I stopped planting trees this week after our first little snow. Now I’m pruning trees in really cold conditions. Temps are getting into the 20’s but it feels colder with the harsh north wind. I can take the cold fine but the wind pisses me off. I probably won’t get out of my truck until about 9, but the temps will still be in the low teens.
We’ve already had more cold than all of last winter and it’s not winter yet.
Of course last winter was abnormal, and the extreme warmth of it led to a lot of stone-fruit bud destruction when temps plummeted in mid-Feb. The trees should be ready for cold this time around, although a cold Dec does not always equate a cold winter.
The weather ere still mild here Today high is going to be in the upper 40’s. No snow yet. I got a lot of outdoor stuffs done. I dug about 20 holes for the cold hardy figs for their permanent in-ground home for next Spring and re use the pots for some rare figs to be rooted in a couple of months. I finally got the Figo Preto cuttings that people are raving about. I have heard it the best late season fig.
seen snow stick for the season here as early as the beg. of october! also seen -0 at the end of nov. 1st. killing frost is typically mid sept. this fall was exceptionally warm. picked strawberries till’ mid oct!
Do you always prune your trees this early? Is that because you have to start now to finish all the orchards you manage by spring or is it because it’s better to prune now vs late winter?
We are getting snow right now. I only work till 3 and come home to meet my kindergartener at the school bus stop. Today it took me 50 min to get home. Normally 20. Roads are a mess. Basically crawled home. I was worried I’d miss the school bus. But it’s still not here.
Hopefully we won’t get much of this. 23 degrees out right now. More than 20 degrees below normal. Yikes!
I’m not a good enough businessman to accumulate adequate capital without working through 4 seasons and, yes, I always seem to end up with more pruning work than I have time. I prune the ancient apple trees first- they are the toughest organisms I manage- they also comprise the lion’s share of my pruning work, being huge and on seedling rootstock. They are like an orchard on a single tree.
See them, touch them, shape them, reshape them, climb through them, fight their whippy brush that smacks my face on icy mornings. It’s a coexistence, although I rely on them more than they on me.
Feel like crying, it’s so cold here in Southern Ontario. The north should have this kind of weather not us!
lows of single digits. One more night of this!
I’m sitting outside in short sleeves watching a Christmas turkey smoke and sipping pink lemonade wine. Some people don’t like these Up and down temps but these warm days sure are nice.
50’s in Central Iowa today, no wind, bright sun. Leaving the hose run for 2-3 hrs. on each tree, very dry. Every day like this is one day closer to spring!!
i feel your pain! i can see canada from my living room. just down the hill from me 400yrds away, along the st. john river it drops to growing z 2b! coldest spot in Maine other than on mt. katahdin! funny how in such a short distance theres one growing zone difference.
