Progress on Aronia planting

Back in 2014, my aronia seeds were just germinating into tiny seedlings in trays. Since then, they have been transplanted into larger cells, and then planted into the ground.

Here is one seedling planted outside in May of 2015. I mulched the plants with woodchips and scattered some cow manure around to fertilize them. This one seems to be happy so far! 

Roughly 30 or 40 made it to the ground and are currently thriving. I planted them about two feet apart, so I might need to transplant every other plant if they all survive. These might also do well planted close, and form hedge-like rows.

 This is one plant growing in August 2015. The small seedlings really started to bush out now, and the most vigorous seedlings are around one foot tall.

You can see that the aronia plants are starting to sucker at the bases. Soon they should each form a clump of canes. In a few years, I can start to take cuttings and prune off suckers to make even more plants. This adventure is a success so far, with potential to produce loads of healthy fruit!