30 years. Now I’m learning that peat moss is not a renewable resource, or at least in our lifetimes. What alternatives can you suggest? – Lisa P.

A: Peat has been a staple for most of our gardening lives, but because it takes over a thousand years to form about three feet of peat in a bog, we’ve been using it at a faster rate than it can possibly replenish.

Luckily there are good alternatives. For amending outdoor soil, compost and other organic materials work beautifully.

For potting soil and seed starting, coconut coir is a wonderful ingredient. It’s already being used in some national brand potting and seed-starting mixes. Compressed bricks of coconut coir can be ordered online and will probably become more readily available at garden centers.

Don Kinzler, a lifelong gardener, is the horticulturist with North Dakota State University Extension for Cass County. Readers can reach him at donald.kinzler@ndsu.edu.

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North Dakota

North Dakota city’s mayoral race remains tied after recount

Published

54 mins ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

North Dakota city’s mayoral race remains tied after recount

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – A recount was held July 1st to determine the mayor of the City of Dazey.

Barnes County Auditor Julie Mindt said the results remain unchanged with Daryl Kunze receiving 19 votes and Shawn McClintock receiving 19 votes. The contest remains tied and now goes before the City of Dazey Board of Commissioners to resolve the tie.

The population of Dazey was 78 as of the 2020 census.

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North Dakota

North Dakota's economy lags

Published

8 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Press Room

For the fourth straight month, North Dakota’s economy slowed.

Dr. Ernie Goss is an economics professor at Creighton University, and he conducts a monthly survey of manufacturing supply managers in the Mid-America Region. He says North Dakota’s reading on the business conditions index for the month of June was 45.5, which is up from May’s 40.2 – but still below a reading of 50, indicating a shrinking economy. Goss says a number of things contribute to this; he says North Dakota’s energy and agriculture industries are both slowing down. He says exports are also down – 16 percent last month as compared to the same time last year.

Despite the challenges, Goss says there are some overall positive aspects to the economic outlook.

“Well, the good news is ultimately, they’ve got to have our food, they’ve got to have our energy, and we are the most productive on the face of the earth. We will do well in the long run; this is just a tough spell we’ve got right now. USDA projected this farm income would be down for 2024, we’re seeing that spilling over into the manufacturing – for example, agricultural equipment manufacturing, not doing well, and of course we see that in John Deere and other manufacturers of agricultural equipment.”

Goss also says inflationary pressures have also slowed, and he predicts the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates at their next meeting in September.

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North Dakota

Two juveniles injured in rollover near Valley City, ND

Published

15 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Press Room

Two juveniles injured in rollover near Valley City, ND

VALLEY CITY, N.D. — Two juveniles were injured in a single-vehicle rollover Sunday evening, June 30, about 5 miles southeast of Valley City, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The patrol said a 13-year-old Valley City boy was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox west on 36th Street Southeast at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday with a 14-year-old Valley City boy as a passenger. The patrol said the Equinox failed to slow down for a T intersection at 121st Avenue Southeast and went through the intersection, entered the ditch and rolled. The Equinox came to rest in a wheat field southwest of the intersection, the patrol said.

Both juveniles were transported by private party to CHI Mercy Health in Valley City where they were treated for their non-life-threatening injuries.

Charges are being investigated for the 13-year-old driver who was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said. The passenger was wearing a seat belt.

The patrol said the names of the juveniles will not be released.

The patrol is investigating the crash.

By
Jamestown Sun staff report

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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